Premium
The development of a test battery to assess the hand–eye functions relevant in predicting easy and accurate tablet subdivision in older people: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Riet–Nales Diana,
Donkerbroek Linda,
Nicia Agnes,
Oussoren Christien,
Boer Anthonius,
Bemt Bart
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
british journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.216
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1365-2125
pISSN - 0306-5251
DOI - 10.1111/bcp.14201
Subject(s) - battery (electricity) , subdivision , test (biology) , medicine , computer science , physical medicine and rehabilitation , engineering , civil engineering , paleontology , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
Aims Tablets may be subdivided for dose adaptations or to ease swallowing. The handling is common in older patients but can be difficult and inaccurate. Currently, it is not known which hand–eye functions determine the ability of older people to break tablets by hand and to do so with acceptable ease and accuracy. The aim of this study was to develop a test battery to assess the hand–eye functions relevant in predicting easy and accurate tablet subdivision in older people. Methods A mixed methods study was conducted including literature reviews and a pilot experiment. The reviews were conducted in Pubmed, Google Scholar, Dutch journals and professional standards. The first review tried to identify the hand–eye functions relevant to tablet subdivision and the second the associated measuring instruments, testing protocols and normative data. A test battery was empanelled. A pilot experiment was conducted in 30 adult volunteers to optimize and evaluate the test battery. Results Five domains were considered relevant: hand size, hand strength, flexibility/manual dexterity, vision and coordination. Hand size could best be measured by finger circumference, hand strength by pinch‐ and grip strength, flexibility by active range of joint motion, manual dexterity (and flexibility, coordination, cognition, vision) by pegboard function, vision by near visual acuity. Older people preferred the use of tablet splitters over hand breaking. Conclusion Easy and accurate tablet subdivision is essential to the good use of medicines. We developed a test battery for older people, but probably of value to all age groups.