| NORTHAMPTON — Four years after Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s yellow medication card was profiled in Newsweek magazine, a bargain Web site has once again put CDH on the (cyber) map. A site devoted to “coupons, deals, and free stuff” has given the tri-fold paper card and its Tyvek sleeve a boost of cross-country notoriety.
Following a post on dealtaker.com, Cooley Dickinson Marketing Communications office staffers responded to residents of Dallas, Texas; San Marcos, Calif.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Utica, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; and seven other communities, including Shutesbury, Mass.
Designed to fit in a wallet, the med card is a tool people can use to track their medications and other important health information. Doctors and nurses like this practice because, when a patient knows their medications, medication errors in hospitals and health clinics can be prevented.
Upon hearing the news that the paper card had once again gained the national spotlight, Dr. Dirk Stanley, a physician who is leading an electronic process to reconcile medications, said he is shocked that “a paper card is leading the medication reconciliation revolution.”
Stanley describes medication reconciliation as a national movement to encourage people to write down their medications and carry the list with them in a wallet or purse. “If a discount Web site can help us spread the word about medication safety,” he said, “bring it on.”
Dealtaker.com boasts more than 261,000 members. To request a card, click on the med card icon at www.cooley-dickinson.org. |
