Lesson 2-4

Prescription & Over-the-Counter Drugs: Get the Facts

› TSW differentiate between proper use, misuse and abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

› TSW correctly read sample labels for prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Objectives

› Dosage

› Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

› Over-the-counter

› Prescription

Health Terms

Transition

› In your student journals, write about a time you were given a prescription from a doctor for a medicine, or a time you took medicine purchased from a store for a cold, allergies, or other illness. What were your symptoms and how did the medicine help?

Intro

Motivate

› What are some other medicines you’ve heard of or may have taken?

› What do all of these drugs have in common?

› What’s the difference between prescription and over-the-counter drugs?

Intro

Prescription Drugs

› Drug gotten legally from a pharmacy with a written prescription

› May be stronger or have side effects

› Used to treat critical or chronic health condition

IntroOver-the-counter Drugs

› Bought from a drug store or grocery store

› Used to treat symptoms of common illnesses

› Limited – there are sometimes limits, must be 18 to buy

Today you’re going to look at how to use prescription and over-the-counter drugs properly, ways these drugs can be misused and abused, and some of the dangers associated with taking them improperly.

Survey

› What do you know about how drugs used for medical purpose are classified and regulated?

Explain

› U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – federal agency that determines what drugs are going to be prescription drugs and which ones will be over-the-counter drugs

› Some start out as prescription drugs then become over-the-counter drugs (Claritin, Zantac)

› All drugs must be approved by the FDA, shown to be safe and work correctly, and labeled with the proper instructions

Teaching Steps

Ask and Discuss

› What are some similarities between two labels?– Name of the drug/active ingredient, amount and strength of the

drug, instructions of how often and when to take

› What are some difference between the labels?

Teaching Steps

Teaching StepsPrescription drug label:

› Person’s name prescribed too

› Prescribing doctor’s name

› Quantity in the container

› Number of refills allowed

› Expiration date

› Drug store contact info

› Specific directions

Over-the-Counter drug label:

› Uses and symptoms to relieve

› Purpose of the drug

› Warnings – side effects, who shouldn’t take drug,

› Amount and timing of doses

› Other info – how to store

› Inactive ingredients

Ask and Discuss

› Why do you think there are differences between prescription and over-the-counter drug labels?

Summarize

› Over-the-counter labels – more info because it’s not known who will be taking the drug

› Not needed in prescription drugs because it’s prescribed for particular person not just anyone

Teaching Steps

Review

› Let’s apply what you’ve already learned about drug misuse and abuse specifically to prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

› What are all of the ways you can think of that a person might misuse a prescription or over-the-counter drug?– Taking more of a drug than suppose to– Taking the drug more frequently than suppose to– Using an over-the-counter drug longer than suppose– Taking 2 or more drugs at the same time– Not finishing a prescription until its gone

Teaching Steps

Review› What are some ways you can think of that a person might abuse a

prescription or over-the-counter drug?– Taking a drug when there’s no medical reason– Taking a drug to get high– Taking a drug that was prescribed for someone else– Obtaining a prescription drug with a doctor’s order– Getting multiple prescriptions from different doctors or

pharmacies– Using drugs with alcohol or other illegal drugs

Teaching Steps

Summarize

› Drug Misuse:–Over-the-counter drugs – people believe taking more or

taking more often will lead to symptoms to stop (WRONG!!!)

– Prescription drugs – forgetting to take dose or stop taking once symptoms get better

› Major difference abuse and misuse – intent and how habitually a person misuses any kind of drug addiction

Teaching Steps

Create and Share

› Create a list as many reasons people might misuse or abuse prescription and over-the-counter drugs as you can think of in 1 minute.

Teaching Steps

Close

› What’s the most important thing that you learned today to help you avoid misusing or abusing prescription or over-the-counter drugs?

Closure