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Count in days, not boxes: how to keep track of medication stock

Count in days rather than boxes, restock with margin and have someone in charge: how to know in time when it is time to restock.

Why it runs out at the worst moment

It almost never runs out on a Tuesday morning. It runs out on a Sunday, a holiday or at night, when the usual pharmacy is closed. It is not bad luck: nobody looks at the box until the last one is left.

Keeping track of stock is not counting pills every day. It is knowing, in time, when you will need to restock.

Count in days, not in boxes

What helps is not knowing how many boxes are left, but how many days they will last. The arithmetic is simple: the units left, divided by the units taken per day.

If there are 30 tablets left and 2 are taken a day, they last 15 days. That is the number worth keeping in sight.

Restock with margin

It helps to decide in advance when to restock: for example, when a week is left. Restocking often takes longer than it seems, and what looks like a one-day errand is sometimes several:

  • A prescription that has to be renewed, sometimes with a medical appointment in between.
  • A pharmacy that does not have the medication and has to order it.
  • A home delivery that takes a while to arrive.
  • A long weekend or a holiday in the middle.

One person in charge of each medication

When several people buy, two things happen: the same thing is bought twice, or nobody buys it because each person thought someone else would. It works better when each medication has someone in charge of restocking it.

It is the same principle as sharing the care: a task with a name, instead of “someone will handle it”.

Before a trip or a long weekend

Before a trip, or before a long weekend, check the stock of everything that is taken. Whatever will not last until you are back, restock it before you leave.

If it runs out anyway

If a medication runs out, do not replace it with another one or change the amount or the schedule on your own. Ask the doctor or the pharmacist: they are the ones who can say what to do.

How Blist helps

If you enter how many units there are of each medication, every dose that is confirmed is taken off the stock. The medicine cabinet shows how much of each is left and flags the ones running low.

Because the care circle is shared, whoever is in charge of buying sees the same as whoever keeps track of the doses, without having to ask.

How Blist handles itKnow how much is left before it runs outHow much of each medication is left, and a notice when only a few days remain.

Start wherever works best for you

Use Blist on iPhone or Android

Choose a platform to organize your medication or, with permission, support someone close to you.

Download Blist on the App StoreDownload Blist on Google Play

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