Camp Meds... not a fan

[CloudySue]

I'm at a camp where there's about 150 campers at any given time. We "require" Camp Meds but at least half of the families disregard using it. Since my camp made the decision to charge non-compliant families a $100 filling fee, I decided to be a responsible role model and go through them for the first time, even though I'M the one pouring my own children's meds.

From a parent's point of view, Camp Meds is a royal pain in the butt. I already had renewable scrips going from my local pharmacy (literally three blocks away) and it was a huge hassle to obtain new scrips from both our very reluctant PCP and psychiatrist. One didn't even understand our request for a new paper scrip and my husband picked up a useless printed list of my child's med, only to have to drive back a second time to their office to get the right thing. Then I had to register both children at $50/camper (a huge chunk of change for us) and THEN get those scrips mailed to their Florida address by a certain date or else they'd charge another $25/camper. That sounded easy enough until I had to wait days for the right scrips to be available from the doctors, so we made that cutoff just in time. Now Camp Meds is calling to tell me that my check card isn't working for them to charge me for the copays, although I know there's money in my account. So extra phone calls to them and the credit union to straighten that out.

It was so easy last year to just bring the meds in the original bottles in little ziplock baggies w my girls' names on them and put them in the correct alphabetized bin, where their clunky, cumbersome Camp Meds pill bubble card was placed in anyway. (Our head nurse decided she didn't like the package strips, so Camp Meds offered us the bubble packs. Their marketing sample, which was small and slim and contained cute M&Ms, was nothing like what we received- large, reusable plastic holders with flimsy paper bubble holders clipped within. Plus they want us to return the plastic holders to them in postage-paid boxes.) What a racket these people have going!!

Maybe things are different at a camp with double or triple the number of campers that we have, but Camp Meds makes things extra difficult as a nurse, too. Extra steps, extra documentation, extra people to communicate with, extra storage space used up in limited med cabinets. Our nursing staff has been discussing giving up on Camp Meds all together next year. I'll be so glad to see it go!!

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

Yea.. I have heard that camp meds can be a pain. The truth is we had another pharmacy that we used last year that was 10 times worse. Our camp is 650 kids and we would have a real problem using bottles. We use the plastic packets and tape each days packet into the MAR. Then we restock the book for the next med pass.

[tiogainfirmary]

We have always used campmeds in past but this year chose campdoc because it was cheaper. What a nightmare. I do not recommend them at all. Looking for a new service. Loved campmeds but had compliance issues with parents because it was costly for otc meds with late fees.

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

We switched to GroupRx for a year and it was a disaster. We now have parents who previously did use campmeds refuse to do anything through a packaging company because of all the mistakes and over charges.

I use my phone, to type, I work at night, and I'm a bad speller. Pick any reason you want for my misspellings

[tiogainfirmary]

Thanks for letting me know. Not sure what service I will use next year. I have 350 kids and 100 staff. Campdoc was a nightmare!!!

[CloudySue]

We all had a big meeting and decided that we're absolutely fine taking meds in original containers in the Ziplocks, so I'm happy. Our camp is so small (150 campers) that we can handle it.

I agree w the parents at Tioga, I was overcharged for my girls' Claritin and melatonin which made even more annoyed w them. I had rx scrips along with the OTC's for my girls, so the filling fee was "justified", but we had one camper take nothing but 3mg melatonin every night through Camp Meds. I think it's criminal that her family paid $50 to fill that, especially since we carry melatonin in our health center and would have gladly given it to her for free.

[strytellerjenn]

We love camp meds. It is so much easier. This is our second year using it and Dana at camp Meds is a pleasure to work with. We have had some issues with kids changing meds or starting meds mid camp and they have always been on top of things. I too work at a small camp about 200 kids and this year there was some miscommunication about what needed to go though camp meds so needless to say 25 kids came up with prn allergy meds that are suppose to be prn that are really daily. I do get that it is an extra cost especially if its only prn but 1 or 2 exceptions is ok but 25 kids with meds in baggies is rather annoying. For us camp meds is the way to go. I mean if your sending your kid to a camp that cost this much already really what is an extra $50.

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

Yea exactly. When my cam cost $11000 for the season and I see parents dodging camp meds. I don't understand it.

When they call upset that we didn't read their mind on the Claritin they sent up on a ziploc bag I find myself saying "if only there were a system that delivered the medications automatically with instructions so we wouldn't guess "

I use my phone, to type, I work at night, and I'm a bad speller. Pick any reason you want for my misspellings

[CloudySue]

I didn't really have an opinion of CM one way or the other for the first two years as a camp nurse until I used it myself and experienced the parents' side of it. I guess the parents' experience is much easier when you can just tell the nanny/au pair to take care of it.

[diana16]

I also work at a summer camp with close to 500 campers and let me tell you the early years of pouring meds into little pill envelopes from bottles where the labels were wrong, the families sent us outdated prescriptions, medications in ziplock bags with no instructions on when to give, or even what was in the bag and we are looking online at a pill identifier website, camp meds was amazing!! The trouble is when parents will not sign up for the service. I can understand the parents' frustration at having to get new scripts and send it to Florida, but it makes life so much easier for the nurses dispensing. Opening day would be a lot less chaotic since the medications come a week before the campers arrive. We in the health center where I work love camp meds. We just need a lot more compliance.

[tining, BSN, RN]

I feel that CampMeds helps me practice safer - 5 rights for dummies with CampMeds. Dana is a pleasure to work with and problems are changed immediately. Pouring pills into an envelope - not for me. You do have a tiny camp and that is in your favor. I will suggest to my camp director on the $100 charge if they do not go through camp meds - as we have at least 10 parents each summer that try that trick - "Oh - my child needs Claritin every day - I did not know that" The worse offenders are the long time employee children - so annoying. Rules for some do not apply.

[lawrencenurse]

I work at a camp of approx 250 campers and staff. Its all boys so its busy. I do little white envelopes and daily med prep but due to our population - lots of scholarship/camperships and low income areas - CampMeds and the like isn't an option. We use https://www.mts-mt.com/ to get empty medication prefill cards like the use in nursing homes. I prep these once on change day and is a nice compromise between a med prefill company and the ziplock bag.