Have you ever forgotten to take your medication? Despite being a very common problem, it can directly affect our health, and the follow-up of medical treatment significantly.

There are different methods to avoid these mistakes, and thus achieve greater adherence to medication. One of them is the weekly pill box, a utensil that helps us prepare the daily doses, and thus have the medication ready.

In this article we explain how to prepare the weekly pill box, and everything you have to take into account before organizing your medical plan.

You may be interested in knowing the different resources to prepare your medication week by week.

What is a weekly pill box?

A pill box is an organization system that allows you to save your pills by day and time.. With it, you can take the medication with you anywhere, and always have it on hand for when you need it.

Its objective is to facilitate therapeutic adherence for people who are polymedicated or have difficulties remembering medication. We can find these weekly pill boxes on Amazon, although Lidl's pill organizers have also gained a lot of popularity.

However, due to its complexity and the uncertainty of whether the patient has organized the shots as stipulated by his doctor, we recommend weighing the pros and cons before purchasing one.

Advantages of a manual pill box.

The pill boxes that we can find in large stores have some relevant benefits:

    • Classification by days: It has compartments designed to organize the entire week, so, if done correctly, you will have all the drugs at your disposal 7 days a week, or the entire month.
    • Convenient to carry: Depending on the pillbox, its dimensions vary, but it is not usually larger than a pocket book. Therefore, it is easy to move and accompany you in your daily life.
    • Medication ready: The shots will be prepared, although we recommend that you be very careful: to err is human, and we can make mistakes when placing the drugs within each department.

Risks to take into account

Given the strengths of the weekly pill box, it is also necessary to consider the disadvantages it poses compared to other safer methods, such as SPD.

Medications without packaging and outdoors:

Storing drugs without their original packaging can cause them to lose the therapeutic benefits that characterize them. This is one of the 5 most common mistakes when organizing medical treatment. It occurs, above all, when they are exposed to high changes in temperature, humidity or pollution. To avoid this, specialized pharmacies make SPDs with blister packs specially designed so that the shots are isolated and sealed.

Routinely reusing pill boxes can contaminate daily intakes

When handling pills, they can break and leave small fragments. Despite carefully washing the container, There is always the possibility that traces of the previous medication remain and mix with the new one.. Placing a drug where there has been another type of medication before can cause alterations in our treatment.

There is always the possibility of making mistakes

It is true that the homemade pill box can sometimes help you with medication, butIt is not difficult to get confused and place the pills on the wrong day or time. This occurs, above all, when the people in charge are older or have memory problems.

Using a manual pill box to manage your health plan can create a sense of false confidence. When doses are not organized in a pharmacy, there is always a high risk of error. Therefore, we would not recommend it to polymedicated or elderly people.

How to organize the pill box step by step

Preparing daily doses in a weekly pill box can create a false sense of comfort and simplicity. Therefore, it is very important to pay close attention when organizing our medication, and always follow the steps rigorously:

    1. Perform the operation in a suitable place. This should be dry, clean, and without sudden changes in temperature.
    2. Clean the pill box weekly to ensure that there are no possible residues of other pills.
    3. Before starting to organize the doses, be sure to carefully read the package inserts for each drug. and understand well the instructions of your doctor or healthcare manager.
    4. Gather the necessary medication, but do not take out of the blister the one that you are not going to use during the week. Remember that leaving drugs outdoors and unprotected can modify their properties.
    5. Place each pill on the assigned day and time by the medical plan.
    6. When you're done, close all the compartmentsand do not open them again until it is time to take the medication.

Pillboxes not for you?

In the case of polypharmacy patients, Adherence to treatment is key to strengthening your health. It is important to use pill organizers that help improve it, but also find those that best fit each need.

For this reason, we recommend considering other simple and intuitive feeding preparation systems for the elderly:

Sistema SPD

Also known as a Personal Dosing System, it guarantees that a pharmacist will prepare the doses for you in a weekly blister. In this case you will avoid mistakes and save time by not having to prepare it yourself.

Furthermore, with the IMA Health preparation service, you receive the blisters organized in the pharmacy and delivered to your home.Consult with an advisor.

Ask our team how to get the service at no cost.

Disclaimer: At IMA we offer advice and information about our products. Consult with an expert before making any decision that may affect your health.