It is no secret that the older portions of the U.S. population make up some of the most significant consumers of medicine. Therefore, a lot of consideration must be given to making pharmaceutical packaging easy for our senior citizens to utilize.
According to Packaging Digest, two-thirds of people get frustrated when attempting to open everyday packaging. And pharmaceutical packaging is one of the most common culprits.
In light of this new survey, we've put together a few tips for making pharmaceutical packaging more senior friendly.
Tamper evident labels are important for things like pill bottles. That is because consumers need to trust in the integrity of the products they are using. But for many of America's senior population, they can be incredibly frustrating to open.
In the Packaging Digest article, John Brown writes:
"Seals that are tough to peel off or that fail clearly to mark the point from where the seal should be lifted are highlighted as particularly troublesome for consumers with dexterity issues and visual impairments."
Tamper proof adhesive labels for bottles should be able to maintain security, but they should also include a tab or other mechanism that allows them to be easily opened.
Did you know that 40% of prescription drugs will be used incorrectly? That's in addition to the 31% that are never collected in the first place. While you can't make a person read the label, steps can be taken to facilitate easier reading for seniors who have poor eyesight.
Label constructions like booklet labels or foldout labels allow you to have more space for printing. That means that you can take the text you might otherwise have shrunk to fit a small pharmaceutical label and then enlarge it, spreading the text across the expanded pages. That way, seniors won't be discouraged by the tiny font and give up reading the instructions.
Providing senior friendly packaging is not a matter of reinventing the wheel, rather it is about better utilizing the tools already available for a portion of the population that needs it. With a little more foresight on how tamper proof labels are utilized and clearer instructions, your packaging can bring the relief millions of Americans need.
