Now At AlignMap:1
Introduction To Pillboxes and Medication Organizers
Why Publish A Post On Medication Organizers?
Pillboxes or, more precisely, pill organizers are certainly the most common device recommended (especially to the elderly) and used to improve adherence to a prescribed medication regimen. Yet, until recently, there was little formal research that focused on the effectiveness of this methodology.
It now seems that medication organizers do have, as was assumed, a potential for significantly enhancing medication adherence.
It also appears that medication organizers have their own set of characteristic problems that can not only decrease their effectiveness but even make health problems worse or cause treatment failures or additional disorders.
This is hardly unexpected – most useful tools, from hammers to jet engines to computer chips to international monetary exchange rate systems, carry risks as well as benefits. More surprising is that clinicians and pharmacists have typically done little beyond suggest to clients that they use employ these gadgets. Most patients, other than those using exotic equipment complex enough to require an operating manual, are left, literally, to their own devices.
That’s probably a mistake.
How To Use Medication Organizes: An AlignMap Tutorial
In upcoming AlignMap posts, I’ll be reviewing the sparse literature about simple, non-electronic medication organizers and adding my own observations to formulate concrete protocols to enhance their efficacy and, perhaps more importantly, protect against systemic errors in their use.
If I do my job correctly, this should be immediately useful to anyone who already uses these devices.
Today’s AlignMap blot entry is simply an introduction to medicine organizers, featuring David Letterman, the Bang & Olufsen updated version of the plastic pill organizer, the electronic progeny of the pillbox, and a reference to a clinical study showing the benefits of using a pill organizer in the treatment of AIDS.
That post also has more graphics of the sort seen at the top and bottom of this Heck of a Guy entry, displaying a small fraction of the universe of pillboxes and medication organizers – the practical, the decorative, the emblematic, the luxurious, the cheap, and much, much more. In these two collections of images on this posts are items labeled “Vatican pillboxes,” medication organizers for pets, sterling silver pillboxes, bejeweled and electronic dispensers, pillboxes bedecked with Christian and Jewish symbols, and round, curved, and square models. There are even more variations at AlignMap. Also included are various medication-associated accoutrements, such as pill splitters, reminders, medication logs, etc.) that are often marketed as part of a set, the centerpiece of which is the medication organizer.
And Just In Time For Christmas
Pillboxes and medication organizers make wonderful gifts as well as festive ornaments this 2007 holiday season – or as we like to say at the Heck of a Guy Mercantile & Schwag Emporium, exclusive distributer of the AlignMap Patient Compliance Commemorative Plaques,
Make this a Season of Compliance
with the gift of medication adherence enhancement
The AlignMap Post
The link to the AlignMap post follows: Introduction To Using Medication Organizers with bonus Pillbox Pictorial
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