As a caregiver, there is a lot you do to take care of your elderly loved one, whether they live with you, down the street, or across the country. If your elderly loved one has health issues, it’s likely he has one or more prescriptions that he needs to take to stay in good health and manage his health condition. You might help make sure he’s refilling his prescriptions as needed, but sometimes there is a danger of dosing errors once your senior gets home with the medications. Having a live-in home care aide can oversee the proper handling of medications.
What Causes Dosing Errors in Seniors
While everyone may make an occasional mistake like missing a dose, for some seniors, staying on top of multiple medications is difficult, and each day presents the opportunity to get it wrong. Too many errors or too big an error can lead to serious health issues and may land your loved one in the hospital.
Getting prescriptions filled at different pharmacies. You should encourage your loved one to use one pharmacy only so that all of his medications are recorded in one place, reducing the risk of him taking medications that may affect each other’s ability to work properly for him.
Taking someone else’s medication. If your elderly loved one lives with someone else who also has a lot of medications (such as a spouse), encourage them to keep their medications completely separate. One could keep their medications in the medicine cabinet and another in a drawer so they don’t accidentally take the wrong one.
Not following medication rules. If your senior has multiple medications, they may have multiple instructions. One may say it must be taken with food, whereas another says it must be taken on an empty stomach. Make sure your senior understands the correct dosing for each medication.
Cognitive issues. If your senior struggles with cognitive issues, he might forget whether he’s taken his daily medications. That could cause him to double up his dosage accidentally.
Vision issues. Some prescription bottles have very small print, making it difficult to read the instructions or see which medication is being taken.
Preventing Accidental Prescription Dosing Errors
Protecting your senior from an accidental overdose or missing too many doses will help him safely use his medications and receive the highest benefit from them. There are steps a caregiver can take to help their senior manage their medications.
Provide a daily pill dispenser. Fill it in each week so that your loved one is set for the week. If he has medications he has to take at different times of the day, find a pill dispenser that has holding areas for each dosage time.
Talk to his pharmacist about possibly reducing medications or streamlining them so there aren’t too many conflicting instructions or dosage times.
Make sure his bathroom is well-lit so he can read the labels on his pill bottles.
Dispose of all medications that are expired or that he doesn’t need anymore so that he doesn’t take old medications.
Managing Health and Medications with Live-in Care
If your loved one has multiple health issues or cognitive issues, having a live-in home care provider can help with medication management and keep your loved one safe. Live-in home care providers will monitor his medication use, help with refills, and provide needed reminders so nothing gets forgotten.
If you or an aging loved one is considering Live-In Home Care Services in Hillsborough, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Expert Home Care today at (732) 937-5320.
We provide exceptional live-in home care in New Jersey, including Monroe Township, Edison, New Brunswick, Red Bank, Lakewood, Princeton, Morristown, Flemington, Stockton, Bridgewater, Hillsborough, Montclair, Livingston, Summit, and surrounding communities.
We have been providing Home Health Care to New Jersey families since 1985, and have grown to become one of the largest licensed providers of Live-In Home Care in the upper New Jersey area. Our many years of New Jersey home care experience has produced a company that over 8,000 clients have come to rely on confidently, for help.
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