How Does Home Health Care Help Seniors Achieve Medication Adherence with Blood Pressure Medication?
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a serious health issue for older adults. It’s called a silent killer because the symptoms are usually extremely subtle. Patients have to pay close attention to their care plan if they want to get their blood pressure under control. That means that if they’re prescribed medication, they need to adhere to the medication plan for best results. For some seniors, help from home health care providers is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to taking medication properly and reaping the benefits.
Medication Adherence Challenges
But why is medication adherence such a challenge for seniors? Sometimes medication regimens are complicated. Seniors may need to take multiple medications at various times of the day. They may also have other health conditions that require medication, further complicating things. Keeping track of medications and sticking to the prescription instructions can feel overwhelming for seniors.
Patient Education
Patients may also need a better understanding of what their medications do, what side effects to watch for, and why medication adherence is so important for their situation. Home health care providers can help seniors to get the education that they need about these concerns. They can also help seniors understand high blood pressure itself. When seniors understand more about their health and their healthcare issues, they can take better care of themselves and experience better health outcomes.
Medication Reminders
Forgetfulness and cognitive decline create some big barriers for seniors who need to get their blood pressure under better control. Home health care providers can help with medication reminders that work for seniors. These could involve helping them set reminders on their smartphones, using pill organizers that are labeled for easy use, or setting up calendars that help with medication information.
Routine Monitoring and Follow-up
Because blood pressure can fluctuate and the symptoms aren’t always obvious, patients need to regularly monitor their blood pressure. That’s something that can be a lot easier to do with help. Also, when home health care providers are regularly taking these vital measurements, seniors often feel more secure that the information is correct. Nurses can help to make sure these measurements are taken properly and also logged correctly to share with healthcare providers.
Coordinating with Primary Care Providers
There’s a lot involved in helping seniors get their blood pressure under better control. Healthcare providers make recommendations and then need information in return about how seniors are doing, what seems to be working, and what needs to change. Home health care services can help to coordinate with healthcare providers and ensure they have accurate information to work with while managing high blood pressure.
Medication adherence involves a lot of different moving parts that have to work together to keep seniors healthy and make progress with their high blood pressure. Home health care providers have the experience that seniors need in order to better understand high blood pressure and other health issues and make better progress with taking medication properly so that they get the best results.