The goal of many of us as we age is to stay as independent as possible. One of the challenges we confront as we move into ‘older adult’ status is to manage our medications – remember when and which medication to take, remember to refill medications before they run out, and get support from others if we forget. Technology can help! It can help older adults to stay independent as long as possible and make family members feel secure in knowing we are still safe in our home.
1. WebMD
WebMD Health Corp. is a provider of health information services. The healthcare app offers:
- Medication Reminders – Never miss a dose. You’ll receive reminders when it’s time to take your medications. View daily prescription schedules and instructions, plus pill images with dosage and timing information for each drug.
- Symptom Checker – Choose your symptoms, learn about potential conditions or issues, and lookup treatment and care options.
- Drug Interaction Checker – Find and identify potentially harmful and unsafe combinations of prescription medications by entering two or more drugs in question.
- WebMD is a free app available in the App Store and Google Play.
2. Medisafe Medication Management
Medisafe is a pill reminder app ranked #1 by pharmacists and physicians in independent tests. Features:
- Medication Reminders – Reminds you to take medication doses on time every time, even if your device is asleep. Medisafe has timezone support too. No need to worry while traveling, your reminders are always on time.
- Medtones – Various Medtones to make Medisafe playful and a great addition to your day: have Darth Vader, Dr Evil, Austin Powers, Elsa or your Nagging Mom remind you about your meds.
- Family Interaction – Synchronizes the family’s medicine pillboxes to one place. Manage your entire family from one account.
- Clean and Simple – Visual and easy medical manager to handle drug reminders.
- Medisafe is a free app available in the App Store and Google Play.
3. Pillboxie
Pillboxie is designed to be easy to use. A simple screen that lets you *visually* manage your meds. Features:
- Schedule Reminders – Schedule reminders just by dropping pills into a pillbox within the app. It shows the pill you’ve chosen by name and image that includes color and shape. A way to double check that you have the correct medication.
- Pleasant Reminder Sounds – Reminds you on time, even if your device is asleep.
- Daily Schedule – See a list of what meds are “due today” and check them off as you go.
- Pillboxie is a $1.99 available in the App Store. Not available on Google Play.
4. CareZone
CareZone offers the ability to take a picture of your medication bottle and the app creates a list of your meds for you. Features:
- Always have a list of medications, dosages, and schedules with you.
- Receive reminders when it’s time to take a med, or refill a prescription and track adherence progress by recording when doses are taken.
- Print a pre-formatted schedule to put on the fridge, or share a detailed med list with a doctor via email.
- Carezone is a free app available in the App Store and Google Play.
5. Round Health
Round Health helps you to remember your medications AND vitamins. Features:
- Schedule reminders – Includes complex scheduling of various doses and schedules.
- Tracking – and taking of as-needed/PRN medications
- Visual Calendar – easy to understand calendar that shows when meds were and weren’t taken.
- Refill reminders for medications
- Round Health is a free app available in the App Store. Not available on Google Play.
6. Magnifying Glass with Light
Are those pill bottles too small for you to read? Having trouble with the small print on the information sheet that came with your prescription? This app magnifies the text on almost anything including pill bottles. The built in light helps you to see in dim environments. Allows you to zoom in our out as needed (magnifies from 1.0x to 5.ox). Magnifying Glass with Light is a free app available in the App Store and Google Play.
How do you decide which app is right for you or your family member? Read the reviews on the App Store/Google Play. Try it out to see if you can easily navigate the app. Don’t forget to provide training and/or setup support if installing on a older adult’s device.
Additional Resources.
