Single Portion Packaging and the Use of User Test Protocols to Determine Patient Accessibility

Area of Science:

• Healthcare accessibility
• Packaging science
• Gerontology

Background:

• Single-portion packaging in hospitals presents accessibility challenges.
• The UK National Health Service (NHS) initiated a review of this issue in 2015.
• Assessing packaging suitability and accessibility is crucial for patient and staff usability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accessibility and suitability of current single-portion food and beverage packaging used in hospitals.
• To determine the effectiveness of ISO 17480 Annex D as a standard for assessing packaging accessibility.

Main Methods:

• Ten diverse single-portion food and beverage packs were randomly selected for testing.
• Packaging was assessed using ISO 17480 (Guidelines for Accessible Packaging), Annex D.
• A panel of 20 older adults attempted to open each pack within a one-minute time limit, rating satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale.

Main Results:

• 70% of the tested packaging failed to meet the accessibility standard.
• 50% of the packs were unopenable by participants within the time limit.
• An additional 20% of packs received low satisfaction scores (below 3 out of 5).

Conclusions:

• Current single-portion food and beverage packaging in hospitals demonstrates significant design flaws regarding accessibility.
• The ISO 17480 standard effectively identified major issues with packaging design and usability.
• Urgent improvements in packaging design are needed to ensure accessibility for all hospital users, particularly older adults.