Practicals: Phone Apps

Hey hey, Caregivers!

As we continue through this first month of 2023, I wanted to continue giving practical ideas for ways that your caregiving load could be made lighter and easier this year. Today we're looking at some different phone apps that can help you to stay organized and free up some of the mental space that you're currently using to keep track of ALL THE THINGS for your person (people).

Caregiver Coordination and Communication

• One great option: WayWiser

  1. This app is great to keep multiple caregivers on the same page or for a great spot to keep track of all the various things you are working on organizing and keeping track of that are important in the day-to-day and for appointments.

     1. Calendar feature:

        1. Great for keeping appointments and fun outings organized. This calendar also has a great notes section to keep appointment notes in so nothing gets missed.

     2. Tasks lists, notes, photo and document storage:

        1. Keep track of what tasks need to be done

        2. Notes about a given concern for an appointment, piece of equipment, etc.

        3. Share photos with other caregivers - sweet happy pictures AND practical pictures (ex. how a splint should be worn)

        4. Document storage for post-appointment documents and notes to all be kept in one place

     3. Messaging and activity feed:

        1. Keep conversations related to care easy to track and reference later on

        2. Easily keep all caregivers on the same page by sharing notes on the activity feed

Symptom Trackers

• One great option: Commonality

  1. This app allows you to enter whatever symptoms or behaviors you want to track along with what medications or other interventions are being used. By filling out the tracker throughout the day (morning/evening/sleep), you can better understand how a medication or intervention is working.

  2. I think apps like this are especially great because when we are around our care recipients every day, it can be super easy to miss the subtle changes that occur over time and it can also help to determine what could be causing the symptoms or behaviors by using the notes feature and tracking other variables, a better understanding of what is actually going on can happen.

Medication Management

• One great option: Medisafe

  1. Schedule alarms and reminders to take medications on time

  2. Keep medications organized by pill size, shape, and color

  3. Alerts to refill medications

  4. Communication with pharmacy

  5. Medication completion tracking to check off when each medication has been administered

  6. (We talked about this last week - if you missed that post, go check it out)

Let me know what you think about this list - do you use any of these apps? Are there even better apps you love? Let me know in the comments!

❤️ Rebecca