Tips For A Better Medication Management Process

Medication management is a strategy through which doctor-prescribed medications for a patient works in sync with a therapeutic outcome. The process includes initial and ongoing medication review, addressing safety, reducing adverse drug events, educating patients, and engaging patients and their caregivers.

When the management process is implemented effectively, such programs effectively reduce costs and improve care. That is the reason CMS and a growing number of commercial payers have implemented medication therapy management (MTM) as a service. It is a service that involves a programmatic approach to medication management. There are eight tips to improve various aspects of the medication management process.

Appoint A Pharmacist

Many quality and safety organizations support pharmacists as they are the key professionals who manage medication therapy. Such organizations are the Agency For Health Research and Quality, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

If you have a pharmacist in charge of a medication management initiative, he can help you follow the medication guidelines properly. In addition, the training of the pharmacists makes them uniquely qualified to assist others and provide in-depth, medication-related education, consultation, and advice to patients and their families.

Smartphone Medical Applications

Mobile applications nowadays are an intelligent choice in managing the aspects related to medicine intake. This method is advisable for people who follow a long checklist of medicines for various health issues. The dose of the drug, time of intake, the age group suitable for the drug, the type of food that should be avoided due to the intake of the drug, all these aspects should be considered under medication management. It has been observed that people between 30 to 39 years of age are the highest percentage of medication app users among all age groups. The market for medical technology has shown rapid growth worldwide after 2016. Research statistics show that the market for health applications will shoot up further by 2050. Nowadays, patients are more knowledgeable, attentive, and conscious about their drugs and medications. They are thorough with every aspect of their drug intake, like maintaining a to-do checklist for better health, preparing the diet chart, setting up reminders, and many more.

The following are the top medication management apps that are most popular among people and provide ease of navigation:

• Dosecast
• Med Helper
• MyMeds
• Medisafe Medication Remainder
• Mango Health

Check The Beer’s List

The Beer’s list developed by the American Geriatrics Society is exclusively for older patients. It is a list of medications that should be avoided or used with caution. Unfortunately, despite the data supporting these recommendations, physicians and druggists still often prescribe a drug from the list to older patients. Checking the Beer’s list as a part of reviewing will rule out all the possibilities of giving inappropriate medication to the older patients. If you are not sure about a particular medicine of an elderly patient, then it is better to consult the beer list than remain blindfolded.

Remove Unnecessary Medications

Generally, it is safer for any person to have as few medications as possible. If you keep the number of medications as low as possible, lower side effects will be. We must live more on green leafy vegetables and a healthy diet than on medication. Removing unnecessary medicines is also a goal of medication management.

I hope now you have understood the medication management process and the different ways to make the medication more effective.