Wellness Wednesday: Storing and Organizing Medications

Kinetiq Health has started a new series called, Better Health in 90, to bring you health tips in 90 seconds or less from our expert clinical team.

For the next few weeks, we’re focusing on pharmacy costs, drug best practices, benefits and more. In this video, pharmacist and Kinetiq Health Pharmacy Benefit Practice Leader Erin Albert shares best practices for storing and organizing your prescription medications.

Read on for more information!

Medications are meant to help us stay or return to good health. Proper storage of prescription medications is a great start to ensuring you’re getting the most of your medications.

Storing and organizing medications might take a little bit of planning but keeping your family safe and preserving the life of your medications is very important. Take a look at these tips for best practices on storing and organizing your medications.

1. Store medications in their original prescription vials. Many hospitals will only accept medication in their original vials, so if you need to take the medication with you in a hurry, it’s more efficient if it’s already in the original vial. Also, when traveling out of the United States, airport security might require you to have prescription pills in the original vial. If you need to use adherence packaging for reminders, try to set up your pills once a week for a 7-day supply instead of a 30-day supply for this reason.
2. Rethink storing medications in a medicine cabinet. Despite its name, a medicine cabinet in your bathroom is actually one of the last places you should store your prescriptions. Bathrooms can be warm, humid environments at times, and this change in temperature may make your medications not as effective. Medications should be stored in a cool, dry place unless they require refrigeration or freezing. Following the directions from your doctor or pharmacist, but don’t store in a place with a lot of humidity.
3. Consider locking them up. Did you know that many addicts start with stealing their family members’ prescription substances as the first step in their addiction? If you have controlled substances, such as, pain medications, some anxiety medications, or even prescription codeine cough syrups, make sure they are in a safe place away from others.

Medications can be tricky substances. Be sure to protect your medication and your family by using some of these tips.

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