Best way to keep track of meds given

[scattycow]

My mum is giving my dad his meds as and when they are needed, but as they are changing frequently and more are being added it's getting more difficult to keep track

What's the best way ... some kind of form to fill in ?? I've seen some on Google but there's multiple meds involved and not sure of the best way to approach this ??

A sheet for every day ?? A sheet for every medicine ?? An hourly sheet ??

Any help appreciated. X

Definitely request the pharmacy create a dosette box. Cite the reasons that she is struggling to remember and for safety reasons and they should be able to be dispensed into a dosette before collection/delivery (usually 4 weeks at a time)

If not possible for any reason you can't get one, you can purchase a pill box online and do them yourself. Hope you get it sorted

Definitely request the pharmacy create a dosette box

Many pharmacies in our area have a waiting list for this. It also wastes meds if a patients has changes or new ones added.

You can buy your own Dosette box from a pharmacy/on line op and, say on a Sunday evening, add all the meds for the week to it. Lots of them have several sections per day for those with a long list of meds that need to be taken several times a day.

If you don't have or want dosette boxes and/or some meds are used when needed you could use MAR charts (Medication Administration Record). If you don't want to make them you can buy them quite cheaply on Amazon or elsewhere online.

Yes, I would do a sheet. Test out formats with your mum. You can make a simple form yourself to try out which format she finds helpful. Eg If they can all be given as needed, she could just fill in the times. Start with a sheet a day if he has lots of meds or a sheet a week if not

Tuesday
Paracétamol . . .
Med A . .

Med B . . .

Or of any have fixed times, you could write the times for her and she just ticks them off. . .

If you want you can add reminders at the top (eg paracétamol. No more than 8 in 24 hours, and 4 hours apart. But check after a week and see if the format is working for her. It's easy to tweak a home made form.

I used to keep mums boxes of meds in a big biscuit tin, with pens in the box and the list on a clipboard right by it, so there was no faff in finding a pen or finding it. Worked for us.

Dosette boxes aren't recommended for pain relief because it's not usually given at regular times. Also there's a big cost to them so pharmacists are reluctant.
Everybody's different. When I had dt giving medication regularly plus the adhoc nature of calpol I had all medication in a basket with a plain sheet of paper and wrote times down so I knew I'd given them.
I have multiple medications regularly plus pain medication that's adhoc. I used to prefil a doset box but found that more complicated and could cause confusion because adhoc medication couldn't go in. So I have a weekly chart in my medication cupboard I tick off which medication and time (it only has the number of boxed I can have in a day so I won't have too many). I also have alarms set on my phone for regular medication which helps keep a routine. It's also handy to be able to show medical professionals what meds have been taken and show any changes in need over time. Another thing I do to stop confusion is have different baskets for different medication, so all regular medication in one basket, all adhoc in another and a third for new prescription coming so I don't have to many in one basket. I think it's trial and error but some form of order helps and some written documentation to check back to helps. If your still struggling maybe speak to the pharmacist, specialist nurse ,community nurse (who evers involved).

I’d be inclined to get a box thing. You can set out a whole week in advance.

https://amzn.to/3yO2X0z

Or make a table in word and print it out and then cross off once given.

A sheet for every day: either sectioned up by time (hourly) or by medication (and perhaps time or morning, afternoon and night across the top of down the side depending where you put the medication)

Ask your pharmacy to create a MAR chart with each prescription.
It will have the medication - instructions - times to be taken - which can be ticked to be marked as taken.
I used these as a senior carer and used to make these when I did live in care for families and for my own audit trail

I'd create a sheet on Excel and then print off copies for each week - ideally as a booklet (because I've got access to a network printer/copier at work), but if not, holepunched and put into a lever arch folder for monitoring and hospital visits.

I'd type in the ongoing medications, dose and frequency (plus any restrictions on food/before or after food) with boxes to tick for the times and leave space to manually write in any new or occasional ones. I'd also use a 14pt sans font to make it clearer to read and leave space at the bottom of each page for comments about side effects, reactions or anything else, such as the size of the pill becoming a problem.

I use these boxes. I have 3

Wow. Thank you all for the useful suggestions. Pharmacies weren't that useful, so I have bought some charts off Amazon and will start using those to start with. X

Definitely helps. I used to write them down but the boxes really help me. I have 7am tablets, 7pm, then two sets of evening tablets I keep in the same part of the container. Sometimes I get my husband to help me make them up, 3 weeks is a lot but it's what I needed to feel like I was getting a good enough break from them. Doing it weekly and even two weekly just felt far too frequent. If I run out of a tablet in the last box, I put a note in and set a reminder to order them on x date. I use my email to set alarm emails (scheduled send)