Medication Reminders for Elderly Adults
A medication reminder is a prompt that it’s time for a dose. Tie reminders to meals and bedtime, and have someone there to give them, and the routine gets much easier to keep.
The National Institute on Aging notes that people 65 and older take more medicines than any other age group, which is why medication reminders for elderly adults, simple prompts that it's time for a dose from a person, a chart or a device, are among the most requested daily-living supports at home.
What are medication reminders for elderly adults?
A medication reminder is a prompt that a dose is due, from a person, a chart or a device. Your parent still takes the medicine themselves. Reminders work best tied to something that happens every day, like breakfast or bedtime, which is what the National Institute on Aging suggests. Endurance Home Care caregivers provide reminders as a named service, during visits and as part of the daily routine.
Why doses get missed
Usually it’s the number of medicines. The National Institute on Aging notes that people 65 and older tend to take more medicines than any other age group, and each one comes with its own time of day. Two pills are a habit. Six across three times of day, one with food and one on an empty stomach, is a schedule, and anyone can fall behind on a schedule.
So a missed dose is less often about memory than families fear. A refill arrives on a different day. A bottle gets moved during a clean. An afternoon appointment pushes the one o’clock dose past the time it would have been remembered. What helps is a simple system that someone else can see too. Reminders are one part of staying home well, and the rest is in the aging in place guide for families.
Four systems
What helps keep the routine
The National Institute on Aging suggests simple ways to keep track, and none of them asks anyone to remember something new. Each one ties a dose to a time the day already has, or puts the record somewhere everyone in the kitchen can see it.
Meals
A dose tied to breakfast or dinner runs on a clock the house already keeps, which is why it survives a bad week better than an alarm does.
Bedtime
The evening dose is the one most often missed, because the day ends at a different time each night. Tying it to the last thing that always happens before bed helps.
A chart or a calendar
Written on the wall rather than kept in someone’s head, a chart lets your parent, the family and a caregiver all see the same week at a glance.
A weekly pill box
A pill organizer turns the routine into a record. If Thursday’s compartment is still full, you’ll know to ask about it.
When a caregiver is already there at mealtimes, the reminder fits naturally into meal preparation visits. It’s easiest to set a system up during a calm stretch, so that a new prescription later on slots into a routine that already works.
A reminder at the right moment, from someone who knows the routine.
- Says when a dose is due, at the times the doctor set
- Ties reminders to meals and bedtime, so they’re easy to keep
- Notices a prompt didn’t land, and tells the office and the family before the day is out
- Keeps refills and appointments on the household calendar
Medication Reminders is a named service here, written into the schedule instead of done as a favor off the clock. Reminders are part of companion care, so they can be added to any visit, from a few hours a week to care around the clock. Your Care Manager keeps the family posted, so you’ll know how the week went. The note that comes back to you is exact: the prompt happened at this hour, or it didn’t, and here’s the person who logged the reminder. See our medication reminders service.
Endurance Home Care is registered with the Connecticut as a Connecticut License, registration HCA.0002450.
Ask for a medicine review
Before setting up a new system, it’s worth having the whole list looked at. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends asking a doctor or pharmacist to review all medicines, prescription and over the counter, to find any that might cause dizziness or sleepiness. It is a free appointment at most pharmacy counters, it takes about twenty minutes, and sometimes the list gets shorter, and every reminder after that is easier to keep.
And the appointments around it
Coordination of a client’s medical care is one of the things Endurance states it does, which in practice means a caregiver can help with the calls and the calendar, and go with your parent to the visit, so nobody in the family has to take a morning off work. One family put it as caregivers going above and beyond, helping coordinate all of her doctors appointments, which takes a lot off the family’s plate. For families who’d like another layer of reassurance between visits, there are optional audio check-ins and alerts, which listen for events, not conversations, and notify the Endurance team so a person can respond. Your family decides whether to use them.
Questions families ask about reminders
What is the difference between medication reminders and giving or handling medications?
A reminder is a prompt: it's nine o'clock, time for the evening pills. Giving or handling medicine means opening, measuring or handing over doses, and that stays with your parent, their pharmacist or a nurse. Endurance Home Care caregivers give reminders and keep the routine steady. If a nurse is needed in Connecticut, our separate company, Endurance Home Health, provides skilled nursing at home.
Can a caregiver also help with doctor appointments?
Yes. Coordination of clients' medical care is a stated Endurance differentiator, and one family wrote that caregivers go above and beyond, helping coordinate all of her doctors appointments, which takes a lot off the family's plate. A caregiver can help keep the calendar of appointments, drive your parent to the visit, go in with them and help them remember what the doctor said. Your Care Manager keeps the family updated, so you know how the visit went even if you couldn't be there. It saves a family member taking a morning off work, and your parent has company on the way.
Let’s talk about keeping the routine steady
Somebody in the room at nine o’clock, and a note about it by ten. Tell us about the medicines, the appointments and the times of day that are hardest. Connecticut registration HCA.0002450. The first conversation is free, and nothing starts until you say so.