Daily Medication Storage and Dispensing Unit Ed Curley Akilah Hugine

Objective Many individuals with memory/cognitive issues and physical disabilities are required to take a complex daily schedule of medications. 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 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 Sensing whether the lid is open or closed  Metal contacts on lid and case Sensing changes in contents  Light sensors  Weight Time Awareness  Functionality available in most processors

Notification Methods Light  LED’s will be very useful to use in the design project, since it is a light source that uses very little power. Sound  Helps to alert the user when and give instructions of taking medication. Visual (LCD)  LCD display has an capacity of 16 characters per line, helpful in displaying instructions for patients medication. Vibration  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  User will be notified via cell phone or PDA when it is time to take medication.

Verifying Patient has Correct Medication Essential that the correct prescription goes to the right patient This can be accomplished by using an RFID tag/label and reader system Pharmacist can program smart label and attach to the patient’s pill bottle

Overview of Medical Dispensing System Based on decisions made from research, we found that the main 3 components of the system are :  Pill Bottle  Portable Pill Box  Stationary Unit

Pill Bottle Block diagram of Overall System Medical Dispenser Stationary Unit Portable Pill Box 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 Can store data from portable pill box, serve as a beacon to transfer data from one component to another Alerts patient when and how to take medication, through visual, audio, & vibration Ensures patient is taking medication, by speech or weight sensors Physicians can follow up on patient Serve as recharging station for pill box

Hardware Objective: Create system to test notification methods and times Components:  Fox 11 Trainer kit  LED driver and 9 LEDs  2 pill boxes Implementation Role in larger system Picture goes Here

Future Work 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.