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Over half of all seniors stop taking their medication within a year. Elderly individuals with dementia and average age-related memory loss have difficulty remembering when they took their medication. They often take the wrong doses, skip doses, or mix up medications. For family caregivers, finding a way to monitor your loved one's medicine and health helps them live a full and healthy life. Your parent needs to take their prescriptions just like their doctor recommended. One way to monitor your parent's health is through a medication reminder app.
Should you use an app like the Apple Health app for your parent? Missed doses, mixing up prescription drugs, or taking too much medicine can lead to serious health problems, adverse side effects, and even death. Having a way to monitor your loved one's health remotely, and in tandem with their doctor, will help them have a healthy life.
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The new Apple Health app gives family caregivers more control and oversight. The app provides a variety of helpful features:
Additionally, a caregiver can remind their loved ones to take medication. Contact the physician if there are issues. Check the app for any skipped doses. The Apple Health app is available for both the iPhone 8 and the Apple Watch. If your loved one cannot afford an Apple product, some insurance companies will cover the cost of a new Apple Watch. This app promises to be one of the best medication reminder apps on the market this year.
Many family caregivers monitor their loved one’s health from far away. Even if you live close to your parent, you can’t be there all the time, every day. That’s impossible. The Apple Health app allows you to monitor your loved one remotely. Set reminders, add medications, see changes to their medicine list, and contact their doctor through the app.
Save yourself time and stress. Track your parent's health without having to be there in person. Help your parent build independence and feel responsible for their health by allowing them to set reminders to take their medicine.
The one drawback to using a medication reminder app is the technology can be daunting. Set-up requires a significant amount of know-how. Take the time to sit down with your loved one to set up the app initially. If your parent has a regular nurse, work with them to set up quick reminders. Working together will help your parent successfully remember to take their prescriptions.
Older iPhones do not work with the new app. Which iPhone works with the new app? Your parent will need to purchase the iPhone 8 with the iOS 16. The Apple Health app also works with the Apple watch series 4 and the Apple Watch OS 9. To find the latest update on your Apple iPhone 8:
Once you have the correct update, finding the new app is easy. To access the Apple Health app:
From the Medications menu, access the Apple Health app features like setting reminders and adding medication to your parent's medicine list.
Apple has included many new exciting features with this app update. The primary feature you need is the Add Medication option. This option lists your parent's supplements and medicines in detail. Set reminders and also check for any dangerous drug interactions.
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The first thing you will need to do is add your parent’s prescribed drugs to the app. If your parent has a long list of medications and supplements, help them with the initial set-up. To save time, Apple has allowed users to use the camera phone to scan pill bottles. For elderly individuals that have difficulty typing into a smartphone, the camera feature provides accessibility and convenience.
To add the medication using the iPhone Camera:
To add medications to the list without using the iPhone camera feature:
Follow the same process for every medication or supplement your parent takes daily. Update the list when your parent stops taking medication, has a dosage change, or has a new prescription drug or supplement. Check with their doctor periodically for any updates to your parent’s medicine routine.
You can set reminders when you initially add the medication or later on. The dose reminder will send both alerts and notifications. Follow these simple instructions with Dose Reminders:
Once you have set the Dose Reminders, your parent’s Apple Watch or iPhone will regularly alert them when they need to take their pill or supplements. Notifications can be an audio alert, a vibration, or both. If your parent has hearing limitations, vibration will help them know they need to take their medicine even if they cannot hear the notification.
If a parent stops taking a medication, you have options to either delete or archive the medicine. The process is similar for both. Your parent can access archived medications and supplements at a later date. This feature is helpful if your parent’s doctor prescribes the medication again. They can just move it back to the main medicine list.
How to archive a medication:
How to delete a medication:
Daily reminders help your parent stay on track with their medication. The health app allows your loved ones to log in when they take their medication. They can select DONE when they take their medicine. Monitor them remotely. Send them gentle reminders if they forget.
Once your loved one becomes used to the new app, you will have less stress worrying if they remembered to take their medicine today. The consistent notifications set up a daily routine. Routines help older adults remember to do important tasks like taking medication. For parents who have memory loss, having this helpful feature in their pocket can be life-saving.
Unfortunately, seniors suffer poor health effects when they have medication that interacts with other drugs and supplements. The health app provides a helpful alert system to warn you if the medication interacts with another prescription. The interactions menu rates interactions as moderate, serious, or critical. Check with their doctor for any concerning reactions.
As an added feature, the drug interactions menu will also list any issues with tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.
Make your life as a family caregiver a little easier by setting up the Sharing features. The sharing feature allows your parent to share their medical information with you. Before setting up this option, you need to have an Apple iCloud account. Set the health app on by clicking on Settings. Choose iCloud and click on the Health option.
Using the Share feature requires two-factor authentication to protect your loved one’s private medical information. Your parent’s information must be listed in your Contacts. Their iCloud and e-mail must be listed in your Contacts to use the Sharing feature.
Family caregiving takes effort and sacrifice. Monitor your loved one's health remotely. Give them the independence they need while ensuring that they take their medication daily. Work with their physician to monitor their doses and any drug interactions. When you let technology do the heavy lifting, you have more energy to spend quality time with your parent.
