ABSTRACT
Objective: Difficulty in extracting tablets from a press through pack (PTP) is believed to reduce prescription drug compliance. This is a particularly serious issue for the elderly or for those who have physical disabilities affecting the fingers. In this study, the squeezing force necessary to extract tablets from PTPs was measured for 33 commercial tablet products using a force gauge (FG). Additionally, a sensory test was conducted to determine the degree of difficulty in extracting tablets from PTPs by squeezing, and the correlation between the difficulty measure and squeezing force was evaluated.Methods: The squeezing force for 33 products was measured by FG. The sensory test was conducted with 64 subjects. Four products, each with a different squeezing force, were used for the sensory test. In the test, each subject ranked the products in order according to the amount of force required to extract the tablets. Each product's total score was used in the statistical analysis.Results: The average squeezing force of the 33 products was 33.1 ± 6.9 〔N〕, and significant differences were observed among the products. The sensory test revealed that each subject could significantly distinguish the amount of force required to extract the tablets from each product.Conclusion: A positive correlation was observed between the squeezing force obtained using FG and the results from the sensory test. This suggests that squeezing force can be used as an indicator for the usability of the product. Therefore, the degree of difficulty in extracting tablets from PTPs should be considered when selecting drugs for the elderly.
ABSTRACT
We implemented a questionnaire survey targeting mothers who are in child care and had participated in consultations regarding drugs and diseases. We examined the future roles of community pharmacists by exploring the mothers’ concerns and, anxieties about child cares and their backgrounds, and their expectations for profession of community pharmacist. Mothers have listed anxiety and concerns of child care about “dermatitis such as rash and atopic eczema”; “food allergies”; “infectious diseases such as measles, chicken pox, and mumps”; and “side effects of vaccination”. In addition, most of them indicated their own concerns and anxiety about “solutions to children’s illnesses.” Despite their anxieties and concerns, however, approximately 60% of the mothers have never consulted with community pharmacists. Among them, approximately a half of them indicated the following three reasons why they have never consulted with pharmacists: “I have nothing to talk about,”, “I do not know what I should talk about,”, and “I was not sure if it was alright to talk about my concerns.”. From these results, we concluded that community pharmacists in the future should improve their communication skills and inform their availability to consult about medicine and disease to local residents.