Medication list for an elderly parent
What isn't a medication list for?
It isn't for deciding anything about the medicines. Changing, stopping or combining them is for your parent's doctor or pharmacist to advise on.
A medication list records what your parent takes. It isn’t for deciding to change, stop, skip or combine anything. Those questions are for your parent’s doctor or pharmacist, and the list is what makes that conversation quick and accurate.
It doesn’t replace whatever you’d normally do when something about a medicine worries you, and nothing about keeping it means waiting for the next appointment. In an emergency, call 911.
Who should see the list, and the CDC’s own suggestion: review it with a health care provider.
More questions caregivers ask
- Who should see my parent's medication list?
- What should go on a parent's medication list?
- How often should I update a parent's medication list?
- All the questions
From Centis, a free care notebook you talk to. A way to keep the list, not medical advice: questions about the medicines are for the doctor or pharmacist.
Further reading
- My Medications List (opens in a new tab), from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention