Navigating the complexities of healthcare can be a challenge, especially as we age. For many seniors, it involves managing various medications, each with its own instructions and potential interactions. It’s a task that requires diligence and a deep understanding of the prescribed medications.
In this blog post, we will delve into a topic that affects countless seniors and their dedicated caregivers: medication management. We’ll explore why seniors need to keep a close eye on their medications. We’ll also tackle issues such as prescription medication hoarding, self-prescribing, and the significance of carefully reading those medication labels.
But this isn’t just about pills and prescriptions; it’s about the well-being of our beloved seniors. It’s about ensuring that every dose is taken correctly, at the right time, and in the safest way possible. It’s also about caregivers, those unsung heroes who provide support, encouragement, and often a watchful eye. They, too, need to understand the ins and outs of medication management to keep their loved ones safe.
So, with a mix of professional insight and heartfelt concern, let’s embark on this journey together. Let’s uncover the importance of medication management for seniors and caregivers, offering guidance for a safer and healthier path forward.
Why is Medication Management Essential for Seniors?
Senior citizens tend to have more medications prescribed than most other populations as we age, have more health conditions, and tend to take more medications, so managing those meds can become complicated, and ensuring that we don’t have medications that interact negatively with each other and that we know what side effects to watch for, ensuring that the dosages are safe. It’s really important, as we’re aging and have different comorbidities, to make sure that we’re taking extra time to manage those medications and ensure that everything is taken as prescribed.
What is Prescription Medication Hoarding and Borrowing or Sharing (PMHBS)
Medication hoarding is keeping medications that are possibly no longer a prescription, maybe we’ve had a change in dosage, or some medication has been discontinued because it’s no longer effective or not appropriate for the disease process that the patient has. A lot of times, people tend to keep those medications rather than dispose of them properly, and borrowing or sharing would be, of course, taking or giving medications to someone that is not prescribed to them by their own physician. So that can cause complications, again, because if we’re not keeping up with the disease processes that are appropriate for that person, it can cause complications and can have adverse effects by taking meds that are not designed for that individual.
What are the Dangers of Self-Prescribing for Seniors?
Seniors have the tendency to take a lot more medications than the younger population, and with those medications, we have to be very cautious to ensure that the correct dosages are being taken and to not interact with other meds that the patient may be taking. So self-prescribing can cause complications because if we’re not taking meds that are as ordered or taking additional medications that are not ordered, they can interact with each other, one could cancel out the effects of another important medication or could cause accidental overdose, which is very common in senior citizens, is also occurs when we have maybe patients who are prescribed medications from one physician and then they see another physician and half prescriptions as well there, that they’re not communicating between their entire medical team on all of the different meds that they’re taking.
Why is it Important for Seniors to Ask Questions and Read Medication Labels?
The biggest concern with reading medication labels is ensuring we know the correct time to take medications, how many times per day, how often, and how many pills to take. Sometimes, the label might say to take two in the morning, one at night, or something like that. So, ensure we read those labels thoroughly to know when to take the medication and at what time of day. And those labels and the leaflets that are included with them will also give very important information to watch out for possible side effects, if something’s going wrong, what to do about it, what to do if you have a mis-dose, or if there’s some sort of side effect that could be concerning and you need to reach out to your physician.
All of that information would be included in the medication label or in the leaflet that’s included. It may also give information as to take on an empty stomach or with food or timing to be separated away from other meds that are being taken. All those things come into play to ensure that they’re getting the correct therapeutic dose of the drug that they’re prescribed. And asking questions, of course, making sure that we’re understanding all of those instructions thoroughly. Patients should be comfortable communicating with their provider, and if they’re unclear on something, always ask questions because any of those interactions could become a real complication in the future and could cause more problems, so it’s best to always ask lots of questions if you’re unsure, make sure that everything is safe.
Why is Medication Management Important for Caregivers?
Caregivers oftentimes, especially senior citizens, play a big role in ensuring that the senior is getting their medications at the correct times and safely prescribed. Non-skilled caregivers in our environment, like home health aids, cannot actually give medication to the patient, but they can remind them of those meds that need to be taken so that the caregivers can understand when the patient should be taking their medications and help to encourage and remind them. But caregivers in the home atmosphere, like the family member or spouse that might be providing care for the patient, need to have the same understanding as the patient as to what needs to be taken and when, and to ask those same questions of the physician so that they have a good understanding of what the patient needs and to prevent any type of medication error accidents.
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