Medication Management 101: Tips to Prevent Errors and Missed Doses at Home

One concern we see at CareChoices, over and over again, from families is ensuring their loved ones receive the right medication at the right time. Errors and missed doses can lead to serious health issues. There are practical tips to help you manage medication effectively, for yourself as well. 

The Importance of Medication Management 101

Practical approaches, a proactive strategy, and awareness create a tripod that can prevent errors and missed doses at home. Medication in the wrong dose, taking the wrong medication altogether, or forgetting scripts is something that occurs in home-care settings as much as we might wish otherwise. The person managing medication ensures safety. It’s an enormous responsibility. 

How to Avoid Medication Mistakes at Home

There are some best practices, guidelines (if you will) that we at CareChoices encourage you to embrace. 

1. Maintain current and complete medication lists. Include supplements, over-the-counter drugs, and prescribed medicine (and the name of the prescribing doctor). Remember to include the dosage and timing. Make a note of any allergies. Keep this master list in an easy-to-find location (your cell phone is one option). Whenever anything changes, update the list. By the way, you can take the list with you to appointments where providers inevitably ask about any medication changes.  

This is a good time to make a list of all providers, their phone numbers, and whether each uses a different pharmacy than the one the individual regularly uses. 

2. Streamlining Providers and Pharmacies: There are situations where you have to use more than one doctor or pharmacy. If offices are not communicating properly, there’s a risk of drug interaction or duplicate therapy. So, if you have the choice to keep things under just one or two proverbial roofs, that’s a plus. When you can’t, CareChoices suggests giving everyone involved a full list of medications for review before making changes or additions. 

3. Labels & Measurements: Some medications come with dosing cups. USE them. A kitchen spoon is not as accurate. Read the label for instructions on how to take each medication. 

• Is it morning or night? 
• Chewed or swallowed? 
• Once, twice, or three times a day? 
• Take it with food or without? 

These may seem like trivial matters, but failing to follow the guidance means the medication won’t work precisely as intended. 

4. Storage and Expired Medication: One preventive issue in medication management is improper storage. Avoid leaving it in hot cars, for example. Medication bags typically come with stapled instructions that include where to store them best. 

When you go to set up dosing, check the expiration date. Remove expired medications. If this leaves you short, call the pharmacy and explain the situation for a refill.

CareChoices Action Plan to Prevent Errors and Missed Doses at Home

Our caregivers know the importance of medication management. But not everyone has in-home help. So, just to recap:

• Make a complete list.
• Keep everyone on your medical team aware of medications and any changes
• Use tools like alarms and pill boxes to help you remember to take your prescriptions. 

• Store them correctly, label them clearly, and throw out expired medication
• Ask Questions: If you don’t understand the reason for the medication, ask about it and check for side effects. Details matter.

By following this protocol, you reduce the chances of missing medication or making mistakes. 

If you’d like to learn more about CareChoices services, we have an online form for your convenience.