Tip #79, Picture Perfect; Spicy Medication Trays (Part 2)

     My last post was about using a magnetic spice rack for medication preparation. The goal of such a crazy plan is to give the one recovering an opportunity to be more independent,  and the caregiver an opportunity for more rest and less stress. Well then, here we go!

Magnetic Spice Rack Medication Tray Instructions and Details

Note: The tray should contain everything you need to do meds yourself!

First: When purchasing the magnetic spice rack, look for wide based spice containers, a long and wide base, and a good quality magnet on the bottom of each container. This tray from Canadian Tire has worked very well, and was about $35 (CD). If you can, it's handy to have 2 or 3 of them. Have a look at the Can. Tire one here if you'd like, and look below for how they're transformed.

 

Note: The one downside about this tray is that this spice rack was meant to stand on a counter like a frame, and so the back looks like the back of a frame that would sit on your desk, only it's metal. There were 2 options to fix this that we could think of:

1. Use a grinder to get rid of it. Or,
2. Pad the bottom of the spice rack with thick cardboard and duct tape. If you don't do either of these steps, be aware that the bottom is a pain, and it may catch/tear materials (like sheets, or pants). Both work, but my opinion is that #1 was the best result.

Now the actual details: 

1. Prepare your Med Bag. The idea of the Med Bag (which sits on the tray) vs. the tray itself is that the med bag is like your grocery bag - it has everything you need for that meal/med time. Then, the tray is like your mixing bowl, counter, plate, and cutlery. Of course each bag will be unique to it's owner, but I hope that the following list gives you some idea of what might be right for you. Suggestions are based on 1 bag for 1 medication time (each medication time should have it's own (large ziplock) bag - which is very important in avoiding medication errors! Supplies:

• A labelled (medium sized) resealable bag that contains ONLY the medications/supplements pertaining to that medication dosing time (which may include some meds that are drawn up into syringes, or already crushed pills in a small dixie cup covered with glad press and seal, etc). NOTE: every prepared medication MUST be labelled individually.
• Required number of extra syringes or small plastic medicine cups required for that med time
• Required number of tongue depressors, stir sticks, or plastic spoons necessary for that dose.
• A small towel to put between you and the tray (like a tablecloth).
• A cleaning wipe (in a labelled resealable bag) in case of "spillage"
• A paper-towel for any of the messy work 
• An extra medium sized resealable bag in case you have liquid garbage that you can't get up to get rid of

Picture above: stack of med bags  Each med bag is labelled for it's administration time (Friday January 25th 10am medications, etc.)).

2. Prepare Spice Tray. You're almost there... just a few things to add:

• Travel Pack of Wet Wipes (hand wipes.... one or two in a resealable bag can work too).
• Cups for the spice containers (reminder: you can't put medications into metal containers, so instead they go into paper cups. 16 ounce cups work best for this model. Smaller dixie cups do work, but there is less spillage with the larger cups). Label each cup - 4" x 1"white mailing labels work really well. Marker works well too, but it takes a little longer to write on each instead of using printed labels.
• Cup 1: Water Cup (Keep a thermos of warm water for mixing nearby)
• Cup 2: Equipment Cup (for extra stir sticks/syringes, etc)
• Cup 3: Garbage Cup
• Cup 4: "Extra" Cup (actually labelled extra). Use this as a "working" cup. For instance, as you unpack and open each syringe and put it's wrapper in the Garbage Cup, put the actual syringe in the Extra cup.
• Cup 5: In this case it says Protein (if you look in the picture below), but it is meant for powdered medications/supplements that get mixed with water at the last minute. They are messy to sort out in bed if they are not pre-measured. This also works for crushed tablets and powder-filled capsules. In each case the water cup is used for mixing at the appropriate time.
• Cup 6: You get the gist.

A few fast notes:

• Label, label, label, label. Yep, and label some more. Very important. 
• Stack cups. You can use 1 tray for 1 day, even if there are 7 medication times. Stack 7 garbage cups, 7 water cups, etc.  NOTE: In this case don't have any meds on the tray - keep even powdered meds in the med bags (same type of cup, and glad press and seal (way better than saran), but LABEL and pull out only at that med time).
• Write the meds that you must take on the outside of the med bag for each med time (the big outer med bags are reusable over and over again. Labels stick on well, but come off easily when needed). That way nothing is forgotten.
• Make a master list or take a picture of everything you want to go into the med bag or onto the med tray. Then it's easy for any of your caregivers to grab what you need (as in picture to right).
• You can have a whole day's within immediate reach, spill free.

Happy reaching!