I take a green pill and an orange pill every day, …
While it may seem a bit of a stretch to consider this entry about color and medication pertinent to patient compliance, color plays a major role in our perceptions and, as experience and research have shown, a patient’s perceptions about illness, clinicians, the manufacturer of medication, family and cultural attitudes, and a seemingly endless list of other factors influence medication adherence. In that context, that the look and feel of a pill could have an impact on compliance does not seem so unlikely.
Rachel Perls has posted The right color pill helps the medicine go down, which addresses the effect of pill and capsule colors.
Ms Perls publishes Hue, a blog dedicated to color:
In addition to the highlighted entry, I read several random posts, all of which were interesting and some of which portrayed colors and combinations of colors that can only be described as gorgeous.
These are not academic discourses on color theory but are instead brief expositions of a topic with the goal of providing an impression of the impact color can have. Most striking are the examples, such as the blister-pack of pills shown atop this entry.
Of the non-medical posts, I especially recommend Watching the progress of an artist, an entry from February 17, 2007 which links to a video of Picasso painting on a transparent canvas while time lapse photography captures his strokes. Ms Perls elaborates in this excerpt:
The right color pill helps the medicine go down is a worthwhile reminder of the nuances that affect healthcare compliance, and Hue strikes me as an enriching, stimulating blog to brighten ones Monday.