Keeping Medical Supplies Organized

It has been my experience that if someone has a chronic illness, they are likely to have more than one. I’ve also found that each illness brings its own set of “stuff” that collects to maintain or treat the condition. I have many chronic illnesses of my own, so it’s reasonable to conclude that I have a lot of medical “stuff” to keep track of, and boy is that ever true! I have so many medicines, devices, and supplies. I’m not very organized, but my medical supplies are organized to the T. I thought I would share some of my tips and tricks for keeping things organized.

Everything has a place

If you ever read about or listen to vlogs about keeping things organized, you will first hear that everything needs to have a place. If it doesn’t have a place, then it doesn’t belong. With medical stuff, it’s likely the things do “belong,” so you need to find a place for them. I have found that grouping like things is very effective. I put all my diabetes supplies in one place, my medications go in a specific drawer, and I have a whole cabinet dedicated to my infusion supplies.

Store it where it makes sense

Just as crucial as grouping like things is putting those items where they make sense. It would be nice to store all of my medical supplies in one place, but it doesn’t always make sense to do it that way. For instance, I always do my infusions in the living room, so my infusion cabinet lives in the living room. It’s easier to have them in the place I use rather than storing them in my bedroom and carrying all of my supplies somewhere else when I need them.

I have many different steroid creams for my hives. It makes sense to store them with my body lotion. I usually put on steroid cream after a shower or right before bed, which is the same time I would put on lotion. So it’s logical to store them in the same place.

I could store my inhalers with the rest of my medicine, but I always use my steroid inhalers in the bathroom, so it makes sense for me to store them there. You get the idea.

Using labels helps

I label everything. The first day I got my label maker, I went ham. I went around the house labeling as many things as possible, including my medical supplies. For some, labeling things when they already have a place might seem redundant, but it helps me maintain that place. It helps me know exactly where to put things away and how to distribute different supplies I might get.

Pay attention to expiration dates

My final advice is to remember expiration dates when organizing your medical supplies. While some things, like equipment, don’t necessarily expire, medications and certain supplies likely have an expiration date. I make it a habit to check expiration dates when putting things away, putting the things that expire first in the front and putting new stock in the back. This ensures that I use things that will expire the earliest first and work my way through as I use up supplies.

Another good practice is to go through our medicine cabinet every 3 to 6 months and get rid of expired medications. I have a big personal “pharmacy” that can easily overflow if I don’t continue to do this. Besides, I don’t want to be using expired medicine in the first place.

Keeping organized as a chronically ill patient can be challenging at times. Keeping my medical supplies is very important and helps me feel in control of some things even though my health is not in my control. Knowing that I can find whatever medical supply I need as soon as possible is comforting because I know exactly where it is kept.

How do you store your medical supplies? Do you have any organization tips? Let us know in the comments.