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.

We designed this checklist for caring for elderly parents to give you a tangible overview of areas to consider when you’re taking care of your loved one.

Let’s look at the five most important areas to consider when you’re supporting elderly parents.

1 – Surviving Caregiving

First things first: remember to take care of yourself. While caring for an elderly parent can be a beautiful experience, many caregivers also share with us that the juggling of the multiple responsibilities involved weighs on them, especially over time. It can be a lot to balance, but knowing your limits, establishing boundaries, and asking for help goes a long way to support your own wellbeing as a caregiver.

Learn our top three tips for taking care of yourself as a caregiver.

2 – Medication Worries

Most older adults take at least one, and often multiple, medications, whether to manage a serious health condition or improve quality of life as they age. 15% of senior hospitalizations occur from medication errors or adverse drug reactions. We recommend an organized tracking system that works for you and your elderly parent to stay on top of medications and considerably reduce risk.

Download our medication chart templates to stay on top of medications.

3 – Nutrition and Wellness

Improved mental clarity, a healthier immune system, and increased energy are just a few benefits of a well-designed nutrition and wellness program for your aging parent. But from efficient grocery shopping to ensuring they’re eating a variety of healthy foods, a healthy and sustainable nutrition plan for seniors requires a bit of up front planning. And when it comes to physical wellbeing and fitness, it’s important to consider a variety of factors, including whether they’re getting quality sleep and which types of exercises they might enjoy.

Get clarity about where you could use support as a caregiver with our nutrition and physical needs assessments.

4 – Personal and Home Safety

While seniors often opt to stay in their homes as long as possible, a 2020 study found that fewer than 10% of U.S. homes have enough aging-accessible features. This includes things like wheelchair accessibility, first floor bedrooms and bathrooms, and built-in shower seats. When you’re considering senior safety, it’s also important to remember emotional wellbeing. Lower social support or a lack of emotional safety can leave your loved one more susceptible, for example, to senior scams.

Get started on an aging-accessible home with this senior friendly bathroom checklist.

5 – Planning Ahead

As your parents age, you may find yourself responsible for care decisions, from adult day care or short term stay possibilities to end of life wishes. An excellent starting point is meeting as a family to understand any particular desires your aging parent may have, so they can be as much part of conversation as possible.

Take our planning needs assessment to pinpoint any areas you may need clarity or support.

Next Steps

While senior caregiving is a learn-as-you-go process for most of us, the more clarity you can get up front, the smoother the experience will be for the whole family. We hope this checklist for aging parents offers a helpful bird’s eye view on your journey in caring for your loved one.

And as always, we’re here to help. Call us at 855-461-2552 or send us a message, anytime.

The post Caring for Aging Parents: A Practical Checklist appeared first on Benton House.