Transcript Oral Presentation 4

The MedDispenser
Improving Medication Compliance for the
Elderly
Group:
Ashley Hammann
Darnita Mims
Connie Saelzler
Annie Suarez
Advisor:
Richard Fries, Datex Ohmeda
The Elderly and Medication
Regime Adherence
When a patient is asked to take a
medication 3 or more times a day, less
than 50% of patients can comply with
those instructions.
The more medications added to a patient’s
therapy, the lower the chance of a patient
taking all the medications correctly.
Need for a Device
In order to improve the efficacy of
medication regimes, medication must be
taken:
 At the correct times
 In the correct dosages
 According to pharmacist advice
Therefore, a medication dispenser with the
ability to ensure medication is taken
correctly is needed.
Purpose
The MedDispenser will:
 Dispense the correct
medications at the
correct time in the
correct dosages
 In order to avoid overdosages, forgetfulness,
and drug side effects
from incorrectly following
pharmacist’s and
doctor’s directions
E-Pill Med-Time Dispencer
 Dispenses
medication up to 4
times per day
 Lockable and
tamperproof
 Expensive: $249.00
E-Pill MD.2
 Dispenses medicine
up to 6 times per day
 Calls the caregiver
automatically if meds
are low or not taken
 Not Portable
 Expensive: $799.00
+ $29.95/month
E-Pill CompuMed
 Automatically
dispenses up to 4
times / day
 Skipped doses
accumulate
 Expensive: $895.00
Automatic Vitamin & Pill
Organizer
 Holds up to 28 doses
 $69.95
 Comes with Alarm
and the ability to
schedule the time
 By Sharper Image
Pros & Cons Table
Disadvantages of Present
Medicine Dispensers
 Expensive
 Not able to accommodate a month’s
worth of multiple daily doses
 Some not portable
 Skipped doses accumulate
 Have to be refilled daily, weekly or biweekly
Current Patents
 Currently there are many patents out for
an automatic medicine dispenser dating
as far as back as 1977
 Our design would be different enough
not to infringe on an existing patents
 Examples
Proposed Design
 Each medication will be distributed into
separate slots of a container
 The prescription definition will be saved
in the device’s memory
 The correct medication and dosage will
be dispensed at the correct time
 Each prescription type will be allotted a
separate level in the tower
Picture of One Level for
One Medication
QFD
Diagram
From Customer
Surveys
QFD
Diagram
From Health
Care Provider
Surveys
Past Work
 Creation and distribution of a Potential Customer
Survey
 Creation and distribution of a Health Care
Provider Survey
 Meeting with Philip E. Johnston, Pharm. D. at
the Department of Pharmaceutical Services at
VUH
 Collection of both surveys
 QFD Diagrams for both surveys
 Researching patents
 Researching competitors
Current Work
 Further research into more concrete
design specifications
 Build/Draw MedDispenser
 Designsafe
 Keep trying to get in contact with Mr.
Fries
Future Work




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A critique by healthcare providers
An computer prototype of the device
Figure cost for producing the machine
The cost for each individual machine
Flash Presentation of working design
Conclusions &
Recommendations
 Pharmacists would need compensation
in order to fill a medicine dispenser
 May increase cost of product
 Cost of dispenser should be $15 - $20 for
consumer
 Improvements to be made on design:
 Addition of compartments for liquid
medications or any other medication not
available in a pill form