Sep 2, 2021
This episode features Dr Eleanor Wilson (Nottingham Centre for
the Advancement of Research in End of Life Care, School of Health
Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen’s
Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK)
Managing medications at home can be a complex task involving
ordering, collecting, organising, storing and taking medications
correctly. Medication work must take place alongside ongoing
management of household tasks, the physical and emotional
labour of caring for someone who is dying and the impending loss of
that person. Family caregivers are often assumed to be willing and
able to take on the role of supporting patients to manage
their medications at home, yet many are themselves older adults
with serious health problems or adult children with many other
conflicting roles and responsibilities.
Knowledge of the ways that managing medications adds to the
considerable burden of care and work that must be undertaken when
someone is seriously ill and dying at home. Family caregivers are
increasingly expected to undertake complex and technical medication
tasks formerly carried out by professionals, but with little if any
training, supervision or support; this trend has been exacerbated
by COVID-19. The work of managing medications is critical to
enabling patients to remain at home at the end of life.
Health care professionals will benefit from a greater understanding
of the complexities of medications management undertaken by
patients and families in order to identify and tailor the support
they can provide. Substantial reduction in the complexity and
bureaucracy of Health and Social Care services is needed for them
to be navigable for patients and families managing medications at
the end of life. The lack of presence of Community Pharmacists in
this research suggests there may be a greater role for them in
supporting patients and families to manage medications at home.