An experienced pharmacy professional, Ashkan Khabazian works as emergency department clinical pharmacist with Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California. Ashkan Khabazian monitors drug interactions when supporting emergency care teams.
Pharmacists use their knowledge to improve the safety of patients who are taking multiple medications that may interact in ways detrimental to their health. This situation can arise in situations when different physicians prescribe medicine independently, without knowing what other treating physicians have prescribed. Drug interactions can make therapies less effective, result in active harm, or lead to the manifestation of unusual side effects.
In the United States alone, Americans who are 55 and older take roughly six to nine drugs on a daily basis. According to research, harmful drug interactions cause just over 0.5 percent of hospitalizations. However, when examining hospitalization among patients who are elderly, the percentage increases to nearly 5 percent. Some of the common symptoms caused by drug interactions include high blood pressure and gastrointestinal bleeding.
