Taking medications sounds simple enough, but it can be tricky when you’re left to manage multiple prescriptions for your elderly loved one! Medication management must be taken seriously, as the health of your loved one heavily relies on how well you keep track of the drugs they must take.
Suppose this is your first time managing the medications of someone else. In that case, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed over the several dates and doses to remember. But not to worry—just follow our tips below so that you can effortlessly take care of your loved one’s medications:
1. Create a List of Their Medications
Medications are easy to keep track of when your loved one only has to take one or two, but it can become more challenging to remember which pills need to be taken on which day when there are more than you can count. If you’re taking care of an elderly loved one, then you most likely have to manage a bunch of prescriptions, making it easy to make mistakes.
Rather than relying on your memory to ensure that the proper medications are taken every day, we recommend making a list of the names of your loved one’s prescriptions. Manually writing down each drug is good enough, but it could take some time, not to mention there’s a risk that you may lose the list eventually.
Opt for a digital list instead to ensure that you’ll always have a complete list of medications and could easily add a drug to the record. Saving a medication list of current and previous prescriptions and saving them to a cloud system will make tracking prescriptions a hundred times easier.
2. Set Up a System
Medications must be taken in the prescribed doses at the right time. Although this sounds relatively simple to do, it can become impossible when you have more than a handful to keep track of. To make medication management easy for everyone and ensure that the drugs do what they’re supposed to, why not set up a system?
Having a simple chart with the medication name and dose, day and time of day help create a routine, making medication management much simpler. If you want to lessen the workload even more, you can download an app to keep track of taking pills.
Thanks to technology, several apps can help you with medication management. Once you’ve entered your medications, all you have to do is wait for a reminder to take medicine. With an app, setting up a system and creating a daily routine becomes simple!
3. Be Prepared for Refills
Even if you created a complete medication list and use an app for taking medicine, you can still fall out of sync if you fail to refill their prescription. It can be easy to forget when you have to refill a pill bottle—the next thing you know, your loved one has to miss a dose because nothing is left.
To prevent missing a dose, make sure to place the refill dates on a calendar or a medication log app. To lessen the chances of forgetting about refills, ask your loved one’s doctor for a 90-day supply through mail-order for long-term medications.
Conclusion
Managing an elderly loved one’s medications can place anyone under a significant amount of pressure. Since your loved one can’t keep track of their prescriptions on their own, it’s up to you to ensure that they take the necessary drugs at the right time. As long as you use the right tools and strategies and stay consistent, you’ll stay on top of medication management and ensure the health and happiness of your loved one!
Has managing medications become more challenging? Then, MedManage may just be what you need! Our app for taking medicine allows you to create a Medication List that follows you everywhere you go. Keeping a digital log of your medication intake can help your healthcare providers manage your care better! Download the app today!