How to Prevent Medication Errors at home

There are ways to  Prevent Medication Errors at home.  Your Dad goes to his health care professional; for his chronic conditions.   He is having a hard time keeping up with his pills.  his pillbox isn’t doing the job.  Furthermore,  at his  latest checkup, he found out that he has high  blood pressure.  Hence, one more pill to take.

Here is the medication non compliance problem:

Go an  check his kitchen/medicine cabinet.  What do you find?  Usually what you see is not a neat row o Prescription Bottles and blister packs.  First, a load of: half-empty bottles Second of all,  different kinds of old fashion pillboxes.   Third of all, many kinds of outdated drugs.  To sum up, a zip-lock bag filled with a load of different pills in rainbow of colors is an accident waiting to happen.  Prescription medications are not like colored jellybeans.

• The conversation that follows needs to makes one thing perfectly understandable.  Dad really does needs help with with his prescription meds..   If your the family caregiver,  here’s how to get started.

• Start out by playing  a detective.  First, find out which medications your Dad is (or isn’t) taking. This includes both prescription drugs as well as over-the-counter products (OTC), v  These may include all vitamins as well as  herbal supplements.  ,The list needs to be complete.  For example. it ought to include occasional remedies. To illustrate, like a sleep aid as well as cold and sinus medications.

Pick your Smart Pillbox Wisley

You can choose from a 100’s of different pillboxes.  For example, old fashion pillboxes or the modern automatic pill dispenser with alarms.  You can find many different pillboxes at the local  pharmacy.  Many have a wide variety to choose from.  The most basic pill box,  with the  days of the week to 21st century medication reminder compliance systems.  Color-coded  pill dispensers work for many seniors.    Electronic types with alarms  and flashing guides are made to do more than just hold the pills.

These new type of Smart Pill boxes remind patients and let others know when it’s time to take pills.

• For example, there are talking pillboxes can be helpful for patients with vision problems. However, when  working with someone who’s 70 plus old, sometimes the technology can be overwhelming to them To sum up, one might meet a little resistance.

this is as important as having the right type of pillbox.  Seniors are lacking in this area.  For example, your Dad  takes  a cough and cold syrup that has acetaminophen in it’s formula.    Again,  not knowing that’s the same ingredient in his  Tylenol. Later on he may might some pain an choose to a couple Tylenols. That’s just one of the  examples of drug duplication.  Or as your doctor would call it “drug redundancy“.

You need to read the labels to be aware. For seniors this is challenging.  With age, vision problems are prevalent.   To sum up, caregivers need to know the ingredients for every thing in Dad’s medicine cabinet.

Give the complete medication list to the pharmacist.,  First, professional Pharmacists are able to catch these redundancies.  Second, the potential interactions and potential negative side effects. For instance, your loved one may take Tylenol PM to  fall asleep.  However,  the pills have diphenhydramine – the same ingredient as Benadryl.  Finally, this has a history of contributing to falls in seniors. Because seniors will metabolize the (break down) meds more slowly, they can stay in their body longer. Another example,  taking St. John’s wort and is also taking Prozac. That would be a is redundancy, and they can a bad interact.

It isn’t easy to take 20 plus  at a time.  Furthermore, it’s worse for seniors with swallowing issues. Jodi Wood, a registered nurse and owner of the Akron, Ohio, branch of Visiting Angels.  This is a  home health provider.  Nurse Wood suggests asking doctors if pills can be spread throughout the day or taken in a different way. “There are other avenues for medication administration,” she says. “Some things come in a liquid form. Some things can be crushed and sprinkled into pudding or food if that makes it easier.”

First, Medication management is an ongoing challenge..  The consequences of failure can be fatal.. First, a good pillboxes.  Second, updated knowledge,  Third, an accurate journal.  Finally, take a proactive stance in medication.  To sum up, p continually tweak and adapt.  This will ensure senors stay healthy and independent as long as possible.