Medication – getting it organised
For many of us, medication plays a large part in our lives.
Our children and young people can be on several different meds, they can be trying new dosages or they may just be on one or two but you still forget to put prescriptions in.
We asked parents who had children with numerous meds what would help them stay on top of it. Huge thanks to all who helped us.
As a result, we have come up with two different downloads for you.
Medication Overview:
This download is to keep on the fridge door or somewhere handy. It provides a space for the name of the med, the dosage required, when to take it, when it was prescribed and who prescribed it.
This is to help you to remember and also, if anything should happen (say you suddenly have to go into hospital for an op), then other people can see what needs to be taken, how much and when. They also have a contact name for the Doctor who prescribed it.
If you have already completed the contact list from our Paperwork feature, then make sure this is nearby.
Medication – Detailed:
This is a much more detailed download. One for each medication.
Again, it covers the name of the medication, the date prescribed, who prescribed it and the dose.
However, it then provides more information. These are all suggestions from families who have children taking lots of medication.
- When is the medication due for review? Is it reviewed regularly or as and when?
- What age was your child when the current dosage was prescribed?
- What was their weight when prescribed?
- What side effects do you need to be aware of? Either from the leaflet handed out with the meds or perhaps from speaking with other parents who have children on the same meds?
- Any interactions to be aware of? Some meds don’t mix well with fruit juice, some meds work better with fruit juice. Ask your doctor when the meds are prescribed and ask other parents.
- Blood checks needed? Some meds require regular blood checks for liver function and Vitamin D, etc. Again, ask your doctor when the meds are prescribed and ask other parents.
- Blood pressure check recommended?
- Weight check recommended?
- Notes – include why it was prescribed, any changes you note – positive and negative.
Other sources:
There are other, even more detailed, resources available online.
Basic Medication Administration: – http://www.cmhcm.org/provider/centrain/Training_Units/Medications.pdf
Filling out medication administration records: – https://dphhs.mt.gov/Portals/85/dsd/documents/DDP/MedicalDirector/MAR’s%20-%20how%20to%20fill%20them%20out.pdf
Downloads for you:
Have you looked at these and thought of another download that would help you? Let us know and we can work on it together, then share with other families.
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Mum to three great kids, each with a different SEN.
Transplanted from the NW to the SE.
Co-founder and Director of Bringing Us Together
We have for some time been successfully using checklists similar to the above for medication management. Our bigger challenge was simplifying, for our son with learning disability and very poor short term memory, the giving of the medicines. Even the largest proprietary day by day pill boxes are not big enough to hold all his medication so we now use plastic “hobby boxes” which are divided into compartments. We have labelled compartments for “morning” and “night” for each day of the week (fourteen compartments in all..and a few spare). We load this with medicines at the beginning of each week and keep it in the fridge. Our son does not now have to wait for someone to count out his medicines, and once the appropriate compartment is empty he knows he has taken everything. This is working well and because the compartments are a decent size there is room for pills, nebulised antibiotics, and sachets of powder. (He still has some of his pills in blister packs prepared by the pharmacy)
We love some of these ideas, thank you so much for sharing. We know some other parents will find them so useful.