What is senior friendly packaging and its importance

The importance of child resistant packaging

Packaging design is a balancing act, especially for products like medicines that require both accessibility for adults and security against curious children. While some items should be easy to open, others need to be challenging to prevent accidental ingestion. Statistics from emergency departments and poison control centers reveal that children aged 2-4 are particularly vulnerable to accidental poisonings. This fact highlights the importance of (senior) friendly and resistant packaging solutions that protect our youngest while ensuring that adults can access necessary products without difficulties.

The challenges faced by seniors

Child Resistant Certification testing includes evaluating how easily most adults can open packaging for medicines and household chemicals. "Most adults" refers to healthy individuals without impairments. However, as people age, they are often prescribed more medications, and many develop arthritis or conditions that affect motor skills, making it difficult to open packaging like medicine bottles or prescription drug vial. Additionally, deteriorating vision can further complicate access. For some, quick access to medication is crucial, especially in cases of acute pain where fast relief depends on being able to easily open the package and self-administer the dose.

Inadequate Packaging Solutions and Their Consequences

If a patient has their mental faculties, it is important they are be able to dispense and take their own medications. When the packaging is difficult for adults to open, they may do the following methods to make it more convenient.

1. Opening multiple doses and then placing in non-Child Resistant 7 day pill pack containers – read more about optimizing dosage schedules
2. Opening and then placing medicine loose on the countertop, kitchen table or nightstand
3. Opening and then placing unsecured medicine in the car or purse
4. Removing the medicine from a hard to open bottle and putting the contents in another container.

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Alternatively, a few other problematic outcomes may occur as a result of packaging being too difficult to open.

1. Patient doesn’t take prescribed medication if assistance is unavailable, which is thus one of the factors that reduces patient adherence
2. Patient crushes or otherwise damages the medication while trying to access in an incorrect way, wasting some or the entire dose
3. Patient injures themself by utilizing scissors, sharp objects and other inappropriate means to open

The importance of senior-friendly packaging

There is much to consider when selecting packaging attributes appropriate for a medicine or chemical product. Is the patient a relatively healthy adult or do they have a need to access their medicines that is appropriate for a patient with debilitated capabilities? The package must function effectively until the patient finishes the doses and hopefully disposes of it in an environmentally appropriate way.  If the package is designed appropriately for a patient with physical challenges, then the senior-friendly design will help the patient achieve the best outcome with good adherence and keep children safe from accidental ingestion of the product.

Much can happen in an individual’s home, and good design can help promote proper and safe use of dangerous products.