|
Introduced this weekend
Intelligent Pill Dispenser Designed to Assure Senior
Citizens Take the Right Pills
June 21, 2004 - A pill dispenser with embedded
intelligence that allows remote communications with pharmacists and
physicians was displayed this weekend at the American Society of Health
System Pharmacists in Las Vegas. The designer says it can help aging
patients deal with complex medications.
 INRANGE |
|
|
The
most visible component of the INRange system is the MOD2-10™
delivery module which is placed at a patient’s residence.
The MOD2-10 reminds the patient to take his or her
medications at pre-scheduled intervals, and it delivers the
exact prescribed dose to the patient. In addition, the
MOD2-10 takes pre-emptive action if the patient does not
adhere to the prescribed medication schedule.
When
it is time for an individual user to take his or her
medications, the MOD2-10 provides a visual and audible
alert. In response to this prompting, the user then presses
the red “Drop” key on the control key panel.
The
MOD2-10 then moves the appropriate MEDisc™ into position and
removes the correct unit dose package. This process is
repeated for all medications within the prescribed regimen. |
|
The first such system - called INRange Telepharmacy
Fulfillment System - has been designed by Mary Anne Papp, D. O., a
cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Medical College
of Wisconsin, and staff physician at Froedtert Hospital.
“Complicated drug therapies are being used to help
more patients than ever manage conditions such as diabetes, congestive
heart failure, and HIV-AIDS,” says Dr. Papp. “Every patient encounter
begins with several medication-related questions that include: ‘What
medications do you take? When do you take them? How many are you taking?
When did you run out? Who prescribes them?’ The sad fact is that we are
asking the questions of increasingly aging patients, with complex
medication regimens, patients who often respond with ‘the little blue
pills’ or ‘some blood pressure pill.’ ”
“I really hope it benefits us all,” says Dr. Papp,
whose invention was inspired by several seniors, including her
mother-in-law.
The breadbox sized telepharmacy system uses
prescription cartridges that dispense accurate doses and is suited to
homes, schools and assisted-living centers. The tightly controlled
system enables a pharmacy specialist or clinician to remotely monitor
and manage the drug regimens of patients. “A pharmacist in the UK can
dispense a single dose of AIDS medication in Somalia using our pharmacy
without walls. Not unlike an ATM machine, it dispenses pills instead of
dollars,” Dr. Papp says.
It is especially suited for those who are at risk
for non-compliance due to visual, auditory or cognitive impairments, the
company says. Recent studies show that in-home prescription medication
errors are rising, Dr. Papp says. More patients are under prescription
drug therapy than ever before, more diseases require complicated drug
therapies, and more complex drugs are being prescribed, she points out.
“Pharmacists dispense bottles and I wanted them to dispense doses,” says
Papp of the impetus behind here idea. “What we need is the hand of a
nurse in the home.”
Under a grant to the Medical College of Wisconsin
from INRange and Glaxo Smith Kline, Medical College physicians at
Froedtert Hospital will soon begin to use INRange Systems for congestive
heart failure patients. VA hospitals in St. Louis and Jacksonville
already have plans to use INRange.
INRange’s visible component is the delivery module
that is placed at a patient’s residence. The module reminds the patient
to take their medications at pre-scheduled intervals and delivers the
exact prescribed dose.
The invisible component is software that enables a
pharmacist or licensed clinician to remotely schedule, change and
monitor a patient’s drug therapy and compliance using a wireless
communications link to the in-home box. The clinician can access the
system using a standard web browser. Connections are controlled using
secure encrypted communications, and audit trails are kept by individual
users. The prescribed medications are delivered in individualized unit
dose packages which are contained in patented medication carriers known
as MEDiscs.
INRange Systems can interface with a networked
pharmacy system that verifies prescriptions, alters time regimens, locks
out dangerous drug interactions and more. The system was honored with
the Ben Franklin Technology award for best new idea in January 2002.
Dr. Papp began the project in 1998 while working
for the VA Hospital in Chicago then joined forced with the Design
Manufacturing and Engineering clinic at her alma mater, the University
of Dayton, to develop the first working prototypes that gained patents.
“My inspiration came from my experience with my
mother-in-law and countless other seniors who brought me shopping bags
full of discontinued or altered dose medications and forgotten refills,”
Papp says. “The mechanism inspiration came from the birth control
dial-a-paks. Using Sears tools in our basement, my husband and I altered
the dispensers to automated radial exit.”
Bob Bogash, past president of the American Society
of Health-System Pharmacists refined the device to conform to pharmacy
law. Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the Pennsylvania Life Science
Greenhouse worked closely with INRange. |
