Medication management for seniors is important, because if you are a senior adult aged 65 years or more, you might be taking anywhere between 1 and 5 prescription medications.
Having to take multiple drugs because of comorbidities (different health issues present at the same time) is known as polypharmacy. While this may be necessary to maintain quality of life, polypharmacy raises the risk of errors that stem from juggling more than one kind of medication.
According to a recent study, 7 out of 10 senior adults were likely to make mistakes when taking their medications at home, the most common errors being:
- Forgetting to take their medications completely.
- Taking their meds at the wrong time.
- Not taking meds with food if they were supposed to, and vice versa.
- Taking the wrong dosage, usually less than prescribed.
- Forgetting their doctor’s instructions.
Why medication safety for older adults matters
Medication safety means that drugs used for healthcare purposes are prescribed, dispensed, and used safely and in the manner intended. It can be seen as a checklist of dos and don’ts that healthcare professionals follow to minimize the risk of errors in drug administration.
Medication safety must be followed by patients themselves as well, when they take their meds at home. After the doctor has prescribed and the pharmacy has dispensed your drugs, you must make sure to take the meds according to instructions.
Practicing medication safety protects you from several harmful consequences, such as adverse reactions between the different drugs you may have to take, reactions between drugs and food, under- and overmedicating, and accidentally taking medications that are not meant for you.
Adhering to medication safety may also help you manage side effects better.
How to practice medication safety
A large part of medication safety relies on paying attention and being organized. This can significantly lower your risk of making a mistake, particularly when you must take several different kinds of meds to manage different chronic diseases.
To develop a good routine of medication safety at home:
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Update your medications list
Write down, either on paper or in a note-taking app on your phone/tablet, the names of all the medications you take. This list should include prescription drugs, over-the-counter meds, vitamins, supplements, ointments, and herbal preparations.
Alongside its name, write the health condition for which you take the drug, its dosage, and its frequency (how many times a day you must take or apply it).
Add to this list whenever your care provider prescribed a new drug, and note the date when you start taking the new medication.
As for drugs you no longer take, transfer their details to a separate list. Make sure to note the date when you stopped taking any medication. This record can be very useful in cases of a delayed reaction to the drug.
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Review your medications regularly
Your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is a good time for you and your primary care provider to go over your list of medications. During the review, your doctor may decide to add to, drop, or change some of your medications, or recommend alternatives.
If you are a patient of specialist providers who each treat you for a specific health condition, you might want to schedule individual visits to discuss the drugs they’ve prescribed.
Note: While you’re at the clinic for a medication review, do a Benefits Review, too.
A Benefits Review is a simple, two-step process:
Step 1: Look at the Medicare benefits you’re getting right now, and ask, ‘Is this enough?’
Step 2: Find out what more you could get.
Thanks to Benefits Reviews, we’ve helped senior patients across all IntraCare clinics get better benefits and save up to hundreds of dollars on healthcare costs.
For more information and guidance on Benefits Reviews, ask a member of staff at your IntraCare Health Center, or call our Patient Relations Team hotline 800-941-1106
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Store your meds properly
Some drugs need to be kept chilled in the refrigerator, others can be safely kept at room temperature in a dry place. Never leave any medications in the path of direct sunlight, in a place that can get too warm, or within reach of children and pets.
When in doubt, follow the storage instructions printed on the box, bottle, or tube. If you still have questions and concerns about storing your meds, ask your pharmacist.
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Dispose of meds responsibly
Getting rid of expired, unused, or partially used medications can be problematic. The best way, as suggested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is take-back options where you can turn in medications to qualified personnel for safe disposal. Check if your local health center or pharmacy has a drop-off program.
The Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) observes a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day each year, and designates drop-off points where you can hand in any medications that are expired, or that you do not need.
Flushing old meds down the toilet is discouraged as the active ingredients can dissolve and contaminate the water supply. However, the FDA does maintain a ‘Flush List’ of drugs that it recommends should be disposed of in this way. These medications have high potential for misuse and/or abuse by people with certain drug addictions.
Medication safety and the 5 Rights of drug administration
In clinical and hospital settings, healthcare providers follow the ‘5 Rights’ of drug administration to reduce the risk of medication errors. You should follow the same rules in your home when you self-administer your meds. The 5 Rights are:
- Right drug: Having multiple chronic health conditions means you may need to take a different medication for each condition. Since containers for prescription pills are often identical or very similar in appearance, it is possible to mix them up.
Tip: Stick a plain label or piece of masking tape on the bottle cap and initial the health condition in large letters, for example D for diabetes, BP for blood pressure, and so on.
- Right patient: If you live with other people who may also be dealing with illnesses, and you share storage space such as a bathroom medicine cabinet or refrigerator, you could accidentally take medicine prescribed to someone else.
Tip: Stay safe by storing your meds in a separate container, like a plastic food storage box, that is clearly labeled with your name.
For even more instant identification, go down the color-coding route and assign a color to each person. Your storage box, pill box, dosing cup or spoon, and all related medical paraphernalia should be the same color or marked with stickers in your assigned color.
This way, if your assigned color is yellow and your spouse’s is purple, you’re less likely to dip into the wrong container and accidentally pop their blood thinners instead of your own blood pressure pills.
- Right dose: You’ve taken a beta blocker for heart health every day for years, but your doctor recently upped your dosage to 2 pills a day. You forget your doctor’s instructions and out of habit, take only one pill and that does nothing for you. Or, you’ve just been prescribed a new liquid medication, but did you know that spoons are not always the same size even if they are all teaspoons, or all tablespoons?
Tip: Stick a dosage chart near your medicine storage area and note down which drugs you need to take, how much, and at what times. Refer to the note every time you take your medicine.
For liquids, always use the dosing cup or spoon that came with the bottle, or get a calibrated spoon made specifically for medicine.
- Right time: Some medications should be taken before meals, some after. Some should be taken in the morning, some at night. Mixing up timings could cause drowsiness during the daytime when you should be awake and alert, and insomnia at night when you need to sleep.
Tip: Follow the timings listed on your dosage chart carefully. Set reminders or alarms on your clocks or phones for extra precautions.
- Right route: This might seem an odd, even silly, concern, but it is indeed possible to take medication not the way it was intended. It is especially true of drugs that are administered as drops — you might find yourself putting ear drops in your eye. Also quite possible is accidentally brushing your teeth with a ointment meant to soothe itchy skin.
Tip: Be very vigilant and always read the label on the container, even if you’ve been taking the medication for a long time.
Medication safety and aging
Growing older has an impact on how your body processes medications. With age, your metabolism slows down, your immune system may grow weaker, and your kidneys and liver may not be as efficient.
This affects how your body absorbs, distributes, and eliminates drugs. Every new drug you take puts your body through a process of adaptation, and you do not want to throw it off-kilter by making mistakes.
If you start feeling odd, uneasy, get stomach pains or other gastric distress, it could be that your drugs don’t agree with you, or it could be that you’re taking them wrong. Either way, speak to your doctor as soon as possible.