It can be very overwhelming when you are juggling several doctors and a list of medications for your aging veteran care. You also have to organize everything and make sure your dad’s caregiver knows what’s going on so she can remind your dad to take his medications on schedule.
Many aging adults have several conditions or illnesses that affect their emotional and physical well-being. They may have several doctors and take a handful of different medications regularly. There is limited time that doctors have to co-ordinate with you or your dad’s caregiver.
One thing that families have found helpful is to keep a list of all the doctors that are handling your loved one’s medical care. Include their address and phone number of their reception desk. For each doctor, list the conditions or disease that doctor is treating. List all the names of the medications and the doses that go with each. Make sure you have not made any errors. Keep that list beside the phone and another spare somewhere in case you need to take it with you. It should be taken each time your dad sees a doctor, or another specialist, etc.
Staying organized is the best method for not losing your sanity. If necessary, take all the medications and get them put into blister packs so that your dad knows he has to pop open the blister pack and take 1 of them 3 times per day. The blister packs can even be marked with days and times so that your dad doesn’t have to try and remember if he took a blister pack of pills this morning or not.
It is also helpful to have 1 general family doctor who knows all the conditions, medications and specialists in regards to your father. Then you’ll have someone to check in with if you suspect that some medications are reacting unfavorably together, etc. Even though each specialist is taking care of one part of your dad’s health, you need one person who can see the whole picture and know what’s going on in each facet of your dad’s medical health.
If he hasn’t already, get your dad to sign the necessary release forms which will allow you to access all his medical records and speak directly with his doctors. This is especially beneficial for those circumstances that you need to call the doctor in his behalf.
