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VA Prescriptions How to keep them organized, taken correctly, and filled on time!

My husband has 12 prescriptions through the VA... and the scary thing is I know veterans who have many more than

that. During our first year as part of the VA system, I spent countless hours trying to get prescriptions filled at the last

minute (a HUGE pain in the neck when you're trying to track down over-worked VA doctors!). I'm normally

reasonably organized, but let's face it, living with and loving a Veteran with PTSD, TBI, and other injuries has made

me... well... a little scatterbrained!

As of this month I've been caring for my hubby for four years and thankfully have the job of managing his VA

prescriptions down to a fine science. I hope to save you the time, headache, and tears of facing the same learning

curve that I did! First, let's look at a typical VA prescription label:

To get ready to manage VA prescriptions, you'll need to know the location of these 8 key items –

1. The refill phone number for your VA system.

2. The location of the Patient's / Veteran's name.

3. The prescription number.

4. Prescription refill date (date prescription was filled).

5. The name of the prescription.

6. The quantity of pills in this bottle & the quantity of pills in a full refill.

7. The number of total refills on the original prescription and how many are left.

8. The date the medication should be discarded.

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Refilling VA Prescriptions

When I first started trying to keep track of my husband's prescriptions, I was using the VA's online system

(MyHealthEVet- http://www.myhealth.va.gov). As someone who does pretty much everything online, this made

perfect sense - I thought. But, the catch is, I had to wait until the prescription was eligible to be filled in order to fill

it. So, my poor, silly, muddled brain kept forgetting to log-on until there were 2 pills in the bottle. Not a great

situation when it takes 7 - 10 days for them to fill it and mail it! (Note: They are supposed to change this at some point

so that you can order ahead, but they haven't yet to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please send me an e-mail!)

Then, one of the pharmacy technicians told me a trick that has drastically simplified life. By using the refill phone

number on the prescription label, I can call anytime on or after the "prescription refill date" and request the

refill. Then, when it's eligible to be refilled, the system automatically sends it!

So, now when we pick up prescriptions at the VA after an appointment I call the number as soon as we get in the car

(because it's on the refill date) and submit the refill request.

When prescriptions come in the mail, they sometimes arrive a few days before the technical refill date (they mail

them early to make sure they reach Veterans on time). If this happens, I simply set the bottle on the ledge over our

sink (*out of reach of little hands, but still in my face so I don't forget*) and call in a few days. Now, we always have

my hubby's VA prescriptions on time - and most of the time we have them early!

Checking VA Prescriptions

The VA pharmacies are really busy. Unfortunately this means that sometimes mistakes are made. We have received

the wrong medications twice - both times they were labeled for other Veterans.

When you pick up prescriptions or they arrive in the mail, please double check the Veteran's name, the prescription

name, and then look at the pills and compare them to the "ID" information located under the prescription name. It

takes a few extra minutes but could literally save a life.

Also, check the dosage information. Sometimes the VA uses different dosage pills as a cost cutting measure. This

may mean a veteran needs take two of a pill that they're used to taking one of... or that you have to split a tablet in

half. They're supposed to alert you to changes like this, but it doesn't always happen!

You will also want to check the Quantity information. If, for example, the bottle says "QTY: 30 of 90 TAB," that means

you've only received one-third of the prescription. Sometimes this happens because the pharmacy was out and will

send the rest in a separate shipment and other times it occurs because the pills are too large and need to be put in

three separate bottles. Whatever the reason, make sure you have the complete number of pills in the prescription.

Finally, check to see how many refills are left. Another GREAT benefit of calling for refills early is you have the

opportunity to notice if you need refills. If you are out of refills, call the doctor / provider who prescribed the

medication (listed on the top, left hand corner of the label underneath the VA facility information) and tell them you

need more. Calling early also gives you plenty of time to schedule an appointment if the doctor needs to see the

Veteran before the prescription can be filled again.

Organizing VA Prescriptions for Daily Doses

I have a husband who hates to be "nagged" but, he has a wife who REALLY wants to make sure he's taking his

prescriptions on time, at the correct dose. When you throw PTSD, TBI, and normal marital "challenges" into that mix,

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it gets a little tricky to figure out how to keep peace and make sure the meds are being taken. So, here is the solution

that works for us!

We have five Apex 7-Day Medical Planner boxes and one Ezy Dose Deluxe Metal Pill Fob Key Chain. The VA issued

two of the Apex boxes (talk to your doctor and ask for a "Prosthetic consult" for some!) and we purchased three of

them. [Of course, if you / your veteran only has to take meds 1 or two times per day, you'll want to pick a different

box!] It may sound excessive, but it means that I'm able to sit down one time every five weeks and organize all of my

husband's medications. I also keep a pill splitter (I found mine at Dollar Tree for $1, but the cheapest one available at

Amazon is listed on the sidebar) handy because two of my hubby's prescriptions have to be cut in half. I've numbered

the sides of each box (see picture above) so that if he's taking a time-specific medication like an antibiotic, it's taken

at the right time. When I have the boxes filled, I stack them on a high shelf in our kitchen with the numbers facing

out. As he finishes one box, that box is put at the bottom of the stack and a new box is taken from the top. I also

make sure that his Pill Key Fob has one dose of each of his medications. This way, if we happen to be delayed

returning home, he always has a dose with him.

We use this system in conjunction with a Cadex 12 Alarm Medication Reminder Watch that my husband's VA Speech

Therapist ordered for him (also through the Prosthetics department). Even if you're not able to get one through the

VA, though, I cannot sing their praises loudly enough. I have programmed it so that the alarm goes off when it's time

for him to take the medications and a message scrolls across the screen corresponds with the label on the pill box

(example: Take NOON Meds). This way, I magically don't have to nag... the watch does it for me :) The watch can

also be programmed with general medical and emergency contact info and works as an electronic "medic alert"

bracelet. Truly, it is an amazing little thing.

Organizing VA Prescriptions for Storage

One of the benefits, but also challenges, of staying on top of VA prescription refills is you will eventually begin to get

a little bit ahead on refills. This happens because the VA sends medications about 7 days earlier than the previous

refill should run out. After 6 or 12 months of this (especially if your Veteran is taking 12+ prescriptions) you could

start to have a stockpile!

Now, I embrace the stockpile. I no longer have to worry that my husband will run out of something... a luxury for

which I'm grateful as many of his meds need to be in his system consistently in order to work well. I have no desire to

deal with "Beastie Boy PTSD" without pharmaceutical intervention. I've been there, done that, and dread ever going

back. So, I'm going to explain how I keep the extras organized. However, if you're not comfortable having the extra

medications for whatever reason - or if you / your veteran are no longer taking a medication - you can always turn

extras in to your VA pharmacy for safe disposal.

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My first step is labeling the caps / tops of the prescription bottles with a permanent marker. This may seem like busy

work to start with, but believe me it's not. It really makes life easier in the long run. As soon as I've called in the refill

on a prescription, I label the top of the bottle with a shortened version of the prescription name (just make something

up that will be easy to remember) and the date that the medication expires. This way I can very quickly asses if for

some reason we're low on a prescription or a medication needs to be disposed of.

Once I've labeled the bottle, I place it in a transparent Sterilite 15qt container (16.38"L x 12.88"W x 6.5"H) I purchased

from Wal-Mart. If you can't find this one, though, pretty much any container that's at least 6 inches high will

work. The 12"+ width and 16"+ length of this container allow enough space for about 26 bottles.

I also keep a list inside the box that has the name and RX# of every medication and the refill phone number. That

way, if I want to make sure a refill has been ordered, I can just grab the list and call.

I store the box on the top shelf of our pantry which, again, has the benefit of being well out of the way of little hands

and also providing a dark, cool storage place (which many of the medications prefer).

Conclusion

So, there you go. It may seem like a lot of upfront "set-up", but I promise once you have this system going it will

make your life MUCH easier. Our after-combat, PTSD/TBI, just-trying-to-make-it, lives have enough stress

already. There's no reason to stress about VA prescriptions, especially when you can benefit from 4 years of hard

earned experience :)

This article was written by Brannan Vines, the founder of FamilyofaVet.com and proud wife of an OIF veteran. If you

would like to contact Brannan, send her an e-mail at Brannan -at- familyofavet.com.

FamilyOfaVet.com is an organization dedicated to helping Veterans and their loved ones by providing real-world, plain

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