I think having a medication chart is really helpful! It can help you keep track of your medications and it can save you a LOT of time at appointments because you can hand them a copy of it instead of trying to list everything from memory on the tiny lines they provide on their forms. Make sure you include supplements and vitamins that you take as well!
I have included a list of things you should include on your medication form and I have tried to explain it and give examples. You should be able to find all of this information on the pill bottle under directions or on your prescription bottle. I hope this can help! I will upload a template next week:)
1. Medication Name
There is a Brand name and a Generic name for each medication and it does not normally matter which one you put down, they should recognize both or have both in their system.
ex: Ibuprofen is the generic name and Advil or Motrin is the Brand name
2. Dosage
This is how much of the medication you take in one dose or at one time. It's not how many pills you take, but what the strength or amount of medication you take at one time, it's almost always written in milligrams or mg.
ex: 1 pill of Ibuprofen is 200mg, so if you take 2 pills at a time write 400mg.
3. Frequency
This is how often you take the medication. In medicine, we talk about Scheduled medications that you take regularly and PRN medications that you take as needed or only when you need it.
Ex: My heart rate medication is scheduled, meaning it has been prescribed by my Doctor and I take it every day, so I would write "Once Daily" or "Daily (AM)" on my form
Ex: I only take Tylenol or Ibuprofen as needed for pain, meaning I don't take it regularly, so I would write "PRN" or "As Needed" on my form. If a medication is PRN it will still have a minimum time between pills, for Ibuprofen that's every 4-6 hours, so you could write "every 4-6 hrs as needed" or "PRN every 4-6 hours"
4. Route
This is how you take the medication. For example, most medications are taken orally or "by mouth" as we say in medicine and most are tablets or capsules; however, some are liquid medications or "oral suspensions" as we call them. There are other routes including medication patches (transdermal patches) or suppository (where you put it up your rectum or butt) and there are others as well, but since there are other routes, it can be helpful to list how you take the medication.
Ex: Ibuprofen is take by mouth or PO and it is a tablet. So you could say "PO" or "tablet"
Ex: Some nausea medications disintegrate in your mouth, meaning you don't have to swallow them and for those you would say "ODT" or "Orally Disintegrating Tablet"
5. Reason
This is the reason you are taking the medication or the diagnosis it is associated with. You don't always need to list this, but it can be helpful and some people might ask why you are taking it (just so they know and can put it in their chart) so it can be helpful to have.
Ex: For my heart rate medication I would write my POTS diagnosis or I would just write "Tachycardia" which means fast heart rate
Ex: For Ibuprofen or Tylenol I could just write pain or I could write "joint pain related to hyper-mobility"
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