Phoebe: Routines with multiple medicines – Helpful ‘tools’ in creating routines
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Phoebe
Female
Age at interview: 73
Number of medicines: 19
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian/British
Phoebe has easy tricks to help remember where she is up to when taking her medicines and filling her dosette box and that help her take medicines while she is out.
Phoebe:
Knowing what it's for, the illness, I think helps you to be motivated and when I swallow, mostly I say the name of it, because sometimes you get distracted. The phone rings or something and you think, er, have I taken it? That's horrible. Ideally, you'll do this in daylight, when you're refilling the dosette, so that you get a really good light, because some of the medications are very small and not designed for the elderly. See that? I've had ...
Jacqueline:
Just a little tablet …
Phoebe:
I've had both my cataracts done, but for people who haven't, it's tricky.
Jacqueline:
The bottle of water you told me about, in the car. Can you tell me about that again?
Phoebe:
Oh, it's got flat sides so it won't roll and my children think it's very funny, because it's very old, but the modern ones are all round and they roll all around your car, so that's handy.
Jacqueline:
And how did you come up with that idea?
Phoebe:
Well, it's hard drinking water in ladies toilets. The tap isn't always convenient. The architects don't consider pills!
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.