Options for managing your medication requirements

If you have ...

• multiple (three or more) medications — possibly with long-term chronic condition(s)  — with multiple dosing times (such as morning, noon and night, or any other time such as 'bed');
• difficult or slowly reducing medication regimes;
• difficulty opening medicine containers or bottles;
• difficulty remembering to take your medications on time

or if you are ...

• on holiday, on a cruise, or on a trip away from home;
• have a busy lifestyle or working so hard you don't have time to constantly organise your medications;
• a parent of a child who medicates away from home;
• involved with multiple caregivers;
• a nurse or caregiver who needs a reliable medication system to give to your charge;

then you have two packaging options for organising your medication schedules. These are two options:

• Medicine Sachets; or
  
• Blister Packs
  

Either of these will give you an easy, reliable, safe, and discreet way to control your medication schedule while maintaining your independence. No more bottles to store or tiny labels to read. And you'll love them because they are:

• Easy to use, with clear readable instructions for every time — for every day;
• Easy to quickly see if your medication has been taken;
• Easy to quickly find when the next dose is due;
• Easy to tear off a single medication dosage.
• Easy to carry with you if you are away from home.

They are discussed below.

Medicine Sachets

With Medicine Sachets, your daily medications are packed in a line of individual sachets (made from thin biodegradable plastic) connected together with a easy-tear division. This long strip of sachets is then rolled up leaving the next medication dosage ready to go. The roll can then be placed in a cardboard dispenser box for easy access.
Each sachet is printed with the the your name, day and time you need to take them, and the medication names, as well as the medications themselves you need according to your individual medication schedule. The sachets contain all your medicines in the correct doses so that you always know you are taking the right pills, at the right time, every day.
Most Medicine Sachet rolls last for a month, unless instructed otherwise.
Each sachet is small and is easy to carry in a purse or pocket. When the time comes the sachet is readily torn open and the medications taken.
At our pharmacy we have an automated machine that fills, and prints on, the sachets — which means there is less chance of human error.

Using the Medicine Sachet packs
Your Medicine Sachets come in a long roll, each attached with a perforation to the next. They may be loaded into a cardboard dispenser box.
The sachets come out in the order that you need to take them, each one clearly labelled with the date, day of the week and time of day to take it.
To remove a sachet pull out the first sachet so that you can see the right date, right day, right time. Now gently tear the sachet from the roll, starting the tear top right and tearing to the left. Now tear the sachet open from one of the zigzag edges and remove the medicines.

Blister Packs

The blister pack we use is called Medico Pak. In this each time of day (morning, midday, evening, end of day) a 'blister' on a card is hand-filled with the correct doses of your medications, and the date and day is on the card.  At the appropriate time of day, week or month a blister is opened and the mix of medications is taken.
It is prepared here at the pharmacy.

Using the blister pack
To safely remove the medications in a single blister (containing a 'dose'), simply tear along the perforations. Then peel off the backing, starting from the marked corner.
Alternatively use a blunt object like a teaspoon to pierce the backing. Very little pressure is needed to break the seal. We also have Pak Poppers available in-store.
NEVER push/pop the medications out through the backing of the Medico Pak. You could lose them, drop them on the floor, or even crush them accidentally.

It's wonderful. It's really freed up my life. I don't spend all that time organising my meds for the day.
Pamela, Waimauku