Promoting medication safety (Create a pill reminder card)
Background:
Maya Steele, a client from the virtual experience, has multiple chronic health issues and has recently returned to her home. During the home visit, the community health/public health nurse observed that Maya is high risk for making a medication error. Maya had a difficult time telling the nurse what each of her medications was for, and was unsure about the timing of some of the medications. As the nurse, you decide to create a customized “pill reminder card” to help Maya keep track of her medications and to address any potential low health literacy concerns and her concerns about her somewhat decreased vision.
Maya’s chronic medical issues include: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, Type II Diabetes Mellitus, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), osteoporosis, allergic rhinitis, open-angle glaucoma, mild anxiety.
Maya’s Medications:
Atenolol 100mg tab; one p.o. daily
Hydrochlorothiazide 25mg tab; one and a half tabs p.o. daily
Atorvastatin 40mg tab; one p.o. daily
Metformin 500mg tab; one p.o. twice daily with food
Timolol 0.5% ophthalmic solution; 1 gtt each eye BID
Students should create a customized, electronic document that will serve as a Pill Reminder Card for Maya.
Students should include the name of each medicine, the dose, important information in easy to understand terms (recalling Maya’s low health literacy), use easily understandable graphics/clip art for time of day such as morning or bedtime, include a picture of the pill/product such as shape/size, and pictures that help Maya remember what the pill is for (such as an eye for the glaucoma medication). Students should use actual medication pictures in the document and select clip art that is appropriate. Neatness and clarity of the Pill Reminder Card is essential. Use easy-to-understand graphics or clip art for times of day like morning or night, include a picture of the pill or product, including its shape and size, and pictures that help Maya remember what the pill is for. This is because Maya doesn’t know much about health (such as an eye for the glaucoma medication). Students should use pictures of real medicines and appropriate clip art in their projects. It is important that the Pill Reminder Card is neat and easy to read.
An example of a pill card can be accessed via “How to Create a Pill Card” at https://www.ahrq.gov/patients-consumers/diagnosis-treatment/treatments/pillcard/index.html#Creating
It’s recommended that the student conduct an Internet search to find a website that presents actual pill images (such as WebMD’s Pill Identification Tool: http://www.webmd.com/pill-identification/default.htm). The student will need to copy/save the image and potentially resize it so that it fits in the pill reminder card.
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