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A family medication tracker that says who gave it and when

FridgeBoard is a family medicine tracker on the shared screen in the kitchen and on every phone at home. It reminds you when each dose is due, and when someone ticks it off, it records who gave it and when, so nobody doubles up and nobody forgets. It works the same for the kids, the grown-ups and the dog.

FridgeBoard is a reminder and a log. It isn’t medical advice, and it doesn’t tell you what to give or how often. Put in the instructions your doctor, vet or pharmacist gave you, and follow them.

A medicine log for the whole family: who gave it, and when

The question in most houses isn’t “what does Bo take?”. It’s “has anyone given it yet?”. One parent gave the morning dose before work, the other comes downstairs and isn’t sure. FridgeBoard answers that at a glance. Each dose shows on the person’s card on the fridge, and once it’s ticked it shows who gave it and the time. The same tick shows straight away on every phone, so you can check from the car or the office.

Every tick goes into History, so you can look back at the week if the doctor asks how it’s been going, or if you just want to be sure Tuesday’s dose happened.

A kids’ medicine schedule on the fridge

Add a medicine to someone’s card from your phone, with the times you’ve been told to give it. It can be every day at set times, every few days, monthly, or with a meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner or bedtime, using your household’s meal times). Courses that change part-way can start on a date and change on a date.

• Late doses turn red. If a dose hasn’t been ticked by the time you set, it turns red on the shared screen.
• A picture of the box. Take a photo of the packet or the tablet so whoever’s giving it picks up the right one.
• A sound when it’s due. The shared screen can chime when a dose is due, even from the sleep screen. Each screen has its own sound settings.
• Not just for children. Grown-ups’ medicines, a grandparent’s tablets or a teenager’s course work the same way.

As-needed medicine: when was the last dose?

Medicine you give only when it’s needed (for a fever, pain or hay fever, say) is the one that causes the most double-ups. In FridgeBoard, an as-needed medicine sits in the person’s upcoming list and shows when the last dose was given and by whom. If you add the gap between doses and the most in a day from the instructions you were given, FridgeBoard checks before another tick and asks if it’s too soon. If you don’t add limits, it asks whether it’s already been given today.

It can’t know what the right gap is for your child. That comes from the label, your pharmacist or your doctor.

Refill reminders before it runs out

Tell FridgeBoard how many tablets are in the box and how many each dose uses. Every tick counts them down, and when it gets to the number you choose, it reminds you to reorder. No more finding the last puffer is empty at 9pm.

Medicine for the dog too

Pets get exactly the same medicine features as people: reminders, who gave it, late doses in red, as-needed checks and tablets left. A medicine can go with a pet’s meal, so when someone taps that Max has had his dinner, his tablet is ticked too. Flea treatment, worming and the vet show up on the pet’s card as reminders. More about pet care.

Keeping track of medicine at home: some practical habits

These help whether or not you ever use FridgeBoard.

• One record, not two. When two adults give medicine, keep one record you both can see. A note on the fridge works if everyone writes on it. A text to each other gets lost.
• Write the instructions exactly as given. Copy them from the pharmacy label or the doctor’s note, word for word. If you’re not sure what they mean, ask the pharmacist.
• Write it down straight away. Tick it when you give it, not later. Most double doses happen because someone meant to write it down.
• Keep the box. The label has the name, strength and instructions. A photo of it on your phone is handy at the doctor’s.
• Store it out of reach. The reminder can be on the fridge. The medicine shouldn’t be anywhere little hands can get to.
• Note how they’re going. If the doctor wants to know how often a child needed something, a log of every as-needed dose answers that. FridgeBoard’s habit tracker can also count things like headaches, with a file to take to the appointment.

Setting it up

1. On your phone, go to fridgeboard.me and tap Try it free. Add who lives at home, pets included.
2. Open a person or pet and add a medicine. Put in the times or how often from the instructions you were given, and, if you like, a photo, how many are left, and as-needed limits.
3. On the iPad, open Safari, go to fridgeboard.me, tap Open, then Use this as the shared screen. Scan the code with your phone.
4. Put the iPad where you give the medicine, usually the kitchen. Invite the other adults so their phones show the same ticks.

It works on any iPad from the iPad 2 on, including old ones that no longer get updates, and on Android tablets and computers. Turning an old iPad into a family screen.

Questions

More of what FridgeBoard does

• Pet care trackerWho fed the dog, walks, vet reminders
• Routine charts for kidsMornings and bedtime, step by step
• Habit trackerTick it or count it, a chart that fills itself in
• Family calendarAppointments in each person’s colour
• Family command centreEverything for the household in one place
• Every featureThe whole list