Jane: Routines with multiple medicines – Helpful ‘tools’ in creating routines

Jane
Female
Age at interview: 53
Number of medicines: 8
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian

Jane uses a number of aids that work for her to remind her to take her medicines correctly.

I still have an alarm on my phone and, when I was taking the lunch time tablet, I had that on my phone at work. I think I just … I have the tablets next to my bed and the first thing I do when I wake up is … and a glass of water … take the tablets with a drink of water before I even go to the toilet. And yeah, I guess you do it so often it just becomes a habit that you tend not to think about. 

If there is a change in dose in tablets and I have to take some in the morning and the evening, I just do the whole reshuffling of the little medical pocket things and make sure that I'm on top of that. I think, like, with a blood test, I'll put a little note, a post-it note on the mirror in the bedroom to remind me that, you know, I need to make sure I take it at that time the night before. 

Yeah, just … I'm quite a visual person and so I would ... post-it notes are good and having set routines of always taking them at the same place. When I change those routines, I don't take ... yeah, I find that difficult and feel I don't take the tablets probably as carefully ... but again, once I'm in the pattern of the changed dose, then that just becomes a second nature thing. 

Other people I know will keep their medications in the kitchen so that they see them. Yeah, I've just found, I guess, those less obvious things still work for me well. When the kids were younger, you know, my alarm would go on my phone at 8.30 at night and if I wasn't in the room where it happened, they'd go, ‘Oh, Mum. You need to take your tablets.’ So, having other people who remind you is good. Yeah.

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The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.