How to keep an up-to-date list of your medications
Write down every medicine you take, including vitamins, supplements and anything bought over the counter, with the strength, how you take it and why, and keep it somewhere you'll have it at every appointment.
Why is this harder than it sounds?
The NHS advises bringing a list of all your medicines, including vitamins and supplements, to appointments. It sounds simple, but lists go out of date the first time a dose changes, and the most useful details, such as why a medicine was started or what was stopped and why, are the ones people forget. A list that only lives on paper in a kitchen drawer doesn't help in an unplanned hospital visit.
What should you do?
List everything
Prescribed medicines, inhalers, creams, eye drops, injections, vitamins, supplements and over-the-counter medicines. The NHS notes that over-the-counter medicines shouldn't be taken with prescribed ones unless a doctor or pharmacist has confirmed it's safe, which is why they belong on the list.
Copy the details from the label
Name, strength and how you take it, exactly as the pharmacy label says. Don't work it out from memory.
Add the why and the when
What it's for, who started it and roughly when. Add anything stopped recently and the reason, such as a side effect.
Note allergies and reactions
Anything you've reacted to before goes at the top.
Keep it where you'll have it
On your phone as well as on paper. If someone helps you with your care, make sure they know where it is.
Update it the same day
Every time something changes after an appointment or hospital stay, update the list before you put the new box away.
What tends not to work
Bringing a bag of boxes instead of a list. It helps, but it misses anything at home and anything stopped.
Leaving out supplements because they're "natural".
Treating the list as medical advice. It's a record; any change to what you take is for your prescriber or pharmacist.
Common questions
Does my GP already have my medicines list?
Your GP record holds what was prescribed through the practice, but it may not include things bought over the counter, supplements, or recent hospital changes. Your own list fills those gaps.
Who can check my list for problems?
A pharmacist. If you take several medicines, your GP surgery may offer a structured medication review.
Where Nura fits
You can send Nura a photo of a pharmacy label, a clinic letter or your discharge paperwork, or just tell it what you take, and it keeps that context in your Care plan so it's in one place. Before your next appointment, the plan's summary pulls together what you've reported and suggests questions you may want to raise. Nura records what you tell it; it doesn't check doses or interactions.
Sources
General information, not medical advice. Nura does not diagnose, prescribe or replace your clinician. In an emergency call 999 (UK) or 911 (US); in the UK, NHS 111 can help if you need medical help but it isn't an emergency.