Managing an aging parent's medications: 6 family tips

Blood pressure pill in the morning, another tablet at noon, a supplement in the evening... As your mom's or dad's medicines add up, keeping track of which one was taken when, and which one is about to run out, can get harder for the whole family. In this post you'll find 6 tips for keeping track of your parent's medications together with them, plus signs that more support may be needed.

Talk with your parent first

Helping with a medication routine doesn't mean making decisions for your parent. They have the first say about their own health and medicines. So the first step is to talk together about what kind of help they want.

• Ask what they find hard: remembering the times, telling the medicines apart, getting to the pharmacy?
• Find out what information they want to share with you and whether they'd like you to join their appointments.
• Take care not to take over things they can still do on their own; the goal is to protect their independence.

If talking about medicines makes them uncomfortable, you can bring it up again another day instead of pushing. Calm, non-judgmental language makes working together easier.

It also helps to start the conversation from a shared plan rather than a problem. A suggestion like “Let's write your medicines down in a list together so we have it with us at the doctor's” is much easier to accept than “You're mixing up your medicines.” When you make decisions together, the routine belongs to them too, and it lasts longer.

6 medication tips for families

MedlinePlus, the health website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, points out on its page about managing medicines for caregivers how important an organized list, working with the pharmacist and planning ahead so medicines don't run out can be. You can adapt these tips to your own family:

1. Make an up-to-date medication list. Write down prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbal products and supplements. Next to each one, add what it's for, which doctor recommended it and the instructions their doctor gave. Don't forget allergies.
2. Check the list against the boxes. Compare the medicine boxes at home with the list one by one. Ask the pharmacist what to do with medicines that are no longer used or have expired.
3. Work with the pharmacist. If possible, getting medicines from the same pharmacy every time makes it easier for the pharmacist to see the whole list. You can also ask the pharmacist about weekly pill organizers, large-print labels or medicines that are hard to swallow.
4. Put refill dates on the calendar. Note prescription refill and pickup dates ahead of time. Acting a few days early, rather than when the medicines are about to run out, avoids a last-minute rush.
5. Go to appointments prepared. If your parent wants, go with them to their check-ups. Bring the list and the questions you want to ask; add any changes the doctor mentions to the list right away.
6. Make the division of tasks clear. Talk with siblings or other relatives about who will update the list, who will go to the pharmacy and who will join appointments. When the load isn't on one person, the routine lasts longer.

Decide together whether to keep the list on paper or on a phone, based on your parent's habits. What matters isn't the format but that the list is current and that everyone looks at the same information when needed. The simpler the list, the easier it is for your parent to use it on their own.

Signs that more support may be needed

Some situations may show that your parent could use more support with their medication routine. When you notice them, talk it over with their doctor or pharmacist rather than making changes on your own:

• Often not remembering whether a medicine was taken.
• Having trouble reading boxes or labels.
• Taking medicines from more than one doctor and mixing up which one came from whom.
• Several boxes of the same medicine piling up at home.

Times like a hospital discharge, a visit to a new doctor or a change in a medicine also need attention. At such times, put the old and new medication lists side by side and clarify with their doctor or pharmacist which medicines continue and which have been stopped. Updating the list the same day prevents confusion.

If you suspect a medicine was taken twice by mistake, or you're not sure what to do, contact their pharmacist or doctor right away. In a serious situation such as sudden confusion, shortness of breath or fainting, call your country's emergency number without delay.

Supporting from a distance

Not every family lives in the same city. Even if you're far away, you can still help with the routine:

• Keep an up-to-date copy of the medication list and go over it together after appointments.
• Call once a week and ask briefly, “How did this week go? Is anything missing?”
• Put the refill dates in your own calendar too and send a reminder when they're coming up.
• Stay in touch with someone who lives nearby; know who is handling what.

For reminder habits, you and your parent can try the ideas in 9 ways to remember to take your medication together.

You'll find other ways to organize times for someone taking several medicines in 5 ways to keep your medication times straight, and help with keeping records in the medication log checklist. Caregiving can be tiring; remember to make time to rest yourself and to ask for help when you need it.

Your parent's own routine with Oveluni

Oveluni is a personal records app for iPhone; there is no family account, and records are stored on the iPhone where the app is installed. If your parent uses an iPhone, you can help them, with their consent, set up a New medication plan on their own phone. Reminders arrive on their iPhone and, if they have one, on their Apple Watch.

When your parent takes a medicine, they can mark it as taken or skipped with an Intake log entry from the Quick add menu. In Summaries, these entries appear as taken, skipped and no record. You can prepare a PDF report together before a doctor visit. The “Hide medication names” option in Notification Privacy keeps medicine names off the lock screen. The records stay on their iPhone; they decide what to share with you. Oveluni is coming soon to the App Store.

Sources

1. MedlinePlus: Medication management for caregivers
2. MedlinePlus: Caregivers