Medication Containers: Making Pharmacy Bottles Easier

The medication containers your parent gets from the pharmacy can be made much easier to use. Pharmacies can often provide easy-open caps instead of childproof ones, larger-print labels, and pre-sorted dose packs. At home, color-coding the caps, keeping a current medication list next to the bottles, and knowing which medicines must stay in their original containers prevents a lot of mix-ups. And learning to read the label helps you catch problems before they happen.

Dad keeps all his pill bottles in a shoebox. The caps are a fight for his arthritic hands, the labels are too small to read without a magnifier, and three of the bottles look exactly alike.

Step 1: Learn to read the label

A prescription label usually includes:

• Your parent's name. Always check it, especially if anyone else in the house takes medicine.
• Medicine name and strength.
• Directions: how much, how often, and with or without food.
• Prescription number and pharmacy phone, for refills.
• Prescribing doctor.
• Fill date, refills left, and a "discard after" date.
• Warning stickers, like "may cause drowsiness" or "take with food."

If anything on the label is unclear, call the pharmacist.

Step 2: Ask the pharmacy for easier containers

Many pharmacies will, on request:

• Use easy-open caps instead of childproof caps, if no children live in or visit the home. Keep these bottles locked away when grandchildren visit.
• Print larger labels, or add an extra large-print sheet.
• Package medicines in pre-sorted dose packs by day and time.
• Synchronize refills so everything is picked up on the same day.

Step 3: Make the bottles easy to tell apart

• Color-code caps with dot stickers or colored rubber bands: one color for morning, another for evening.
• Write the purpose on the cap in marker, like "blood pressure" or "water pill."
• Line bottles up in the order they're taken.

Step 4: Know what stays in the original container

Some medicines need to stay in their original container to stay effective, such as medicines sensitive to light or moisture. Don't remove the small moisture packet some bottles come with. Ask the pharmacist which of your parent's medicines can go into a pill organizer and which can't. See pill minders.

Step 5: Use the right container for liquids

Use the dosing cup, syringe, or spoon that comes with a liquid medicine, not a kitchen spoon, which can give the wrong amount.

Step 6: Store and discard safely

Keep containers in one cool, dry place, not the bathroom. When a bottle is empty or a medicine is stopped, take leftover pills to a drug take-back location, and scratch out personal information on the label before throwing the bottle away. See medication box: safe storage at home.

Keep one list with the containers

Keep a current medication list next to the bottles, with what each one is for and what the pill looks like. Update it whenever a doctor makes a change. For the full system, see senior medication management.

Where help at home fits

Our Care Professionals help keep the containers and the routine straight. They give medication reminders, make sure the right dose comes out of the right bottle or organizer, notice when bottles are running low or doses are missed, and make sure our team and you hear about it. They pick up prescriptions and drive your parent to appointments where medicines get reviewed, so you don't have to take time off work. For more on reminders, see medication reminder services for seniors. See how everyday help at home works.

What to do next

1. Gather every bottle, and check each label.
2. Ask the pharmacy about easy-open caps, large print, and dose packs.
3. Color-code the caps and line them up in order.
4. Ask the pharmacist which medicines must stay in original containers.
5. Look at all our home care services, or see your exact price in 30 seconds.

Need help for someone in your family? See your price in 30 seconds, or call us to talk it through.

This article is general information, not medical, legal, or financial advice. Talk with a qualified professional about your situation.