Abstract
With the aim of preventing accidental ingestion of medications by the elderly, 91 elderly persons aged 65 or older were surveyed about their impressions of medication pictograms. Subjects were asked to select what they thought was the most easily recognizable medication pictogram from among five types of pictograms, including four that were devised for each of the eight existing pictograms, and from among the eight existing pictograms that were each changed to 12 different colors. As a result, the patterns that were easiest to understand were those with concise descriptions of actual actions and those with written text and simple expressions. The most recognizable color was skin color, followed by black and red. 65-80% of the elderly participants responded that medication pictograms are useful in preventing them from taking the wrong medicine and/or dosage, suggesting their usefulness.
