Functional Tasks of Wilbur and Wong for Evaluating the Ability of a Patient to Cope with Medication Packaging

Clinical factors that can result in difficulty dealing with drug packaging:

(1) visual impairment

(2) manual impairment, including tremor

(3) cognitive impairment

Tasks evaluated:

(1) ability to read prescription labels and understand their meaning

(2) ability to recognize and distinguish colors

(3) ability to open and close a child-resistant container

(4) ability to open and close a container not child-resistant

(5) ability to use a medication organizer

(6) ability to access a bubble pack

The number of tasks can be expanded if there are additional types of packaging relevant to the patient's medications.

The clinical status and pattern of difficulties can help to guide an appropriate solution individualized for the patient.