Transcript Introduction - Virginia Tech

Daily Medication
Storage and
Dispensing Unit
Ed Curley
Akilah Hugine
Objective
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Many individuals with memory/cognitive issues
and physical disabilities are required to take a
complex daily schedule of medications.
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The goal of this project is to help elderly or disable
patients be able to take their medication in an
efficient and timely manner.
Patient Issues with taking
Prescriptions
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Making sure they have the correct prescription
How to make up a missed dosage
Reminder to take medication
Changing pills in Emergency Pill Box
Dealing with taking multiple medications
Ensuring patient is taking medication correctly
Prescription refill notification
Being able to crush pills
Storing pills in a dark place
Methods to track when user takes
medicine
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Sensing whether the lid is open or closed
 Metal
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contacts on lid and case
Sensing changes in contents
 Light
sensors
 Weight
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Time Awareness
 Functionality
available in most processors
Notification Methods
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Light
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Sound
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LCD display has an capacity of 16 characters per line, helpful in displaying
instructions for patients medication.
Vibration
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Helps to alert the user when and give instructions of taking medication.
Visual (LCD)
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LED’s will be very useful to use in the design project, since it is a light source
that uses very little power.
Vibration will be a great notification method, especially in environments
where audio will become a distraction.
The use of vibration is very power intensive.
Cell Phone/PDA
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User will be notified via cell phone or PDA when it is time to take medication.
Verifying Patient has Correct Medication
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Essential that the correct prescription goes to the right
patient
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This can be accomplished by using an RFID tag/label
and reader system
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Pharmacist can program smart label and attach to the
patient’s pill bottle
Overview of Medical Dispensing
System
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Based on decisions made from research,
we found that the main 3 components of
the system are :
 Pill
Bottle
 Portable Pill Box
 Stationary Unit
Block diagram of Overall System Medical Dispenser
Portable Pill Box
Pill Bottle
Stationary Unit
Physicians can
follow up on patient
Ensures right
medication, using
RFID label & reader
Dispenses medication
to pill box, using RFID
Smart cards
Tell when medication
is running low, through
weight sensors
or counters
Serve as recharging
station for pill box
Alerts patient
when and how to
take medication, through
visual, audio, & vibration
Ensures patient is
taking medication,
by speech or
weight sensors
Can store data from portable
pill box, serve as a beacon
to transfer data from one
component to another
Hardware
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Objective: Create system to test notification
methods and times
Components:
 Fox
11 Trainer kit
 LED driver and 9 LEDs
 2 pill boxes
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Implementation
Role in larger system
Picture goes Here
Future Work
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Test notifications on user’s to find the best
method.
Test decision applications made on the system.
Develop hardware for each component of the
system.
Explore other technologies to implement with the
system.