Medications

Simulation - Medications - PHARMACOCKTAIL

This simulation will help you understand the struggles of taking multiple medications with common changes that happen with age.

In 2020, 83 percent of Canadians over the age of 65, who make up about 18 percent of the population, took prescription medications. As well, 30 percent of older adults over the age of 65 took five or more prescription medications daily, which is called polypharmacy.(21) Older adults ingest an average of 10-20 pills daily and take an average of 6-10 medications at the same time.(21) It can be extremely difficult for older adults to manage their medications, especially when some medications have adverse drug interactions.(1) This becomes even harder when you suffer from other health conditions.

In this simulation, your task is to sort an older adult’s weekly medications as efficiently as possible in a pill divider. Those older than 65 are likely to have one to three chronic diseases involving major body systems. The gloves that decrease tactile function and the impaired vision goggles that you created in the precursor station will simulate the difficulties older adults face when sorting medications.(1)

Simulation Video

Duration of Simulation - 2 minutes and 40 seconds.


Full Simulation Guide

Download the Medications Simulation Guide

Materials

  • 5 mason jars/containers with a screw-on lid 
    1. alternative→ 5 cups 
  • 1 ice cube tray  
    1. alternative→ 14 small containers
    2. arranged in 2 rows, 7 columns
  • A pack of skittles consisting of 5 different coloured candies
  • 14 of each colour candy (5 different colours)
    1. You should have 70 candies in total (14 of each colour, 5 different colours)
    2. alternative→ 5 different coloured sticky notes or 5 different coloured sheets of paper crumpled up in small balls
  • Vision impairment goggles (from the vision precursor station)
  • Gloves with tape (from the skin tactility precursor station)
  • 3-minute timer (accessed from Google or at https://www.online-stopwatch.com/timer/3minute/)
  • Pen
  • Paper

image of materials

Procedure

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Gather all the materials necessary for this simulation.
  2. Place 14 of the same coloured candies into a container. Repeat until you have 5 containers with 14 of each coloured candy. Each of these colours will represent a different medication.
  3. Once you are done filling up the container with the candies, label which coloured candies will be Medication 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Make sure you screw the lids back onto the containers.
    1. containers with candies
    2. For example; Medication 1 will be yellow, Medication 2 will be brown, Medication 3 will be red, Medication 4 will be green, and Medication 5 will be orange
    3. *Picture of alternative set-up using sticky notes
    4. containers with sticky notes
  4. Label each column of the ice cube tray with the days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.). This is where you will be sorting your medications. Each day should have two different spots and will represent morning/night.
    1. NOTE: you do not need to write on your ice cube tray, the image below is attached for clarification
    2. ice cube tray
  5. Refer to the simulation procedure down below and write out or print the procedure for how to sort medications on a piece of paper.
  6. Put on the gloves that you created/used in the skin tactility precursor station.
  7. Put on the vision goggles you created/used in the vision precursor station.
  8. After you have finished loading up the mason jars with the candies and labelled the ice cube tray, have all of these prepared items in front of you.
  9. Now you are all prepared for the simulation.

 

STIMULATION PROCEDURE

  1. Put on the taped gloves from the skin tactility precursor lab and the impaired vision goggles from the vision precursor lab.
  2. Read the instructions for each medication below (it is recommended that you print these out or write them down on a separate piece of paper):
    1. Medication 1→ Take one pill every morning with food
    2. Medication 2→ Take one pill every evening
    3. Medication 3→ Take two pills every other day in the morning
    4. Medication 4→ Take one tablet in the morning and one in the evening
    5. Medication 5→ Take two pills every morning
  3. Start the 3-minute timer at the beginning of the simulation.
  4. Unscrew the lid of the container and place the candies from each medication in the designated day of the week on the ice cube tray.
  5. After you have completed sorting one medication repeat steps 1-3 for the remaining four medications.
  6. Once you’ve sorted all the medications, answer the reflection questions for the lab.

Reflection Questions

  1. Did you manage to complete the simulation within the time limit? How did you feel during and after the simulation?
  2. Do you know any older adults with multiple chronic conditions that are responsible for following a medication regimen with multiple medications? Have they expressed any difficulty performing these tasks?
  3. If you had to perform these tasks under these conditions every week, how do you think you would feel? What do you think could be done to make medication sorting more manageable for older individuals?

 

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Michael Allan Armstrong, David Nguyen, Emily Nagy

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