Your time and energy are precious. The aim of this page is to share useful “medmin” hacks to benefit everyone. Some of the ideas might not be relevant, or you might have an even better solution. If so, let us know!

An introduction to “Medmin”

What is “Medmin”?

“Medmin” is short for “Medical Admin”.

It’s the time you need to spend each day, week or month organising your medical to-do’s.

This might include:

Medications & Prescriptions

  • Ordering repeats

  • Collecting from the pharmacy

  • Working out what to take when

  • Clearing out of date medications

  • Booking deliveries (e.g. growth hormone)

Appointments

  • GP

  • Endocrinology

  • Blood tests

  • Scans

  • Pituitary tests

  • Any other health professionals you see e.g. physiotherapy, mental health wellbeing

  • Counselling / therapy

Appointment admin

  • Arranging and rearranging

  • Childcare

  • Transport

  • Medications and supplement lists

  • List of questions

Things you need to do for your health

  • Get enough sleep

  • Pace your activities

  • Plan in rest

  • Exercise (as approved by your health professional)

  • Supplements (as approved by your health professional)

  • Doing activities you cherish

Prescription Hacks

Ordering repeats

  • Ask your GP if you can have a regular medication (one that isn’t likely to change) prescribed in a 6 monthly amount.

  • Find out if there is an app you can use to order repeat prescriptions. In the UK, many GP practices use the NHS app. This will save you needing to make a phone call or go into the GP practice.

Collecting from the Pharmacy

  • You can ask your pharmacy to order your repeat prescriptions at the same time (in the UK, the pharmacy will call this “in line”). This means your prescriptions should be ready at the same time, so you only need to collect once until your next repeat is due.

  • There are some pharmacies that deliver free of charge, or you can find out if there are any pharmacies that deliver through the post in your country.

  • You can return out-of-date medicines to the pharmacy for safe disposal.

Safely storing your medications

  • It’s vital your medicines are safely stored away from your child. There have been cases of children finding and consuming medicines in bathroom cabinets and kitchen cupboards. Children have died or been seriously injured through consuming medication for someone else.

  • Co-founder Jenn uses a Tuck Box trunk to store her medicines. This is lockable and has some fiddly clasps that small hands can’t work. The key is hidden nearby in a jewellery box (and out of reach) and there’s also a spare key hanging on the kitchen notice board, just in case.

  • It’s also worth making sure your child knows that mummy’s medicines are only for mummy, and they must stay away from them or get very poorly. If your child shows an interest in your medicines (e.g. sees you taking them) it’s never too early to start reinforcing this.

  • The key to this trunk has a medic alert keyring so that it can be easily identified by an adult family member if needed.

Medmin calendar kept next to bed.
Clearly labelled key is kept in box out of reach and a spare on kitchen notice board.
Post-it notes with expiry dates on lid of trunk.
Medicines easy to see. Blood pressure and blood sugar monitors also kept in trunk.

Keep track of medicine expiry dates

Jenn has post-it sticky notes inside the lid of her medicine trunk with dates when medicines expire. This makes it easier to keep track, especially if you have several different medicines. Consider setting up a system that works for you so it’s easy to keep track.

Tablet holders

Tablet holders or organisers can be helpful and mean you don’t need to carry around boxes of individual medicines when you go out. Make sure you keep them in a secure place (such as a zipped compartment in your bag or purse) so your child can’t get to them.

If you need to take medicines throughout the day, you can buy daily tablet holders. There is space for morning medicines, then for example, if you take hydrocortisone tablets there is space for doses at the times prescribed. If you have adrenal insufficiency, make sure you always carry your emergency injection and extra steroid tablets in case you need to stress dose whilst you’re out. One clever hack is to buy more then 1 week of tablet holders so that you can organize your tablets for the next month in one go.

If you have medicines to take in the morning, but not throughout the day, you might like to buy a tablet holder with 7 individual compartments. Make sure to check if you can take all of your morning medications at the same time or if they need to be spaced apart.

 

Medical calendar

Co-Founder Claire uses a month-to-view calendar stored on her bedside table. This is a great way to keep track of “medmin” tasks and appointments.