Many seniors take a variety of medications including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and possibly some supplements as well. When a senior requires multiple doses throughout the day, medication management becomes much more important. The proper doses of the right medication must be administered at the right intervals for the senior patient to maintain good health. Elderly care in Colorado Springs often requires medication management. There’s more to medication management than ensuring the pills are taken, so keep reading to learn more about the process.
Possible Challenges for Seniors Managing their Medications
Approximately 40% of seniors over the age of 65 have some level of memory loss, which can be a serious problem when it comes to taking medications. These seniors may require some kind of assistance to ensure they get the correct medications at the right time, and in the proper dosage. If a senior forgets whether or not they’ve taken a particular medication, they may double-dose, causing serious health risks to themselves. Small print on medication labels or overall poor eyesight can make it difficult to read names and directions for each medication. The instructions may also be confusing, which may cause a mistake on dosage.
What’s involved with medication management?
If you review the definition for medication management, you might find something that says it’s the practice of administering a physician’s recommended dosage of a prescription at the proper time. While that’s true enough, it really goes beyond that. For patients who have a fairly complicated schedule of pills to be taken, the job becomes much more complex, and must be handled with care.
If a senior is left to manage their medications, it’s possible they might forget to take one or more pills,
mis-identify pills and take the wrong ones at the wrong time, or may otherwise take an improper dosage of one or more medications. Good medication management also requires all medications are properly stored, and should be maintained with a local pharmacy to ensure there is always a supply on hand. Regular consultation with a physician is also important, especially if there are any changes to the medication schedule.
How can an In Home Caregiver help with medication management?
Though in-home caregivers may not handle the medications themselves, nor fill pill boxes they help in many other ways to keep seniors’ medication on schedule and prescriptions readily available. (Home Health or Hospice Nurses, family members or friends should fill pill boxes according to the directions for each prescription.) Caregivers providing home care can provide reminders to their senior clients to take medications at the required time, or even set an alarm to signal the designated time for medication. They may also help keep prescriptions filled by phoning refills into the pharmacy or reminding the senior in their care to order refills; even dropping bottles for refill and picking up for return to the senior’s home.
Consider Home Care for your Loved One
Providing medication management is only one of many ways in home senior care benefits your loved one and allows them to remain in their own home. If you have a senior loved one in need of extra help and care you should consider engaging the services of Gentle Shepherd Home Care. One of our experienced caregivers will make sure your loved one is properly taken care of, and receives all meds on schedule.
Call us today to inquire about care for your senior.
