If my father sleeps past the time he should take his afternoon medication, should I wake him up to give them to him?

Im sure it depends on the medication and what is wrong with him/ what stage etc.. Sometimes that sleep is more important for older patients- agree with rocketjcat on this one.

Also check with the pharmacist as they are specialists in meds - that is part of what you pay them for anyway - make an appointment or walk in to the regular pharmacy with a list of all his meds including over the counter etc - make sure to find out which are with food & which are on empty tummy

I personally would take several coloured pens & use red for needs to be on time - another colour like green for with food etc - with a chart you can see at one glance -

Also add pill description like 'small yellow' or 'oval pink' - then if you were held up in traffic or at drs' office you could call someone & direct them to the chart

This is just my experience and in no way should be a substitute for a call in to his doctor for their advice. My nonprofessional answer is “it depends”. These are the question you should ask the doctor. Is this medication something that needs to be given on a set cadence, like pain meds? Every 4 hours or similar? Or is it something that can have a little administrative leeway, like Tylenol? Does he eventually wake up by himself, or do you always need to wake him up? At Moms NH they try to give her meds at set schedules, but even then due to staffing, sometimes I’ve seen them vary by 2-3 hours off the ideal. If she’s sleeping and really needs to sleep, we (the Lpn and myself) may decide to postpone the non critical meds for an hour or so until she wakes on her own.