Are you or your loved one struggling to organize taking many different pills every day? Studies reveal that 87% of older people take one prescription drug, 36% takes 4 or more, and 38% takes over-the-counter pills. Managing organizing pills and medications is very important for seniors to do every day.
In this article, we will discuss why it is important for seniors to organize their pills and describe five tips to help organize their pills.
Why It Is Important for Seniors to Organize Their Pills?
Seniors who don’t take their pills and medications properly increase their health risks and problems.
It is very important for seniors to remember to take medication timely, as prescribed to them by their doctors and pharmacists.
Every single year an excess of 18 million people have to visit emergency rooms due to adverse drug events and older patients are more likely to visit the emergency room, than younger patients, due to adverse drug events. Medical nonadherence (not taking medication as prescribed) is responsible for 30 to 50 percent of treatment failures and 125,000 deaths annually, according to the CDC.
Don’t worry, just remember that you are not the only one having this problem! Nearly 90 million people — half of all U.S. adults — have difficulty understanding and acting on health information, according to the NCPIE.
This is especially true of the elderly; almost 76 percent cannot understand prescriptions given and 40 percent cannot read the labels. Continue reading this article to explore five tips for organizing pills/medications for seniors.
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1. Discuss Your Prescription with Your Doctor and Pharmacist
Your doctor and pharmacist are experts and it is very important to follow their prescription guidelines precisely. By discussing with them, it will help you to understand their prescription guidelines, feel more confident about it, and you can even ask them some questions for further clarification.
Some important questions that you can ask your doctor and pharmacist are: What are some side effects that can occur? What should I do if I am experiencing side effects?
Should I take this medicine once or twice a day? What is this medicine for? Is it okay to take this medicine with other medicines that I am already taking?
2. Make a List of All Your Pills and Create a Schedule
This is a very important tip because it is simple, easy to do, and it helps prevent possible disastrous drug interactions.
Make sure to write down all the names of your medications, their dosage instructions, how many times you take the medication daily, and the times that you take the medications daily.
You could even make a checklist on a dry erase board which can be erased and reused every day. It is important to have your medication list and schedule in a place that you can conveniently find.
You could hang your medication list on a bedroom wall, attach it to your refrigerator or bathroom mirror, and you can even create duplicates of it to give to your family.
This is so that you and your family are already prepared if there is an emergency.
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3. Use These Two Apps to Assist You When Keeping Track of Your Pills
This tip is very interesting because with the help of technology you can organize and keep track of your medications. Not everyone is familiar with using apps, but these three apps are easy to learn how to use.
Medisafe is a free app for Android and iPhone users. On Medisafe’s website, it says that more than 1 million people have downloaded it from the Google Play store.
This app has many important uses such as helping you organize your pills/medications, keeping track of your daily pills/medications doses, reminding you to take them, and it also helps you stay connected with your family by notifying them if you haven’t taken your pills/medications.
Adheretech is a technologized advanced pill bottle that is connected to an app that you use on your phone. When using Adheretech it sends you notifications to your phone about missing dosages or taking the incorrect dosage. This helps to prevent possible disastrous drug interactions.
Now not everyone has access to devices to use these apps and some people prefer to not use apps. Look below to find information about buying a pill dispenser to help you organize your pills/medications.
4. Buy A Pill Dispenser and Pill Cutter
There are three different pill dispensers that you can buy which are pill organizers, pills boxes with alarms, and automatic pill dispensers.
It has seven containers that are each sectioned off into two big compartments and they are all color-coded. This pill organizer can be used twice a day, every morning and evening. Also, it can be used for two weeks straight before you must refill it.
You also might need to get yourself a pill cutter to make sure that you are neatly splitting your pills. It is extremely important to take medicine in the prescribed doses. A pill cutter will ensure that you are splitting your pills nicely – in halves, or quarters and are taking the prescribed quantity.
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5. Make It Fun While Developing Good Habits
The last tip is to make sure that you have fun while organizing your pills/medications while developing good habits. Organizing your pills/medications doesn’t have to be stressful and daunting if you make the best of it!
You can schedule interesting times to take your pills/medications. Right after you put away the dishes after you eat breakfast or dinner, or just before you brush your teeth. Or how about, you turn on your television to watch the morning news only after you have taken your pills. You pick up the morning newspaper or a book or start listening to your favorite song once you have dealt with your medications.
By doing this, it will help you remember to always take your pills/medications at a specific time of day because you are connecting it with something that you enjoy doing in your daily life. This will make it harder for you to forget to take your pills/medications.
One Last Thought
In conclusion, it is very important for seniors to take their pills/medications properly as they were prescribed to them by their doctors and pharmacists. Your doctors and pharmacists are experts, they are very knowledgeable, and they are there to help you in any way that they can.
It is very important because if pills/medications aren’t taken properly you will have increased health risks and problems. You will also notice that you will have exceptional treatment results and you might even notice these exceptional treatment results sooner rather than later.
These tips should help you remember to take your pills/medications, increase your enjoyment while developing good habits, and help ease your family members minds that you are staying healthy!