Managing Medicine at Home

John Stewart RN, BSN, MSA, Service Line Administrator, Emergency, Trauma, Bariatrics, Oncology, Stroke, EMS at Hurley Medical Center, shared insight for managing medicine at home.

JOHN STEWART 10 TIPS FOR Managing Medicine at Home

1. Start with a medication reconciliation process; verify there are not duplicate medicines with different generic names.

2. Define one doctor to be the guidepost for all your medicine. You may need multiple doctors, from your primary physician to specialists. Pick one doctor to oversee all medication to ensure there are no overlaps or gaps in the medicine you need.

3. Sometimes medication overlaps can happen when multiple doctors are prescribing medicine. If your loved one comes out of the hospital or nursing home, reconcile medication again and follow up with the doctor managing your medication to inform them of changes.

4 . Pill dispensers can help you manage medication and make sure a dose is not skipped or mistakenly repeated. When multiple people are providing care for a loved one, it can become confusing if a dose of medication was taken or not.

5. Regularly check your expiration date on the packaging. Discard any old medication; do not keep it around.

6. Connect and create a relationship with your local pharmacist to help you continually reconcile medication.

7. Make sure your loved one is taking their medication and not spitting it out.

8. Keep a medical journal to highlight details such as blood pressure, medicine changes, doctors' appointments, and other important notes.

9. Create a list of all medications and take a photo of the list with your phone. Then, you can quickly access the information to share with medical staff at the doctor's office or during an unexpected trip to the hospital.

10.Set the alarm on your phone for a daily reminder to take medication.

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