Creative Ways To Remember To Take Medications

Medication reminder

Taking drugs according to prescription is known as medication adherence. A lot of people forget to adhere to their treatment plan. How to remember to take medication is one aspect that is very important to achieve the desired therapeutic goal of every medical intervention. There are many reasons people do not keep to their prescription. However, the most important one is forgetting to take the drugs when it is time or thinking it has been taken.
Before a medical doctor prescribed medication, they put into consideration the patient lifestyle and severity of the condition being treated. Single daily dosing is prescribe for some why drowsy drugs are reserve for patients who are not active physically at their place of work. This is done to increase patient medication adherence. However, there are certain condition that cause some patient to forget to take their medication.
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Why Some Do Not Remember To Take Medications

1. Side effects: this is a common reason why some people skip doses. A new health challenge during medication can move some to stop their medication altogether or start skipping it. The solution is to contact the prescriber or another healthcare professional for advice on the new health challenge instead of relying on perception. Also, prescriber and dispenser should do well to educate their patient on possible side effects and action to take.
2. Confuse on drug indication: some patient feel some of their drugs are irrelevant. They need to get information about the purpose of each drug before leaving the prescriber and dispenser. When they don't know, they will skip doses.
3. Understand prescription: not all patient leave with full knowledge of how they are to use their drugs. This is very common in settings where the prescriber and dispenser are attending to so many persons at time. The patient goes home guessing the dosage from the written inscription. Prescriber and dispenser should focus on achieving the goal of therapy by paying more attention to this crucial aspect t of the healthcare process. This is the last stage and it can ruin the whole process.
4. Cost: some patient are shy to explain that a particular medication is way above their financial status and request for a cheaper alternative like unbranded products if their insurance did not cover for it. They end up not buying the complete dose. Prescriber should be very observant when prescribing to avoid this problem. A simple call across to a pharmacist in the retail sector can save a lot on which cheap effective brand is available.
5. Dosing and duration: some people have all the time to take drugs at any time of the day while some others don't. Prescriber should consider these factors when prescribing.
6. Dosage form: some patient can skip medication just because they are given a dosage form they don't like. As I prefer capsules, there are others that prefer tablet. Every patient should be prescribed a dosage form they are comfortable with. Some patient can take liquid medication at home but can't carry bottle to work. In such a case, they can be given a tablet of the drug as long as it is same thing. A good example is antacid suspension and the tablet.

Medication Reminder Tip

If the patient gets the drugs they like at the right dose, duration, cost and know the indication for each, they are most likely to adhere. However, even when all these have been met some still fail to remember. We are humans and we can forget easily especially with the many things to do everyday. However, there are certain things that can help one remember when to take their drugs.
1. Location: keep medication in easy to see location. Best location are places you put basic things you use once or more times a day. As a female, keeping your drugs besides your make up mirror or similar gadgets can increase medication adherence. For others, drugs where they get access to their toothpaste do the magic.
2. Pill box: there are different types of pill box. Some come with compartment for each day dose. Some even have up to four compartment for each day of the week. This help to divide drugs into different dosage regime. A drug to be taken three times a day will be place in three different compartment within a day of the week for all seven days. To always remember, make it a point of duty to refill the box at a particular time of a particular day every week.
3. Electronic reminder: your phone and other electronic gadgets can be use to remind you to take your pills. It all involve setting reminder that set up an alarm. The alarm may bleep with a reminder message set by you. There are dozens of Android and iOS apps available for download free or with a little fee that added features. A simple Google search will bring out some.
4. Involve Family: if you live with others, get them involve. They should be aware when you should take your drugs. If you may forget the dose, they may even help out in such case if they know the dose before.
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5. Automatical pill dispenser: this is not even available in our hospital. However, there are home pill dispenser available for sale all over the Internet. They serve dual purpose. They store your pill like a pill box and help set an alarm when it is time to take them. It is simple to operate. All you need to do is to load the pills inside, set it to dispense the prescribe dose at a particular time of the day. It release the drugs when the time comes.
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