Why we forget doses
Because the dose is not tied to a moment that repeats every day.
A medicine “twice a day” is easy to take in the morning and forget in the evening: every evening is different. At the weekend, on a trip or after a late start, the usual order shifts – and the dose shifts with it.
According to the CDC, the reasons for missed doses lie not only with the person but also with the doctor and the health system: a complicated regimen, the cost of treatment, the way care is organised.1
How to tie a dose to a habit
Put the dose next to something that happens every day anyway – and give yourself a way to check that it has been taken.
Tie the dose to something you already do
Morning coffee, brushing your teeth, dinner – these happen every day, and a dose beside them gets a place of its own. The timing and the relation to food stay exactly as the doctor prescribed: only the anchor changes, not the regimen.
Keep the medicine where it happens
A box in plain sight is a reminder in itself. Check the leaflet for where the medicine may be kept, and keep it out of reach of children.
Lay the doses out for the week
In a pill organiser with a compartment per day you can see at a glance whether today's dose has been taken – no need to remember.
Set a reminder for the time of the dose
A notification on your phone covers you on the day the usual order falls apart: the weekend, a trip, a late start.
Mark the dose straight away
A quick “taken” removes the question “did I already take it?” – and after a week you can see how the treatment is really going.
What to do if a dose is missed
It depends on the medicine. First of all look at the patient leaflet – it usually has a section on a missed dose.
If the leaflet has no answer or you are unsure, ask a doctor or a pharmacist. And do not take a double dose to make up for a missed one unless the doctor has told you otherwise.2
How it will work in MedKeep
The reminder arrives at the time of the dose, and in the app the dose can be marked as taken, missed, or snoozed.
- Notifications arrive without internet too: the schedule is kept on the phone.
- You can be reminded in advance – 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes before.
- A dose can be snoozed by 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, but no more than three times.
- If there is no mark 30 minutes after the time of the dose, one reminder about the overdue dose arrives.
- A mark can be corrected until the end of the following day.
What to do about a missed dose is not something MedKeep will advise: that decision stays with a doctor or a pharmacist.
