CDC - Partners | Personal Medication Record Helps Patients Remember

Personal Medication Record Helps Patients Remember

Photo: Pills People over 60 account for over 40 percent of hospitalizations and more than half of all deaths from adverse drug reactions. Studies have shown that the best way for someone to track medications and help the doctor, pharmacist or healthcare professional, is to keep a medications list or personal medication record.

CDC partner AARP collaborates with CDC around prevention and health initiatives. One area of AARP focus is the wise use of medications. Anyone taking medicine, including over-the-counter drugs and supplements, should keep a personal medication record. The personal medication record is available for download on AARP's site.

Older Individuals at Higher Risk

AARP knows that older individuals take proportionately more medicines than any other age group and experience the most significant problems from improper medicine use. However, just about everyone takes or has taken some kind of [legal] medication in their life.

Regardless of age, prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, and herbal and dietary supplements can be harmful, if not managed properly. A personal medication record assists consumers in listing all medicines, including prescription, over-the-counter and dietary supplements, the doses and how they are taken. A personal medication record can also better prepare its users for regular conversations with a doctor or pharmacist, making it easier to review all medications, serve as an early alert to improper dosages and, in some cases, lower medicine costs.

Maintaining a personal medication record, keeping it updated and sharing it with one's health professionals, is a simple step everyone can take to ensure safe and effective use of medication and prevent potential dangerous side effects from polypharmacy, or medication errors in times of an emergency.

About AARP

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP produces the following:

AARP The Magazine, a definitive voice for Americans 50+ and the world's largest-circulation magazine with over 34.5 million readers;
AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP's 40 million members and Americans 50+; and
AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community.

AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors and sponsors. AARP has staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.