. 2015 Jan 24;2(1):e000166. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2014-000166

Table 2.

Advantages and disadvantages of technologies designed to improve chronic medication adherence in cardiovascular disease

Technology	Advantages	Disadvantages
Medication container alarms³⁹	Simple, cheap, evidence for improved adherence	Poor uptake
SMS reminders³⁵ ³⁶	Cheap, convenient for patients, evidence for short term benefit on adherence	No proven effect in long term
Nurse-led telephone calls³⁷	Patient-specific, evidence for improved adherence	Resource-heavy in terms of staff hours
Computer-based education modules⁴⁰	Encourages patient participation, patients better informed about their condition	May be inconvenient for patients, no evidence of improved adherence.
Interactive Voice Response technology⁴¹	Useful for large numbers of patients, can create tailored responses, evidence for improved adherence	May be viewed as impersonal
Online records⁴²	Convenient for patients	Risk of confidentiality breach, no evidence of improved medication adherence
Smartphone/tablet applications^43–45	Interactive, tailored to individual patients, evidence for improved adherence	Expensive, may not be accessible to all cohorts of patients