“How did it get this hard?”
Caroline wipes her eyes as the light turns green. She turns up the radio.
Her drive home from visiting her parents has been teary lately. And it’s always the pills that start it.
Visits start out fine, but after she’s put some meals away in the freezer and had coffee, she takes a look at the pill cupboard. Like many older adults, her parents take a lot of pills. Mom alone has nine different prescriptions.
Last year, Caroline had a scare. She was helping them pack to go away overnight to a family wedding. She opened the pill cupboard and found five weeks’ worth of mom’s medications, unopened.
Mom said she’d had a sore throat and couldn’t swallow the big pills. So she skipped them all for a few days.
She insists that she felt fine without her medications and decided to take a longer holiday from them.
But Caroline is sure she just forgot.
There have been other small changes. Forgetfulness. Uncertainty. Dad didn’t want to interfere. Mom had run their household well for decades, and he hated to treat her differently now.
So Caroline went with them to a doctor’s appointment, hoping for answers. Instead, she left feeling scared. All she remembered afterwards was what could happen if mom didn’t take the right medication at the right time:
High blood pressure. Low blood sugar. Stroke.
For older adults, a medication mistake can change everything. It can mean losing the ability to live safely and independently at home.
After the doctor visit, Caroline bought her mom a pill organizer. When that didn’t work – the compartments were too small for the big pills – she got them to sign up for the blister pack service at the pharmacy. All the pills to take at one time would be packaged together in a bubble with the time marked on it. Easy!
But the next Sunday, she found the blister pack with some bubbles opened and some still intact.
As a last resort, Caroline set up reminders on her dad’s phone. And wouldn’t you know it, he left the phone on his bedside table where he couldn’t hear it beep.
Now she worries about it all the time. Every Sunday, she tries again to come up with a solution. Frustration boils up. And she has a teary drive home.
Caroline doesn’t want her mom to be accidentally harmed by the medications that are supposed to help her. Her parents don’t want every visit to end in a clash. And they don’t want a medication mistake to rob them of independence.
The Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging is working to find solutions to the challenges older adults face in taking their medications at home. Dr. Tejal Patel, PharmD is the Schlegel Specialist in Medication Management and Aging. Her lab looks at the matter from all angles:
- Are pill organizer compartments the right size? Is the lettering easy to read?
- Is the dispenser easy enough to open? Is there an alarm to remind you? Is the alarm easy enough to set?
- How can family members feel confident that the older adults in their lives are safe, without taking away their independence?
The right medication can only work if it’s taken correctly. As older adults live at home longer, they and their families take on the responsibility of organizing and remembering their medications.
Your monthly donation to the RIA can make this search for solutions possible. Please start a monthly gift today to help older adults keep track of their medications – and avoid a life-changing mistake.
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