Almost certainly the most commonly used and typically recommended patient compliance enhancement device is the pillbox.

And pillboxes have frequently made appearances on the AlignMap site. Letterman, Pills, & Compliance Enhancement reported on Dave Letterman’s use of a common seven-day pill dispenser with flip lids on his show:

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A spiffier Bang & Olufsen pill dispenser, capable of producing a visual or acoustic signal to the patient when a dosage is due and providing feedback to the patient via a red, yellow or green lights that indicate how well that individual has been taking the medication. was featured in Dispensing Pills In Style.

Electronic pillboxes are, it seems, quite the thing. This one was featured in The Latest Electronic Pillbox.












And the manufacturer of the model shown below claimed compliance rates of 98.6%, a statistical accomplishment which was explained in the conveniently named AlignMap post, 98.6% Medication Compliance.

Best of all, a pillbox success story was the focus of Pillbox Organizers May Improve Adherence To HIV Treatment.

How To Use Pillboxes and Medication Organizers

As it turns out, recent research shows that pill organizers have a great potential for enhancing medication adherence but also have their own set of recurrent problems. That is hardly unique: most tools that are useful also carry risks. The odd part is that physicians, pharmacists, nurses, health insurance companies, and the rest of the usual suspects rarely do more than recommend that patients use pill organizers. After that, folks are on their own.

That’s probably a mistake.

In upcoming posts, I’ll be reviewing the sparse literature on the use of simple, non-electronic medication organizers, adding my own observations to the findings and recommendations. If I do my job correctly, this should be immediately useful to may patients.

Today’s post, however, is limited to this introduction and the following set of graphics that illustrate, just for grins, the wide world of pillboxes and medication organizers that are practical, decorative, emblematic, clever, cheap, costly, round, square, huge, tiny, and much, much more. Also included are various medication-associated accoutrements, such as pill splitters, reminders, medication logs, etc.) that are often marketed as part of a set, the centerpiece of which is a medication organizer.

And just in time for Christmas.

• Pillbox Organizers May Improve Adherence To HIV Treatment
• The Latest Electronic Pillbox
• Dispensing Pills In Style
• The Top Ten Patient Compliance Points: #8
• Nonadherence To Posting Schedule