Safe & Sound
Helping older adults and caregivers safely dispose of medication
What should you do with medication you no longer need? For many people, the answer isn't obvious. Flush it? Throw it away? Find a take-back location? I wanted to turn that uncertainty into a simple, practical learning experience.
Medication instructions usually make it clear how to take a prescription. But what happens when the medication expires? Disposal guidance isn't always as familiar, leaving patients and caregivers to figure it out themselves. And the wrong choice can create risks for children, pets, and the environment.
The challenge was this: How do I create an experience that helps someone make the right decision when the answer isn't obvious?
I designed Safe & Sound for older adults and caregivers who needed a straightforward way to understand their options and make the right choice.
Analysis
Development
This project began on a personal level.
While helping my father manage his medication, I realized I didn't know what to do with his expired prescriptions. I started asking colleagues and family members the same question and used a short survey to see whether the uncertainty was more widespread.
From there, I researched medication-disposal statistics, the risks of improper disposal, and FDA and CDC guidance. I also spoke with two healthcare subject-matter experts.
Three learning needs emerged:
Understand the risks of improper disposal
Identify the appropriate disposal method for different medications
Find and access local medication-disposal resources
The problem wasn't simply a lack of information. Learners needed to know what to do when faced with a real medication-disposal decision.
That insight shaped the experience.
Different medications require different disposal methods, so rather than simply telling learners what to do, I wanted them to practice making the decision.
I decided build the course around Sarah, who is visiting her mother, Sophia, for the weekend. When Sarah discovers expired medication, she decides to research what to do rather than simply throw it away.
The scenario gave the information a relatable context. A drag-and-drop sorting activity then let learners practice matching different medications with the appropriate disposal method—the closest representation of the real-world problem I could create.
I created a brief written storyboard to shape the content and flow. I organized it into three sections:
Why Proper Disposal Matters — Understand the risks
Best Practices for Safe Disposal — Learn and practice choose the appropriate method
Review & Resources — Reinforce the decisions and provide resources for future use
The scenario allowed learners to practice the real-world action through interactive tech. That’s ideal.
I developed the experience in Rise 360, integrating visuals created in Canva and building the interactive sorting activity and knowledge checks around the learning objectives.
After development, I shared the course first with the two healthcare SMEs and then with a larger focus group, including my father.
The course itself functioned smoothly after deployment, so the more useful feedback came from looking at the learner experience. Some learners felt the Home Aid could be simpler, so I reworked it to focus on the key points reinforced throughout the course.
I reviewed the data from the assessment questions in the knowledge check, which reflected engagement and clarity of content.
One detail told me the Home Aid had value beyond the course itself: The next time I visited my father, he showed me the downloadable Home Aid he had printed and taped it inside the kitchen cabinet where he keeps his medication. I’d say that’s a win.
Evaluation
Learners reported a better understanding of proper medication disposal, and many downloaded the Home Aid for future reference. More importantly, the project reinforced something I try to carry into every learning experience:
The goal isn't simply to give people information—It's to help them use what they've learned when they actually need it.
For Safe & Sound, that meant moving from “What should I know about medication disposal?” to “What should I do with this medication?”
That difference shaped the research, the story, the interaction, and ultimately the resource learners could take with them.
Although Safe & Sound is a simple learning experience, this is one that I actually feel quite proud of.
Not only because my father actually printed out the Home Aid and uses the information, but because I saw a problem in my own environment and set out to solve it. I figured out what learners needed and designed around that. I tested it, listened to feedback and made adjustments to improve the solution.
That’s really the heart of what I do.