Or feel unsure of whether they can accurately identify their different pills, or even why they’re taking each one?

Supporting your aging parent in preventing medication errors can feel like a balancing act. How can you offer support while also respecting their independence? It can be challenging to navigate.

But effectively managing medicine is crucial to the well-being of seniors. In fact, 15% or more of older patients who visit offices, hospitals, and extended care facilities require care due to taking medications improperly.

How Medication Errors Happen

Older adults are often on multiple medications for multiple conditions, prescribed by multiple physicians. On top of the inherent risk of confusing so many medications, the unstructured environment and unique communication challenges of living at home as a senior also contribute to medication errors.

What does this actually look like? For example, mom may take a fall because she feels dizzy. When you dig into it, the doctors may identify her dizziness as a direct result of taking her blood pressure medicine incorrectly.

Or perhaps dad drops pills on the floor. He either doesn’t realize it, or can’t lean down to pick them up. This could result in his not taking the proper dosage, getting confused, and forgetting to eat, or maybe wandering outdoors without being certain where he’s going.

Luckily, there are many tried-and-true methods to support your loved one in preventing medication errors. Help keep your aging loved one on track with one or more of these tools or methods.

Let’s dive in.

Simple Systems For Preventing Medication Errors

Anyone who takes medication can benefit from reminder tools. But it can be especially tough for older adults coping with memory loss, like Alzheimer’s or dementia. Mix and match any of these methods to help your loved one stay on track with taking the right medication, at the right time. 

Medication chart template

Sometimes, simple is best. Start with a medication chart template that you can print out. Keep it in a highly visible area, like the refrigerator. No bells and whistles to distract, just a clear visual guide with space to write each medication and dosage, along with boxes to check off when each pill has been taken.

Manual daily or weekly pill organizers

Simple manual pill organizers typically come in daily and weekly versions and are an ideal complement to a medication chart template. The most stripped down versions typically have one compartment for each of the seven days in a week. However, they can get as complex as multiple compartments to organize as many as 30 days of pills.

Reminder calls from a loved one or family member

If your aging parent or older adult in your care could use further support to remember to take their medication, a reminder call is a wonderful option. Try a simple phone call in the morning and evening, or whenever they need to take their pills. Bonus: this human-centered method offers time to personally connect and support their social needs as well.

Medication management devices with alarms

Even the most highly organized systems for preventing medication errors are useless if your loved one struggles to remember to use them. Sometimes reminder calls aren’t feasible or desired, and that’s where it can make sense to invest in a medication management device with an alarm. These devices offer audible and visual reminders to reliably take the right pills at the right time.

Automatic pill organizers

For aging adults with a complex medication schedule, you might want to consider investing in an automatic pill organizer. These high-tech medication minding systems typically hold a few months of pills, offer various alarm styles, and can even synchronize with a smartphone app.

Next Steps

Did one or more of these methods seem helpful for you?

Preventing medication errors for seniors in our care can seem daunting. But hopefully this overview of both ultra simple and more high tech options sparked an idea that will help.

Would you like more hands on support caring for your elderly parent? We’re here to help.

Get tailored caregiver assessments — plus actionable support — completely free of charge.

Simply call us at 855-461-2552 or send us a message, anytime.

The post Preventing Medication Errors in the Elderly appeared first on Benton House.

As caregivers, we know this question all too well.

Using a medication chart template may seem tedious, but the overlapping realities of old age, numerous ailments, and multiple medications means seniors are particularly susceptible to safety incidents surrounding medication.

In fact, between 75% and 96% of older patients acknowledge making frequent mistakes with their medication.

And when memory loss comes into play, supporting your loved one in taking medication properly becomes even more important.

If you’re asking us, a chart will always come in second to setting expectations, taking time for yourself, and seeking help. That said, whether your role is reminding your loved one to take their medication, or you’re personally responsible for giving it to them, a tangible tracking system is invaluable.

That’s why we’ve developed the following three tailored medication chart templates for seniors. We use these at Benton House, and recommend them to all the caregivers we work with.

Tips for medication management using these templates

• Print out a handful of copies at once for each category, using double sided paper if you wish.
• Keep them in the kitchen of your loved one, where they’ll be visible. The refrigerator is a popular spot, but a basket on the counter can also work well.
• Write out the date for the current week at the top of each page, in case you need to refer back.
• For each template, write in the name of the medication and how often (and when) your loved one is meant to take it.
• Fill out the chart as a timeline in order of a day. For example, if your loved one is meant to take one dose at 8 am, with breakfast, and then another at 6 pm, with dinner, give each dose its own line so that it shows up twice. That way you (or they) can easily check off both their am and pm dose.
• Each time a medication is taken, write an “x” underneath the corresponding day of the week.
• Keep filled out charts in a folder or binder together for a while, both to track yourself and share with a physician if any questions come up.

Over the Counter Medication Chart Template

Use this chart to track over the counter medicine taken regularly.

This category may include vitamins and supplements that can be picked up at the grocery store, or over the counter at the pharmacy.

Benton House Over The Counter Medication Chart Template

PRN Medications / As Prescribed Chart Template

Use this chart to track medications that have been prescribed by a doctor for a short period of time.

Sometimes, this may need a prescription, but this chart can also be used for over the counter medicines. The key is that it’s medicine that has been prescribed.

For example, this may include a temporary recommendation to take Advil as needed to recover from a surgery.

Benton House PRN Medication Chart Template

Routine Medications Chart Template

Use this chart to track medications that have been prescribed by a doctor to take routinely.

This could include anything from antibiotics to probiotics to medicated ear drops that are prescribed.

Benton House Routine Medication Chart Template

Next Steps

We hope these charts help you support your loved one in taking their medications safely.

Need more tailored advice or have a specific worry? Let us help. Call or send us a message to get your caregiving at home questions answered.

The post Medication Chart Template For Seniors: Keep Mom’s Health On Track appeared first on Benton House.