From both personal and professional experience, I know how hard it can be for users to keep track of their medications. And when something goes wrong, it can be a major problem. So I'm always pleased to see designs that make medication management easier. None of these are foolproof solutions to ensuring medications are taken properly, but they can certainly help.

There are many weekly pill boxes, but the 7Pack from Borin-Halbich is the one I used with my mom, and I'm a fan. Wisely, there are designs with two, three and four compartments for each day, so users can find the one that fits their medication schedule. And users can easily take one container along when leaving home during the day. My mom didn't find it hard to open the compartments, although some other buyers have reported problems. The nice big labels with the days are helpful, too.

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Sabi makes some interesting products, as we've noted before. For users whose primary concern is having an effective on-the-go pill container, the Holster is a nice option; the ability to clip it to a pocket or a bag helps keep it from getting lost among all the other things users carry. 

One buyer noted that unlike some other pillboxes, this one won't open and spill the pills if you drop it. Another buyer noted it's not airtight; it lets in moisture which deteriorates the pills. But the Holster was never intended for long-term storage of just-in-case medicines; it's really meant for daily usage, and it serves that function well. 

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Users with severe allergies who need to carry an EpiPen, an Auvi-Q or an Allerject might appreciate the wallets from CarryNine. They allow someone to carry these lifesaving tools with minimal bulk—and they look good, too. As someone who carries an Auvi-Q, I'm delighted to see designers considering the needs of people who need these medications. 

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Since I'm always on the lookout for easy tools—ones that will work for people with poor eyesight, memory issues, and other such hinderances—I'm delighted to see that users can now get medicine packages which bundle all the pills that they need take at a given time. This one is from PillPack.

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And this one is from Parata. I'm intrigued by the different designs of these packages; I find the PillPack easier to read. I like how the day and time jump out, and I'm guessing that Nov. 21 would be easier to absorb when the user is fuzzy than 05/04 would be. The Parata version provides more information right on the pack; PillPack sends a separate medication list with images and instructions for each medication.

PillPack notes that if a user has a medication with frequent dose changes, the company may put that medication in a separate packet or send a standard pill bottle for that one item. Users with environmental concerns might balk at the extra packaging involved with these products—but for those with a confusing medication regime, such tools could be invaluable. 

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For users who prefer to take their medications directly from the bottles they came in, there are still designs that help ensure they remember whether or not they've taken today's pills. The Take-n-Slide attaches to a standard pill bottle with 3M adhesive backing; it can be removed when the bottle is empty and attached to a new one. Users just move the slider when they take the day's pill; if they are uncertain later in the day about whether or not they took the pill, they can readily check. For medications taken more than once/day, though, this would be cumbersome, requiring multiple Take-n-Slides (which would be confusing).

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Another way of tracking when a medication was last taken would be with a timer on the pill bottle cap. TimeSince has the simplest one I've seen. The user just takes the medication and presses the reset button, and the display starts counting up the minutes and hours. TimeSince has a bright LCD display and is fine to use with medications that require refrigeration. Some other products of this nature have alarms, which might be helpful for some users—but for other users they will just provide unnecessary complexity and might require more manual dexterity than they have, since the timer buttons are pretty small. 

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Anther simple but useful tool is a pill bottle magnifier, since it's hard to use a regular magnifying glass on a small round bottle. Carson wisely has one that's lighted and one that's not. For users who just take their medications with their meals and at bedtime, the illuminated version is probably not necessary. That means the user won't need to worry about replacing batteries, either. But if the user has medications taken under emergency conditions, the lighted version is probably worthwhile. 

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Yet another medication-related concern is keeping those medications away from children (and perhaps keeping them out of sight from those who snoop in other people's medicine cabinets). The MedSafe provides a locked place to keep those medications; it's designed to fit within a medicine cabinet, although it can also be installed elsewhere. 

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For those who want something bigger and stronger, Steelmaster provides medical security cabinets. Although these were designed with clinics, rehab centers, schools and similar facilities in mind, some buyers are installing them in homes, too. Unlike the MedSafe, this product was designed to accommodate bottled medicines, too. One drawback a buyer mentioned is that the shelves are not adjustable and that small half-shelf can't be removed. Also, there's no option for a door that opens to the left.