A little goal-setting can be a good thing. Here are a few for me this year:
1. Have another clinician write a guest post. As fun as it’s been to monologue away, I’d like to get a few other people’s perspectives on the blog. The goal is, of course, to foster thoughtful discussion on how technology can improve the care of older adults, from the perspective of clinicians with practical experience in providing health services to older adults.
2. Find a decent medication list application that I can recommend to patients and families. My biggest priority is that the app help patients keep track of *everything* that has prescribed by multiple providers, including hospitals and EDs. It also should list over-the-counter meds and supplements. (For more on why keeping track of medications is so important, see this post.)
– The must-have feature: medication entry (name and dosing instructions) that does NOT require laborious typing entry for most medications.
– Also required: app cannot be dependent on a single pharmacy chain or EMR system. Many of my patients change pharmacies or use multiple pharmacies. And most of them see providers in different health systems.
– Bonus points if it allows patients/providers to list the purpose of the medication — imagine if every patient understood the purpose of every medication prescribed to him or her!
– Additional bonus points if the app keeps a history, including discontinued medications.
Note that I’m not looking for this app to serve the function of daily reminder (in part because so many of my patients use medisets). This is a nice feature, but my greatest need is to quickly see what the patient is supposed to be taking. I also want to know what the patient is actually taking, but for that purpose, I prefer to see the bottles themselves and be able to use a tool to help with medication reconciliation.
3. Shorter blog posts. Time for me to get better about being concise. Well, for January at least.
There is of course much more that I hope to do and learn in 2013 (so many interesting changes and innovations, so little time), but as far as resolutions go, these three will have to do.
In a nutshell:
This year I resolve to score a clinician-written guest post, to find a medication app worthy of recommending to patients, and to write shorter blog posts (for at least a short while).
If you’ve come across a medication app that might meet my needs, please comment or email me.
Onwards!
This is not an app but perhaps someone could develop one based on this. I developed it when I began to have numerous medications and also based on my experience as a nurse (which before I retired I showed a sample to many patients and their families). I have computers but if someone doesn't have one family members usually do. Name of person. Next line "Date last updated". Next line "allergies" (all). Now we have four columns "Medication", "Dose", "Times Taken" (ie twice a day, 6 AM & 6 PM), "What it is for", and lastly "Emergancy Contacts" (we have had older adults admited and family not aware until they are ready for discharge-especially important with some memory difficulty). If the person sees multiple providers include them here as well with phone numbers. A printed copy goes in the persons wallet, on the refrigerator door (where emergancy personel will look), and possibly to a family member. You can also download a copy to a memory stick. Once done it is very easy to update. I take a copy to all providers including eye doctors and dentists when I have an appointment. Providers love them (I have even whipped it out for a pharmacist when I had to go to a new pharmacy)
A memory stick can also include histories, DCed meds (if the person has cancer any and all treatment information)
A app would be lovely but too many older adults can't afford a smart phone or refuse to use one (my husband -a computer scientist-came to the smart phone very reluctantly).
hi Janice,
Great points you are making. I have had a few patients bring in lists similar to what you describe and they are fantastic. However most people have difficulty keeping them up-to-date, especially if several printed copies have to be updated.
I also agree that many older adults either can't afford or don't want to use a smartphone. On the other hand, the price keeps going down, and I also think tablets are more appealing than the phones. The screens are much bigger, and many older adults enjoy doing their reading on tablets since the contrast and type can be increased. Last but not least, there are lots of younger people using apps and tablets on behalf of their older loved ones.