Placement of medications in a pillbox is one way to gain insight into how well an older adult can manage medications.
Patient selection: age >= 65 years
Equipment: pillbox with 4 compartments
Instructions to place 2 medicines (1 antibiotic and aspirin) in compartments to meet the day's needs
Parameters:
(1) points for pillbox placement (from 1 to 3)
(2) time taken to perform in seconds
Correct pillbox placement:
(1) one antibiotic pill in placed in 3 of 4 compartments
(2) two aspirin pills in all 4 of the compartments
Incorrect: any deviation from correct
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Points
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no drug placed correctly
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1
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one drug placed correctly
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2
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two drug placed correctly
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3
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pillbox ratio =
= (pillbox placement) / (time taken to perform
Interpretation:
• minimum score: around 0.0083
• maximum score: around 0.300
• Good performance is associated with a high decimal.
