Medication reminders

One of our readers, Susan, wrote in about a pill-dispensing device that has saved her father’s independence.

“It was when the doctor prescribed the fourth medication,” she wrote, “that my father became unable to keep track of his pill schedule. When he forgot and took one medication twice and ended up in the hospital, I knew we had to do something before a real tragedy occurred. It seemed as though a nursing home was the only route left to us.”

Susan is not alone in her concerns about her father. Inability to manage medications accounts for nearly 23 percent of admissions to nursing facilities. But it’s even more serious than that. Taking medications incorrectly accounts for nearly 125,000 deaths per year.

In the hunt for help for her father, Susan discovered a machine that dispenses the correct medication at the right time — TabSafe.

With the TabSafe device, company pharmacists put the pills into the computerized unit, and the patient’s individual schedule is programmed into the machine. Not only does the device sound an alarm to remind the patient that it’s pill time, but if the medication is not taken within a few minutes, it will call up to three caregivers to notify them.

TabSafe even keeps a record of the drugs dispensed and automatically orders refills.

There are a number of devices on the market with similar features, the most important one being the reminder alarm. With some units the medication is put into the machine at home and the correct pills are dispensed at the right time. With others the pills are put in groups in individual trays that open.

The one thing the devices have in common is allowing seniors more independence because they can manage their medications.