Lots of different medicines
- Thread starter Vikiann
- Start date
Can you ask at the Pharmacy if they can supply his tablets in one of thier dossett boxes/ blister packs
We got FIL's tablets sent weekly in a blister pack - it makes life much easier and is safer for everyone.
We got FIL's tablets sent weekly in a blister pack - it makes life much easier and is safer for everyone.
Hi @Vikiann, you also need to contact your husbands GP as they are the ones who need to give the chemist weekly prescriptions for the blister pack. Without the extra income from weekly prescriptions chemists will not do blister packs as it would not be cost effective when they have to have extra staff to do them.
my daughter [a dispenser in pharmacy] does my husbands dosset boxes for a month so she delivers 4 x 1 week dossett boxes for my husband and the doctors give a monthly prescription so its done monthly. you also have a list of tablets on the sheet attached so you can see what it is even if the manufacturer/ colour change.
Hello @Vikiann
A warm welcome to DTP
My gosh 14 pills a day is a lot .... May be worth asking your husband's GP to review them and see if they are all still needed .... and I agree about asking for them to be presented in a dossette box, so you don't have the stress of working out what has to be taken when ... dad's boxes were delivered in batches of 4 ie 4 weeks worth ... indeed as he had carers visit each day to help him with the meds, the pills had to be in dossette boxes as the carers were not allowed to deal with pills in bottles etc
A warm welcome to DTP
My gosh 14 pills a day is a lot .... May be worth asking your husband's GP to review them and see if they are all still needed .... and I agree about asking for them to be presented in a dossette box, so you don't have the stress of working out what has to be taken when ... dad's boxes were delivered in batches of 4 ie 4 weeks worth ... indeed as he had carers visit each day to help him with the meds, the pills had to be in dossette boxes as the carers were not allowed to deal with pills in bottles etc
blister packs are the packs the tablets come in in foil and you have to dispense them. a dossett box which is also sometimes called a nomad is a tray with sealed boxes like an ice cube tray with boxes. the tablets for the morning are put in one section and labelled with days of the week. morning lunch tea and night. the pharmacist can do them and you just have to pop the box. my husband has 1 a week but gets delivered 4 for month so one tray a week. i used to put the tablets in a tray each week but this is easier.
My OH has 23 tablets a day and the pharmacy will not do blister packs for him - Im not sure why, but it might be because one of his tablets is a low dose antibiotic that changes every 2 months. I understand how easy it is to get confused.
I use two wallets, each containing 7 dossett daily boxes for a days worth of drugs (morning and evening) and fill them up once a week from the carrier containing all the tablets as dispensed by the pharmacy. I make sure I do it at a time when I wont get interrupted (in my case, when the carer is getting OH washed and dressed). I have a printed list of all the tablets and how many are taken morning and evening. I set this beside all the dossett boxes for the week and put a ruler under the first tablet on the list. I then put this tablet in the appropriate spaces for the whole week going down the seven boxes for each tablet if there are more than one a day. Then I put that box taken from the carrier separately, move the ruler down to the next tablet and repeat. At the end there should be no boxes left in the carrier. I have found the trick is to be organised and the repetitive activity has become a routine. I also have to do it without interruptions.
I use two wallets, each containing 7 dossett daily boxes for a days worth of drugs (morning and evening) and fill them up once a week from the carrier containing all the tablets as dispensed by the pharmacy. I make sure I do it at a time when I wont get interrupted (in my case, when the carer is getting OH washed and dressed). I have a printed list of all the tablets and how many are taken morning and evening. I set this beside all the dossett boxes for the week and put a ruler under the first tablet on the list. I then put this tablet in the appropriate spaces for the whole week going down the seven boxes for each tablet if there are more than one a day. Then I put that box taken from the carrier separately, move the ruler down to the next tablet and repeat. At the end there should be no boxes left in the carrier. I have found the trick is to be organised and the repetitive activity has become a routine. I also have to do it without interruptions.
Wow, that's a lot of tablet sorting @canary !
I can't help wondering how older people - even those without dementia - could be expected to deal with this if they have no one to help. And even when the tablets are in the right boxes, if there's any confusion about time or day of the week, the whole system breaks down.
I am reminded of the time - 50 years ago actually! - when my Nanna was taken into hospital suffering from various overdoses. (She probably had dementia but nothing diagnosed, as was often the case back then) My dad went to her house to collect all her pills and take them to the hospital, to try and work out which she'd taken/not taken. I went with him and there were 4 carrier bags full. It turned out many of her prescriptions were incorrect or duplicated, some things that should have been short term only she'd been on for years, etc, etc. It was a complete mess.
i used to sort and put in dosset boxes all my husbands tablets. it was my sunday morning job and order all the meds. i suppose it was easier for me as i had administered the tablets for the residents when i was at work for years. im glad to give that job up and my daughter does them while working in the pharmacy now. she orders them from the doctors as well. i just got to give them to him now.