Family caregivers are often those most involved in overseeing the medications of the person they are caring for. The work involved can be daunting – including keeping track of medications, doses and changes that may occur due to specialist involvement, stays in acute care, etc. It is important to keep good records to make sure your care recipient is getting the correct meds on the correct schedule. If you haven’t tapped into the support your local pharmacist can provide, you should consider doing so!
Pharmacists can be a huge source of support – tune-in to learn about their services including:
– Up-to-date lists of medications and dosages
– Information about possible adverse medication reactions and interactions
– Blister packing and medication dispensing services to make administration easier
– Yearly flu shot clinics as well as scheduled vaccination administration
– Help to understand Fair PharmaCare and third party insurance coverage
– Work with prescribing physicians and any third party plans to make sure your loved one gets the maximum coverage available to them for their medications
– Some pharmacies even have nursing services, such as daily blood sugar monitoring, insulin injection, and medication administration
– Find out the best questions to ask your pharmacist and doctor about medication use.
56 % of the all adverse events due to medications are preventable and medication-related incidents are among the most frequently identified types of adverse events (Source: Canadian Patient Safety Institute, The Change Foundation, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. Safety at home. A pan-Canadian home care safety study. 2013. Available from: http://www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca/… ome/documents/safety%20at%20home%20care.pdf; accessed 2015 Mar 12)”