I am a caregiver to my mother who is dealing with copd, heart and lung issues as well as depression. She is currently taking sixteen different medications. I also am a co-caregiver to my brother in-law (BIL) who has epilepsy and lives with us, here is another nine medications. Finally I myself have been a caree for 21 years now and I deal with chronic nerve damage daily. I have also experienced a, “Adverse Medical Reaction” due to a physician causing an accidental overdose of Fentanyl. I am on eleven medications with my three over the counter vitamins. As you can see just between the three of us, we are dealing with thirty six different medications. Trying to keep them all straight when you have different time schedules, such as with my BIL, who seven times a day is taking one pill or another.
I’ve actually tested the ID My Pill app a while ago and found it amazing, and very accurate. To confirm what I was actually being given by my pharmacy I retested the app using all thirty six medications and here are my results. I go through the meds first and confirm what’s on the label (Medications Name, Dosage, etc.). Now I’ll go through the process really fast so you may want to take notes,
1) Go to the ID My Pill website at http://www.idmypill.com, and print out the ID My Pill Recognition Card (shown here).
2) Place the medication you want to check on the black square on the ID My Pill Recognition Card.
3) Snap a picture using your smartphone and wait.
4) Read all about your medication, name, manufacturer, dosage and much more.
When you go to, ID My Pill’s web page, http://www.idmypill.com and the first sentence you see is the same as the title of this review and it could not be further from the truth. How often do you check your medications or read the prescription’s label? With the ID My Pill Recognition Card you’re just a snap away from knowing pretty much everything about that little white pill you just found on the floor that looks like other little white pills. In just seconds you receive the name, its manufacturer, information about the pill and much more.
The following facts were obtained from (www.rightdiagnosis.com on 2/26/2014);
- 42% of people surveyed believed they personally experienced a medical mistake (NPSY Survey).
- 44,000 to 98,000 deaths annually from medical errors (Institute of Medicine).
- 225,000 deaths annually from medical errors including 106,000 deaths due to “non-error adverse events of medications” (StarField).
- 180,000 deaths annually from medication errors and adverse reactions (Holland).
- 20,000 to 88,000 deaths annually from nonsocial infections.
- 2.9% to 3.7% of hospitalizations leading to adverse medication reactions.
- 7,391 deaths related from medication errors (Institute of Medicine).
- 2.4% to 3.6% of hospital admissions were due to (prescription) medication events (Australian Study).
You’re most likely thinking how accurate can a smartphone app be with the vast number of medications on the market? Here is what I found, using the thirty six medications that the three of us take, I used, ID My Pill on all of the prescribed medications (31 total) three different times each and did so at random. The application came back with the correct medication 93 of 96 times. Three times I did get asked to re-center the camera over the pill in question (not verbatim). After this trial I will for sure be testing the medications in our inventory every more often. What about you, how often do you confirm the medications your being supplied are the right ones? What are you using to confirm that? How accurate is it? Now try, ID My Pill and get the results you can trust.
BIO: Richard Kreis cares for his mom part time (heart disease & strokes), co-cares for his brother in-law who lives with intractable epilepsy and lives with him and his wife. Richard also co-cares for himself with his wife due to chronic back pain of 21 yrs. now. Richard is hosts his own blog site, PickYourPain.org and does scheduling for a local HVAC company. He is also the Director of Sponsorships for Caregiving.com and blogs on the site, does internet radio shows and moderate chats as well. Richard is a Notary Public who specializes in Real Estate. He enjoys blogging, meditation, yoga, photography and art. Richard’s family (including his pets) are his primary past times.
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