Prompt medication refills for seniors are critical to making sure they have high-quality care. For families and caregivers of seniors, ensuring regular medication refills can become a daunting task. Your family can work together to set up a calendar system or reminders, check expiration dates, and ensure that medications are taken regularly.
In this blog post, we will discuss steps for these processes as well as services that can help.
Identify Who is Responsible
Accountability for medication refills for seniors starts with choosing someone to be ultimately responsible. Often this falls to a family member, a caregiver, or a pharmacist. Keeping this responsibility consistent and establishing a plan can provide routine, so one person should commit to this important task.
Establish a Tracking System
Once you have identified who is responsible for refilling the medications, you need to establish a system for tracking the refills. Create a digital calendar and set reminders for yourself or a designated family member that go to all your devices. Be sure to sync this calendar to your senior loved one's devices as well. You might also use a pharmacy app that can help in taking care of automatic refills. Finally, include expiration dates on your tracking system so that you can properly dispose of any medication that expires.
Create a Checklist
Another important step is to create a checklist to track the medications needed and the number of refills. This list should include all of the medications that need to be refilled, the dosage, and the number of refills available. The list should also include dates for when you need to order refills.
If you are using an online service, take that into account so that medications arrive on time. You should also list any special instructions that may be necessary to ensure the medications are taken correctly. There are apps that automatically supply this information alongside notifications for your senior loved one to take their medication.
Build Clear Lines of Communication
One key to success when refilling medications is communication. The person responsible for ordering medication refills for seniors needs to have clear communication information for the pharmacy, your senior's doctor and healthcare providers, and any services that are delivering medication. This way, you can ask for a refill ahead of schedule or outside the usual timeframe if necessary.
Use a Service to Help
Digital apps, in-home caregiving services, and professional healthcare providers are all important parts of managing medication and ensuring that refills arrive on time. Digital apps can make sure that you receive reminders well in advance and don't miss expiration dates. In-home caregivers can help make sure that refills happen on time as well. They can help make sure that the process you set up is working for you and your senior loved one. Working closely with your senior's healthcare provider will also be an important part of the process.
Senior Helpers Offers Personalized Care Services
Making sure to refill your senior parent's medications on time every month requires attention to detail, consistency, and a clear process. However, with the right system in place, you can easily make sure that you can have your senior parent's medications refilled correctly and on time.
For help with managing medication, implementing processes, and tracking medication refills, contact Senior Helpers Brevard County today. Our professional caregivers work with seniors in and around the Titusville, Orlando, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island, and Rockledge areas.