Tip #50 Picture Perfect; the "timed medications" whiteboard

     My last tip (#49) was about the "last changed" whiteboards. The kind of information tracked on those boards are typically items that don't happen every day or multiple times in a day. For instance (and prepare yourself for the example if you are faint at heart), if your pain medications cause you to be constipated, it helps you track when the last time you were able to have a bowel movement, and if you have blood taken each month, it helps you track when you did it last, etc.

     The whiteboards in this discussion are "timed medications." You may only need to take one pill/shot/drink of medicine once a day everyday. If so, this whiteboard is not going to be all that helpful. But, if you are taking 2 or more medications each day, and especially if you are taking them multiple times in the day, the timed meds board is quite helpful. I suggest hanging it on a wall in an area you can see from your bed/couch/comfortable area during recovery. Suggested items for the whiteboard:

• Any medication that happens more than once a day and shouldn't be taken too close to the last dose. For instance:
• Pain meds that you can only take every 4 hours (and can be dangerous if the doses are less than 4 hours apart).
• Medications that can't be taken within a specific period of time of another drug/food. For instance:
• You can't have dairy one hour before certain antibiotics, and for 2 hours after
• You can't have certain laxatives until 2 hours after other medications as they will render the medications nearly useless
• You simply have a lot of medications per day. So it becomes a checklist of getting all of your meds done.

Why don't I suggest that you just write these things on a piece of paper? Because:

• Paper gets thrown out or misplaces and 
• You don't always think to go looking for the paper in a day, but the whiteboard is in your face, so hard to forget/ignore
• It enables family members/caregivers to see where you are at, and to remind you if you have missed a  dose/ have an upcoming dose.

Have a look (and PS, if you use permanent markers for the med names, and dry erase for the times, it's easier to wipe off the med times and keep things clean. If you have a change to make with the permanent markers then scribble completely over it with the dry erase, and all of the marker will come up!:

Well, happy safeguarding!