Friyo

Inspiration

The increasing number of older people with chronic illnesses means that medication management is a critical aspect of ageing in place. This project is inspired by a real-life experience of an older person who encountered challenges with managing her own medications. Issues associated with medication management among older people living in the community include medication non-adherence, lack of family support, functional impairment, and shortage of community care staff that could monitor and support the person with medication management. If not addressed, these issues could lead to inadequate medication management which could impact the older person’s overall health and functioning.

How we built it

The initial device is built using main tech stack which are Nodejs(Express) for backend, Vuejs and Bootstrap for frontend. We are using Github to manage code and collaboration.

What it does

The device has an embedded cartridge which contains medications for AM or PM (depends on the medications schedule). The device has a reminder feature which will alert the user when it's time to take the medication. The user then swipes the device to dispense the medications. The device will open the cartridge then records the medications status. The status could be the latest medications taken, missed medications, and the next medication schedule. The care provider will be able to monitor the status of medication adherence and order the medications when its due through a monitoring and notification system. These features will benefit both user (older person) and the care team. For the older person, this will promote continued involvement in medication management which is one of the instrumental activities of daily living and prevent adverse outcomes associated with medication nonadherence – thus promoting ageing in place. For the care team, the monitoring system will facilitate efficient care delivery in the aspect of medication management, especially given the issues with staff shortage and workload. Care team can continuously monitor medication adherence remotely and address issues promptly given the timely alerts embedded in the monitoring system.

Challenges we ran into

Integrate the device with related healthcare software systems used by health professionals. For example iCare and autumn care for the aged care setting, medAdvisor used by pharmacy or bpsoftware used by general practices.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We able to use team various skills to develop an initial smart medication management assistance for older person in aged care/community care setting

What we learned

Learn about the critical components of the medication management cycle. The current situation of medication management in aged care and community care sector.