Volunteer Help with Medications
There are a number of ways in which At Your Side volunteers can help with medications, as described below. A special mention should be made here that volunteers do have certain limitations that must be adhered to when helping individuals with their medications. These limitations are set by the MA Nurse Practice Act. At Your Side training covers this subject in depth.
Creation of a Medication Record
When At Your Side volunteers first meet the client, they help individuals to create a complete Medication Record, along with a pocket version, and keep it current by updating any changes in the prescription regimen after all appointments.
At the appointment, clients and volunteers ask the medical provider or nursing staff to compare the Medication Record to the patient’s chart to be certain that they are identical, correct and up to date. This is particularly important, if the individual sees more than one medical provider.
Volunteers encourage an elder seeing many specialists to request that one doctor, such as their primary care physician, be in charge of dispensing all of their medications and to use the same pharmacy for all prescriptions.
Reminder calls
Daily medication reminder calls are made by some of our volunteers whose clients suffer from memory loss due to varying diagnoses. These calls work to ensure their clients greater well being by reminding them to take their daily medications.
Volunteer’s state that the few minutes it takes to make a call often makes a world of difference in the isolated person’s day. The calls are a way of making sure the individual is doing well, and reminding them they are a part of the community. Volunteers often hear “Oh, I knew that was you calling” when they reach out with their daily call.
Changes in prescriptions
Some elders with chronic health problems take many medications. Over time, changes in the dosage or types of medication may occur. When this happens, old medications should be disposed of properly. Sometimes the medications are kept as an act of frugality… as elder’s state - “Just in case my doctor changes it again”. This creates great risk of a medication error.
Volunteers will sometimes stop with their client to pick up a new prescription after a medical appointment. The individual is encouraged to dispose of the older medication immediately, or at least relocate it to a different area away from their daily medications, thereby avoiding the risk of accidently taking both medications.
When new medication is received from the pharmacist, volunteers and the client compare it with the notes taken at the appointment. The pharmacist is asked to thoroughly explain the correct way to take the medication, as in with or without food, and any possible interactions or side effects.
The high cost of medication
Volunteers are trained to be good listeners and be aware of developing situations. If they hear that an individual cannot afford their prescription medications, or is altering the dosage (by cutting the pill in half) to make it last longer, volunteers speak to the individual about the importance of notifying their doctor about the situation.
A terrible situation could occur if the doctor does not know that the patient is only taking half of the prescribed medication. At the next appointment, if the symptoms have not improved, the provider may increase the dosage for the individual to get to the correct therapeutic dose.
The individual who is embarrassed to admit taking only half of the prescribed dose due to the cost, then decides “Well this is important, so I should take the whole pill”. What really happens with the new prescription is that now they are taking far too high a dose. A 5 mg. pill cut in half is 2.5mg, but when the new pill is 10 mg. and they take the whole pill that is 4 times the dosage they had been previously taking.
Medical providers must be informed if medication is too costly. There may be a lesser expensive generic drug available. If not, perhaps there is a program available to help financially such as: http://www.aarphealthcare.com/products/rxdiscounts
Medication review
At Your Side volunteers have their client pack all of their medications, along with any over the counter medications and dietary supplements including vitamins in a bag, and together they take them to the local drug store for the pharmacist to review once a year. This is particularly important if the individual has used different pharmacies and been treated by multiple doctors, as a possible drug interaction could occur when medications are combined unknowingly.
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