[ photo by Anna Shvets ]

Medication management has risks.

I have had multiple patients in my years of practice that have been able to successfully discharge to home after rehabilitation. During rehabilitation, the patients will often work with the speech therapist to see how she does with administering her medications. By this I mean, does she know which medicine to take, how much of it to take, when to take it and how often to take it?

Often the speech therapist will notice she is making mistakes at some point in her medication administration process. According to the CDC, adults over the age of 65 require ER visits at a rate of 450,000 times every year due to medication errors, also known as an adverse drug event (ADE). This is twice as often as those less than 65, and the older adults require hospitalization at a rate of almost seven times that of the younger population. Given these numbers, these assessments and then compensatory strategies the speech therapist develops to avoid an ADE are of utmost importance.

Medication management can be burdensome.

Sometimes, however, those compensatory strategies still are not sufficient. The inability to safely take medications has been enough to keep someone from returning to home without assistance. In these cases, families will often step in and volunteer to help the loved one with the medication management. Some only need the pill boxes filled at the beginning of each week.  Some need their loved ones to actually come to the house daily, and even multiple times a day, to make sure the person is taking the medication correctly. This added oversight of medication management can become overwhelming for family members, and understandably so. 

Assistance with medication management.

I thought it would be worthwhile to share some services that are available to help your loved ones safely take their medications without as much direct oversight required by the family members. I have no financial ties to any of these services, but I feel these are valuable services worth sharing about. 

One available option is similar to the loved one who fills the pill boxes weekly. It is called Pillpack. This service sorts each medication by date and time. If there are multiple pills to be taken at a set time, the pills will all be in the same packet with the name and dose of each pill listed on the front of the pack. Medications are delivered directly to the home. Pillpack only charges for the cost of the medications and accepts most major insurances. 

The other handy aid is called the MedMinder Pillbox. This special pillbox will give your loved one both auditory and visual aides to remind them to take their medications at set times. If your loved one does not take the medication on time, the pillbox will call their phone. If they still don’t take the medication, you will be called, texted or emailed directly. Your loved one can only open the right compartment for that day. The other days stay locked.

There is also the option to add a medical alert system to the pill box. Your loved one wears a bracelet with a button that they would push with any medical issues and then are connected to an emergency monitoring center where they can request help. For refills, a family member can fill the pill trays or the Medminder pharmacy can be utilized to do this with monthly shipment of medication trays. Medminder has some out of pocket monthly expenses for the service, but in many family situations, it might be a cost worth spending the money on. 

These are just a couple of options that are good to know about. There are certainly other companies available that do these similar services, but I wanted to make it known that services like these do exist. These services can take one extra thing off of your busy plate as a caregiver and hopefully give you a bit of added peace of mind. 

Need help deciding if your love one can return home and develop a strategy for medication management? Schedule a consultation with me today and receive a personalized plan of action!

What medication management options are you currently utilizing? Please leave a comment.

© 2020 Jessica Kluetz, DO