Study of Comprehension and Execution of Medication Prescriptions in Parkinsonian Patients and Healthy Volunteers

Many patients with Parkinson's disease (Pd) don't respect medication prescriptions. Non-adherence is caused by several factors among which three play an important role: treatment complexity, cognitive decline, and patient-provider communication. One way for improving medication adherence in these patients is to identify the best way for adapting medication prescription presentation to these patients. This study is focused on prescriptions displayed on touch-screens and tablets. This exploratory study aims at identifying the best format for presenting medication prescription to Pd patients. An experiment with Pd patients and healthy volunteers is carried out to analyze their behavior while filling a virtual pillbox from a education prescription presented electronically in different formats on a tablet or a touchscreen. A table format and a verbal format are compared to determine the most effective design for presenting medication schedules. A facilitating effect of the table format is hypothesized.