If you’re on multiple medications, you’ll know it can be easy to lose track of them all. A new app hopes to change that, and here at Diabetes WA we have many resources to support you, writes ZOE DELEUIL.

Does your diabetes medication sometimes feel overwhelming? From getting to the GP for blood tests and a new stack of prescriptions to staying on top of your repeats, not to mention actually taking everything on time, it can all get a bit much.

And how many of us have visited the pharmacist only to be told that our prescription has expired and we need to go back to the GP to get a new one – a situation that is not only frustrating but can be dangerous?

This isn’t necessarily a memory problem. It’s simply that managing medications is not always easy, particularly if you or a loved one has more than one health condition.

Father and son team Professor Yogi Yogesan and son Rishi, a third-year medical student at Curtin University, noticed how complicated prescriptions could become after seeing family members trying to keep track of them all and, if they forgot, sometimes ending up in the emergency department. This is where the idea for MediRemind Scripts was planted.

Teaching himself coding skills with some free online courses, Rishi designed the app with the help of his father, who is a professor at the School of Medicine and Chair of Digital Health and Telemedicine at Notre Dame University.

‘I made the app to help my mum and grandma manage their medications,’ says Rishi. ‘They were using it and it was working well, so we decided to release it this year.’

MediRemind Scripts can be downloaded to your phone for a small monthly fee. You import or photograph scripts and record dosages and expiry dates and can show your pharmacist the QR code or send the script to them directly.

While medication apps already exist, many are based overseas and there are questions for some about where these apps store personal information, and if it’s being sold on or shared. With this app, all information is stored on the person’s device, and no data is shared with other parties unless you send it to your pharmacist or allow a carer to access it.

Since its release in June, they discovered that the challenges they were seeing up close were shared by many people, perhaps in part due to scripts now being spread across digital and paper formats.

‘There is a lot more demand than we had realised, and the app has already been downloaded more than 1300 times,’ says Rishi.

Visit mediremind.com to learn more.

Do you need some support with your diabetes medication? Diabetes WA is here to help

Call our free Helpline on 1300 001 880 to speak with one of our diabetes educators, or have a chat with your pharmacist, GP or diabetes educator with questions around diabetes medication.

For more tips on remembering your medication, visit our resources page. 

Or come along to one of our free MedSMART programs.
MedSMART is a friendly group program that helps you feel more confident with type 2 diabetes medications.

Learn how diabetes medicines work, how to take them safely, what side effects to look out for and how to talk with your health care team about any concerns. Suitable for people with type 2 diabetes.