Step-by-step guide to tracking medications

Tracking medications for someone else, particularly an older loved one, is not as easy as it seems. Just ask any nurse on a day-surgery unit in a large hospital: you’ll be astonished how many of patients can’t name their medications — and don’t even carry a list.

Medication regimens can be very complicated and they change frequently, especially for older people. Medications each have two names — a brand name and a generic name — and often both are long and difficult. Medication schedules add another layer of complexity. It’s not as simple as taking all prescriptions in the morning. This is why medication management quickly becomes challenging.

Family members and caregivers are essential when it comes to managing medications. This task is often undertaken by a detail-oriented person, but even if you’re not, the following tips will help you manage your parents’ care, without too much additional stress.

Step 1: Make the list

Any list you make for tracking medications should include:

• Prescribed medications
• Over-the-counter medications (i.e. medications you can buy without a prescription, such as Tylenol or Claritin)
• Dietary supplements, including herbs and minerals

Information to keep for each medication:

1. Name: Both generic and brand names
2. Dosage:
   • Indicate the amount of the medication to take or administer at one time
   • Often it’s in milligrams (mg) but can be in other units, such as drops (for eye drops), puffs (for inhalers), or units (for insulin)
3. Frequency and how it’s taken:
   • Specify how often and when to take or administer the medication (e.g., twice a day, daily in the morning, etc.)
   • Specify how to take or administer the medication (e.g., by mouth or inhaled)
   • Can be complicated if, for example, only one eye receives drops  — it never hurts to be specific!
4. Reason for taking: Note why the medication was prescribed (e.g., for blood pressure)
5. Who prescribed it (e.g., doctor, nurse practitioner, etc.)
6. Special notes: List any special considerations for taking this medication (e.g., take with food)

Most of this information is listed on the pill bottle label. Sometimes the pharmacy will put colorful stickers on the bottle with the special instructions (item 6 above), but you should look at the printed instructions that come with medication for more detail.

Don’t be surprised if it takes a few tries to get the complete list, particularly if you are starting from nothing except a cabinet full of pill bottles!

Step 2: Organize the list

For clients aging in their own home, it’s helpful to group prescriptions according to the frequency (i.e., time of day at which the medication needs to be taken). This approach works because it makes it easy to put the medication together in the pillbox and ensures nothing is overlooked.

Pro tip: Color code the time of day — yellow for morning, blue for evening, green for twice a day (morning and evening), and gray for any other schedule.

Step 3: Verify the list

An important part of tracking medications is making sure your loved ones take them. It can be a little more challenging to determine if your elderly loved ones are taking all their medications exactly as they’re prescribed. You’ll need to do a little detective work; here are a few potential problems to watch for:

• Prescriptions for half a pill
  • Seniors may have difficulty breaking a pill in half, especially if they don’t have a pill cutter
  • Medications are prescribed this way for cost-cutting reasons
• Complicated regimens with different doses on different days of the week
• Expensive medications: Seniors on limited incomes may “ration” the pills to save money
• Pills that run out “too early”
  • Seniors may be taking it more frequently than prescribed
  • Particularly watch medications prescribed to be taken “as needed”

We have more tips on how to tell if your loved one is taking their medication in this article.

Step 4: Keep the list up-to-date

Any doctor (or dentist) appointment may result in a change to the medication regimen. Doctor’s offices give their patients written instructions at the end of a visit; check these instructions against your list every time. Watch for new medications or instructions to stop taking a medication.

Also be prepared to find differences in the list you keep and the office’s list. You’ll need to figure out what the “truth” is and make the appropriate corrections.

Transitions of care are the most challenging times for keeping medication lists accurate. Changes in a medication regimen are more likely to occur when a person moves from one care setting to another and it’s important to determine if a change is intended or if it’s a mistake. Examples of transitions of care are:

• Getting discharged from the hospital to go home
• Discharged from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility
• Changing doctors or starting to see a new doctor
• Emergency room visits

Finally, whenever you change the list, type (or write) the date you updated the list in the document.

You don’t have to start your list from scratch

Here are three medication list templates we like for tracking medications:

• My Medicine List™ from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (found on the ACC Quality Improvement for Institutions website)
• Universal Medication Form from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices
• My Medication Record from AARP (found on Senior Concerns website)

Do you need help managing the care of an elderly loved one in Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Staunton, or Waynesboro, Virginia?

Contact us at Care is There Geriatric Care Management 800.434.1633 or info@careisthere.com. We offer geriatric care management, support for independent living, assisted living enhancement, Aging Life Care™ services, and peace of mind for long distance caregivers.

AGING LIFE CARE™ is a trademark of the Aging Life Care Association. Only ALCA members are authorized to use this term to identify their services. See the Team page of CareisThere.com for a list of our associates, and look for the Aging Life Care logo on the bio pages of our ACLA members.

*Photo by Nappy on Unsplash