This is a great story for Valentine’s Day about a child who recently received a kidney transplant. 

“Babygirl is on three anti-rejection meds (eighteen pills per day), one antiviral (two pills), one antibiotic (one pill), and one antifungal (swish and swallow four times daily). She is on one medication for high blood pressure (one pill), one antacid (one pill), and her usual asthma meds (one pill and an inhaler). The majority of this is on a twice daily schedule, but it MUST be done every 12 hours without fail, for the rest of her life. We have already signed up at MyMedSchedule.com. They keep track of your medications, remind you to call for refills, and send us four text messages daily to remind us to remind Babygirl to take her meds. It's free,and anyone can use this service. Hubby and I are thinking about using it for our own meds!”

Read the whole post here.

We recently received this great anecdote about a patient from a Care Transitions Intervention Coach in Massachusetts:

”The son/primary caregiver of his father, who has moderate/late stage Dementia of Alzheimer’s Type, reported the reaction he got from the Primary Care Physician (PCP) when he shared the MyMedSchedule list of medicines and times and quantities. The son brought his printed copy of his dad’s med list to the outpatient appointment, and the PCP was impressed and very positive.

“The son had shared, on a earlier contact, that he found the website easy to navigate and he was thankful for my bringing this new resource to his attention. With the son’s need for respite, he could see the added benefit of the visual list for when his sister and other private help come to relieve him of caregiver duties.

“He is also setting up a med list for his mother who has early stage dementia; and he appreciates the efficiencies built into the website. ”

Our thanks to Dennis Moffitt of Lake Oswego, Oregon for his rave review of the MyMedSchedule Mobile iPhone app:

“I am a CPA and use MyMedSchedule for managing my intake of 10 different meds several times per day. At a support group through Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) I was referred to MyMedSchedule as well as the mobile version. The app was described as a resource for managing doses, reminders and descriptions of (and photo to ID) each pill that I take.

“It has been working great! I have used it daily. I've had my iPhone with me at appointments and when asked about any med or allergies to meds, I simply pull this app and show them all they need to know.

“In my situation, doctors and nurses rotate within a team. Each wants to review what I'm taking. In seconds they have it all. The app has twice uncovered the need to confirm a med with my Pharmacist. This information is also loaded on the app, as is all of my insurance coverage, plan info, and phone contact numbers.

“I happened to call MedSchedule on a programming matter to see if I could add more. Wow! Not only were they very receptive to new ideas, they called me back the same day of my initial call. This is a quality product that should be available and offered anytime anyone buys med insurance and certainly doctors, dentists, pharmacies, and nurses should be made more aware of it.

“If you use MyMedSchedule you'll really like it and you too can improve the overall correctness of medical information being used on you and others.”

With MyMedSchedule Mobile users can create, update, or view their schedules, and set or receive medication reminders. And any changes you make on MyMedSchedule Mobile are available the next time you log in to MyMedSchedule.com on your computer. MyMedSchedule Mobile is free for iPhone and Android.

An article in the Harvard Health Letter looks at the barriers that sometimes cause patients not to take their medications as directed, and discusses some potential solutions—including MyMedSchedule:

Using a daily pill organizer is a tried-and-true way to keep track of which medication to take and when. Also, some drugs now come in blister packs with calendars printed on them to help people remember.

Websites such as mymedschedule.com can help you custom-tailor and print medication schedules from your computer. You can also set up email or text-message reminders there. There are also downloadable smartphone apps you can program to buzz or bing you when it's time to take your medication.

Read the article here. 

Kathleen Cleary takes a look at tools that help folks keep track of their parents' health from long distance. For checking on their medications, she recommends:

“[MyMedSchedule] provides reminders to take your medicine, schedule refills, and renew prescriptions. This organization offers schedules of medications and dosage amounts for yourself and family members. This eliminates the need to take your pill bottles to medical appointments.”

The Boston Foundation for Sight takes a look at health apps for mobile platforms in this recent article. Their take on MyMedSchedule:

“A scheduling tool that is easy to create, read, and update for maintaining medication schedules. Email or text message reminders can be set as well as refill notifications.”

Read the article here. 

Are you a pharmacist? Do you think that MedActionPlan™ (MAP) makes a positive difference in the transition to home? Does MAP improve patient outcomes and help to reduce readmissions? If so—fill out this 20 minute questionnaire. Must complete by January 18, 2012.

ASHP and APhA launched a new initiative to improve transitions in care from acute care to home settings. The groups are seeking examples of innovative care models that improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions by involving pharmacists in medication-related transitions of care. The deadline to submit a model for consideration is January 18, 2012.

The Caregivers Corner blog endorses the selection of MyMedSchedule as the 2011 Caregiver Friendly Award Winner:

“MyMedSchedule.com is an online program that allows caregivers, patients, or anyone on multiple medications and vitamins to stay organized and remember to take their meds. It allows its users to create, save, print and revise a medication schedule with medication pictures, times-to-take, quantity and purpose. It also offers daily and weekly checklists, large-font size, wallet-size, both in English and Spanish, and reminders to refill medications and take those meds at certain times. MyMedSchedule is also available with iPhone and Android.”

“THIS IS A PROGRAM I HAVE USED MYSELF AND LIKE IT VERY MUCH!” 

 CancerHawk is a blog and resource center devoted to helping cancer patients and their caregivers find useful tools, support groups, and information. It was created by Robyn Stoller after losing her husband to cancer. “My goal is to help anyone touched by cancer find the information they need to make informed choices,” writes Robyn. “Educate... Advocate... Empower.”

In her latest post, Robyn talks about the complex medication regimens faced by many cancer patients, and mentions how MyMedSchedule® can help:

“Wish I had known about MyMedSchedule.com though... a FREE website that allows users to build personalized medication schedules. You enter the information and MyMedSchedule creates a chart to help you remember when to take your medications. And you can even set it up to receive email, text or mobile alerts as well as prescription refill reminders. Really amazing FREE resource to help cancer patients (or any patient for that matter) and their caregivers!!!”

Read the whole post at CancerHawk.com.

Donna Brooten joined Stephen Furst and Lori Hartwell on the Kidney Talk podcast produced by the Renal Support Network:

Remembering what meds to take, at the right time, and making sure you have adequate supply can sometimes be daunting. Donna G. Brooten describes an online medicine management system, MyMedSchedule.com, that will help you stay on track and provides personalized print outs (you can receive text messages too) of your medication regimen. Be on top of your medicine management and dazzle the docs.

Listen to the interview here.