|
By Lucy Williams, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- After Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans residents weren't able to stick with their prescription medicines. Not only did they face challenges accessing health care facilities, but they struggled to access medical records and prescription information once they saw a doctor.
Text Continues Below
Following a disaster, emergency management agencies brace for disease outbreaks caused by contaminated water and air. However, recent research suggests other important needs may be overlooked in the event of a disaster. These oversights can harm people in disaster areas, particularly those with chronic health conditions.
Researchers at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation surveyed 78 patients treated in New Orleans and Baton Rouge following Hurricane Katrina about their ability to follow their medications following the disaster. Patients also reported any difficulties they had getting their prescriptions filled. Patients reported the following problems:
- 10 percent of patients did not bring their prescriptions when they evacuated
- 32 percent ran out of their prescriptions following evacuation
- 15 percent had trouble refilling prescriptions after the hurricane
People who lost a home in the disaster were two-times less likely to follow prescriptions.
"After the hurricane, everyone was concerned about disease outbreak and contamination, but what we saw were patients having problems with chronic conditions," lead author Marie Krousel-Wood, M.D., M.S.P.H., director of the Center for Health Research at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation and clinical professor at Tulane Health Sciences Center in New Orleans told Ivanhoe Thursday at the 47th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Orlando, Fla. "Greater attention must be paid to chronic diseases like high blood pressure."
Be Prepared for Disaster
Dr. Krousel-Wood said there are several steps people can take to prepare for the next disaster and ensure they stick with medical prescriptions:
- Maintain electronic medical and prescription records. Patients who fill prescriptions at national pharmacy chains may be more likely to have electronic records available
- If you use a smaller pharmacy, see if there is a sister pharmacy in another town that can keep your prescription records in the event of an evacuation
- If you take any medications, try to have a month's worth of each prescription with you before you evacuate
- Keep a card in your wallet with alternate contact information including an e-mail address, all contact numbers, a home address and an emergency address
She says these steps are particularly important for people living in disaster-prone areas, like flood planes and hurricane zones.
Further research is being done to assess the long-term health risks associated with natural disaster.
"The findings should help us with better disaster planning, not only for patients, but for health care providers and the systems that support them," said Dr. Krousel-Wood. "We're looking forward to seeing where these problems might have long-term consequences."
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Marie A. Krousel-Wood, M.D., M.S.P.H.; Lucy Williams at the 47th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 28-Mar. 3, 2007
|
.gif)
