Organize Medications

There they stand like little soldiers---bottles of pills to take care of aches and pains and chronic conditions. Or maybe they are strewn around the house, some in the kitchen, some in the bathroom, and some on the bedside table, placed there to remind us to take them when we eat a meal, or get ready for bed. The important things to remember about medications are to keep them in a cool, dark, dry place so they do not lose their potency or degrade, and to take them as instructed.

Once you have selected a spot to store medicines, separate the prescription drugs from the -counter (OTC) medicines. Store the OTC medicines by category: all the pain relievers together, all the cold medicine together, all the anti-acids together. Think of how they are arranged on your pharmacy shelf so you can find them.

Group the prescription drugs according to whom they are prescribed for. Then decide if you need some help remembering when to take prescribed pills. If you do, there are a number of different medication organizers that allow pills to be placed in compartments. Some hold pills for one day, others for one week or one month. One of our clients especially likes a little round Medication Minder available at Wal-Mart because the compartments are large enough to hold several pills and it fits in her purse when she travels.

One of the ways to make sure you take prescribed medication as directed is to set up visual or auditory clues. Visual clues can be as simple as keeping a medication that needs to be taken with meals on the kitchen table. A couple I know have to take pills with every meal for chronic conditions. Their solution is to have a small three-compartment basket in the middle of their table that has the medications labeled for each of them. The compartments are labeled breakfast, lunch and dinner. This has worked for them for many years and they credit it with helping them maintain their medication regimen. Other folks use a schedule posted on the refrigerator or medicine cabinet as a reminder. People who live busy lives or tend to forget can look into an auditory alarm. Some medication organizers have built-in alarms and alarms that look like watches or beepers are available.

Medication organizers and alarm reminders are available in most pharmacies and department stores. Check out the following web sites to get an idea of the variety available:
www.TechforTLC.com
www.epill.com

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

An Easy-to-Keep Resolution for Better Health

Researchers tell us that some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions deal with living a healthier lifestyle. Many of us resolve to quit smoking, lose weight, eat a healthier diet, or exercise more. I have made all of those resolutions and kept at least one of them. They are hard to keep on a long-term basis.

There is one health-related resolution that is a little easier and can be just as important in helping achieve better health. It is to put together a personal health record that includes all the medication you take, all the doctors you see and all the tests you have had. This important document can help you get better treatment when you seek health care in routine and emergency situations.

While you are going through last year’s receipts for preparing your tax documents, make copies of medical information for a folder that can serve as the basis of your personal health record. A good resource for determining what documents and information to include in you record is www.MyPHR.com. Be sure to check out my guest blog when you are there.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Organize Your Personal Medical Information

October is “Organize Your Medical Information Month”. This is the month folks are encouraged to gather their medical histories and pertinent medical information into one comprehensive record that provides a basis for decision making for themselves, their family and the medical professionals who deliver care to them.

Years ago, the family doctor knew your medical history and the medicine you were taking because he (or she) had often treated your family members and certainly was aware of your care through his own practice or his careful coordination with specialists to whom he referred his patients.

Things have changed. A variety of medications are available over the counter, many people take dietary supplements and access specialty and preventive care without referral. Screenings offered in the community, flu shots offered at pharmacies and grocery stores sometimes do not make it to central medical files. Care gets further fragmented if hospital care or rehabilitation is required.

So, in October, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) suggests you pull all that information together. This non-profit group has a website at http://www.myphr.com/ that has a listing of common information and reports contained in a health record and step-by-step instructions for organizing your health information.

Having your information organized allows you to make better decisions about your continuing healthcare, avoid duplicate tests and get faster, more effective care in an emergency.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

Bathroom medicine cabinets hold a lot more than medicine. If fact, it may not be the best place to keep bottles of vitamins, minerals and prescription drugs. The heat and humidity in a bathroom that is not well ventilated can interfere with the potency of those medicines. It may be better to find a safe place outside the bathroom for those items. Wherever you store medications make sure they are safely out of the reach of children.

Begin organizing by clearing everything out of the medicine cabinet. Discard expired medicines and cosmetics as well as any gunky, dried out, or damaged items. Thoroughly clean the inside of the cabinet

Next, think about how you use the items and reserve that space for things that you need access to in the bathroom near the sink. Toothbrush and toothpaste, razors and shaving cream, make-up and applicators may be the things you want to reserve space for. First aid supplies should be readily available and, space permitting, the medicine cabinet is a good spot that allows all persons in the household to know where to retrieve bandages, tweezers and antibacterial ointment. Keep these items together in a first aid kit.

Once you have decided what items will go in your medicine cabinet, take a critical look at the height of the shelves. Many cabinets have adjustable shelves, and now, when you have everything removed, is the time to adjust the shelves to fit the products you are going to place in the cabinet.

While the height of some items may dictate where they are stored, the general rule is to put like things together and the most used items on the lowest shelves. Use small trays and baskets to group items and make it easier to pull them from shelves for use.

If you have a metal cabinet consider using magna-pods to increase storage space and keep frequently used items close at hand. These handy little magnetized containers come in various sizes and attach by magnets to the inside of the cabinet door, Check them out at www.magnapods.com.

Now that your cabinet is organized, keep it that way by checking expiration dates as you use items and discarding out of date products. Clean up spills when they happen and discard items that are becoming grimy, rusty or dirty. Keep like items together and don’t over stuff the cabinet with duplicate items. Keep the extras stored elsewhere until you need a replacement.

Your medicine cabinet is now ready for you to access what you need and for any guest to admire.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Avoid Bathroom Clutter Traps

Throughout the house there are certain areas that just seem to accumulate clutter. One of those areas is the bathroom. It is a limited space in which we accomplish varied tasks and need to store a variety of items. The things we store in the bathroom fall into four categories: medicines and pharmaceuticals, toiletries and make-up, supplies, and appliances. The key to orderly storage and easy access is to group by function and not by type. For instance, you may use a hot lather machine, disposable razors an aftershave and occasionally, a styptic pencil to shave in the morning. You may also have an electric razor that you use routinely or occasionally. If you create a shaving kit and store these items together, you can more efficiently pull them out when you are ready to use them -and put them away when you are finished. Otherwise you may be tempted to leave an item or two on the counter space. Grouping the items according to function saves time and energy. Try grouping them in a clear shoebox and storing on an enclosed shelf or deep drawer.

Apply this same principle to fashion a first aid kit that includes Band-Aids, antiseptics, bandages and an analgesic. Gather and store supplies for dental hygiene. You can also put together a makeup kit with the cosmetics you use on a daily basis, so you can apply and fly to your next appointment.

There are many storage items that are available to organize your bathroom accoutrements. Also look outside the traditional bathroom storage systems to coral functional items. If you take a lot of pills or dietary supplements the four-drawer spice rack with slide-out and flip-down drawers provides a handy way to organize the bottles. Look at cabinet plate organizers or over the cabinet mail racks to separate and store flat bubble packs. Also investigate slide-out wire racks in various dimensions to store supplies in narrow spaces and under the sink.

If you need a place to sit, a place to store and a flat surface to keep a few things handy, take a look at the telephone bench/storage cabinet at www.Solutions.com. It has a cushioned seat, a flat table surface and two hidden storage compartments.

Whatever innovative solutions you design, remember to keep items together to perform a task and keep the kits you create close to the point of activity. That will make it easier to avoid clutter.

Check out the products mentioned at the following web sites:
www.Solutions.com
www.Grandinroad.com
www.taylorgifts.com


Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransition.net