When looking for drugs in your home, it is typically not a good time, yet it is precisely at that moment that you realize how many drugs there are and the fact that the drug cabinet requires organization. From time to time it is necessary to rearrange the medicine cabinet in the house by arranging medicines, creams, patches and supplements that have accumulated over time. In doing so, it can also be useful to take a look at the expiration dates so as to eliminate what has expired.
Technology allows us to keep track of deadlines and easily organize everything. With a remote database we could know at any time, using our smartphone, which drugs we have, in what quantities, expiration dates and further information such as the doctor who prescribed them or the package leaflet. The most interesting factor is that this technology that allows it does not require technical skills but is very easy to use and simply uses our phone. In addition, it is completely free, cross-platform and remotely accessible.
Organizing drugs
Assuming that it is good to keep medicines in a dry, cool place away from heat sources and children. It may be a good idea to divide the drugs by category, for example.
- first aid
- antipyretics and painkillers
- antibiotics
- antacid, lactic ferments and any other medicines for stomach and intestine
- ointments or gels for muscle pain
- any medicines you take regularly
In this case, however, the division will only be virtual, within the database, while physically we could organize them as we want. Considering that from the database it is possible to easily search if there is the desired drug or not, in the cabinet it is better to organize them in alphabetical order so as to find them immediately. Nothing prevents you from using a first subdivision into categories and then organizing them in alphabetical order.
What is Notion?
Notion.so is your own workspace management and productivity tool. By taking advantage of the application, available via web browser, computer and smartphone, it is possible to better organize one’s commitments, both for private and working life. There are several interesting features including the ability to write and plan your own tasks by creating databases, tables, timelines, shared documents and much more. You can also collaborate in real time with other users and keep shared documents that also contain multimedia files. There are many layouts and templates already set up that allow you to plan the different activities in the best possible way. Change history can be tracked and synchronization is instant.
With this application we are going to create a small cross-platform database, completely customizable. The database will contain the medicines in the house giving the possibility to check their presence and expiration date at any time, even remotely. The database is also easily accessible from smartphones and the same application will send notifications when the drug has expired.
To start using it, simply log into the site and create an account, or simply log in with Google. Then a new page is created and inside it a table. On the rows we will have the unique fields that represent the single drug while on the columns we will have the various properties of interest. In this case, for each drug, we will be interested in knowing:
- Trade name, active ingredient and pharmaceutical company
- Method of administration
- Expiry date
- Doctor who prescribed it and if he requests the recipe
- Link or package insert file
Clearly these properties can be customized according to your needs. What has been described is only a practical example.
Expiry date
For the expiration date field, it is advisable to activate notifications using the Remind function. In addition, it can be useful to use a formula field so that you can have immediate visual confirmation of which ones are overdue and which are not. In this case the formula used is:
if(prop("Scadenza") > now() and dateBetween(prop("Scadenza"), now(), "days") > 0, "✅", if(length(format(prop("Scadenza"))) < 1, "Data mancante", "⛔️"))Which returns “✅” if the drug can be consumed, “⛔️” if the drug has expired or otherwise “missing date”. Clearly it is a good habit, once you have received the notification of the expiration, to throw the drug following the correct disposal. However, if there is an oversight, with this formula it is always possible to see which ones have expired and which have not, even by creating a special view.
Getting to know the drugs
It may be interesting to add a view that divides drugs based on the active ingredient or their type. This, which may seem strange to those unfamiliar with drugs, can be very useful for those who have a deeper knowledge of pharmacology.
Another very interesting field is that of the Information Leaflet where you can insert the link. If you have any doubts about where to find the package leaflet, consult the AIFA database and search by drug. Or another useful database is that of Unitary National Federation of Pharmacy Owners .
Furthermore, the database can be printed and downloaded in various formats including pdf, html and csv so as to have all the data available. For example, a small excerpt:
Template
You can find the template at the following link.
