One Click Pharmacy

Inspiration

Today, over 46 million adults living in the US are over 65 years old and therefore considered elderly (1). The elderly population is projected to be 77 million by 2034 according to the US Census (2). Furthermore, about 10,000 people each day are turning 65 or older. Of the 16,116,219 adult EMS responses in 2014, 6,569,064 (40.76%) were from older patients (3). It is clear that an older population has a higher volume of health problems, which is why we chose to isolate this age group as our targeted population. According to the CDC “89.1% of adults aged 65 and over use prescription drugs.” 67.6% of them took 3 or more prescriptions, and 40.9% took 5 or more (4). Around 38.7% of patients made a mistake with their medication in the previous year. “The most common errors reported by elderly, polymedicated, and multi-pathological people were skipping a dose or not taking it regularly (4).” Approximately 35% of all medical spending is done by the elderly (4), which is disproportionately high considering only 16.21% of the US population is over 65 (5). This shows the vulnerability of the elderly population and the need for self-care strategies. Data collected by Dr. Fischer states that 77% of older adults have a cell phone which trails other age groups by approximately 18%. Only 47% of elderly Americans use the internet and have internet coverage. Internet usage is much less prevalent in the older age groups than among younger groups, with home access only reaching 34% among the elderly (6). She further reports thatThis gap is likely a result of the increasing complexity of available devices. Furthermore, vision loss affects 37 million Americans older than 50 years and one in four who are older than 80 years (7). Vision problems severely limit the ability to use the internet and devices.

What it does

We fully recognize the impediments for geriatric patients to get adequate health care, thus, designed our program purposefully to provide solutions. With simple interface and lay-person wording, the gereatric patients looking for a reminder to refill their medicion will accomplish this goal with great ease. Within a few clicks, they will have a reminder set for them to restock their medicines. With 41% of older adults above 65 years old having mobility constraints, our design aims to assist the refilling of their non-prescription medication by directing them to online retailers through one simple click (8). In addition, instead of requiring the possession of smartphones from our users, the web design of the program with the support of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines followed by local libraries will be accessible to users in almost all environments (9).

How we built it

The program will use a voice recognition system (Google API) to take the user’s language input of the name of, the total amount of, and the daily dose of the medication. The first function of the program tells the user when the medication will run out. It uses a mathematical algorithm to calculate the date, then the program will display the date 5 days prior to the “run out” date to notify the user to get a refill. The second function of the program takes the name of the medication and directs the user to the cvs website for online ordering and pick up for that specific medication. The third function of the program keeps track of the time and date and will notify the user to purchase the medication 5 days prior to the “run out” date.

Challenges we ran into

With the online module of Medhacks this year, it allows us to understand and cherish in-person communication for its high efficiency and accuracy. Our major challenges are composed mostly due to unfamiliarity with online communication methods as well as collaborating on code generation over long distance. Facing limited Internet width-band for one of our team members limits our possibility to use Zoom, Google Meeting, and Discord to communicate without lagging. The inability to pass complete sentences and thoughts in time elongated our brainstorm process. We are devoted to enhancing communication even though that means we have to take less efficient routes, such as using words to explain abstract ideas. This lack of familiarity also comes in when the collaboration between our coders was impeded by the inability to direct communication and hands-on programming. One of our coders lacks the software to run and decipher the lines written by the other coder. This would have been accomplished if in-person interaction can happen with them directly coding from each other’s device.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Having a voice activated option makes the use of our program more efficient and intuitive thus allowing the less digitally literate population to utilize this system. By directing the user straight to the streamline online ordering of the medication they inputted earlier, we allow the user to take immediate action and reduce their online browsing time when they are prompted to refill their medication. This virtual connection to a pharmacy will allow the elderly users to avoid physical contact which is crucial to their health during the current global pandemic and will continue to be a useful feature well beyond Covid-19. Our program greatly ensures the consistent availability of the elderly user’s medication supply. The streamlined online ordering of refills will simplify the traditional ordering process which will increase convenience and reduce risks associated with missing a dose of medication.

What we learned

Throughout our process, we learned a lot about collaboration over the internet and across time zones. We realized that dividing work between members equitably was crucial to success but could only be accomplished with an acknowledged difference in our skill sets. Some of the work was only able to be done after the completion of another person’s portion, forcing us to plan for the event that it failed to work.

What's next for One Click Pharmacy

We will create an application in order to extend our program to all digital platforms so that we can store patient’s medication data, such as the amount remaining and preferred time of consumption, for continued use of our program. With accessibility to sound and display systems on mobile devices, we aim to send customized daily reminders to avoid missed or repeated medicine-taking. Meanwhile, integrating the program with health care providers and hospitals will allow us to send the patient's prescription drug orders to the healthcare system they are associated with so the hospital can provide the medication on time. It will also simplify health care workers’ jobs in tracking patient’s prescriptions. Furthermore, being a part of the hospital system will preclude us from Health Insurance Portability and Accountability violations.

Sources

Older People Projected to Outnumber Children. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-41-population-projections.html. Accessed 5 Sept. 2020.
Duong, Hieu V et al. “National Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services Responses for Older Adults in the United States.” Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors vol. 22,1 (2018): 7-14. doi:10.1080/10903127.2017.1347223
By 2030, All Baby Boomers Will Be Age 65 or Older. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/12/by-2030-all-baby-boomers-will-be-age-65-or-older.html. Accessed 5 Sept. 2020.
“Medical Spending of the Elderly.” The National Bureau of Economic Research, 2015, https://www.nber.org/aginghealth/2015no2/w21270.html.
Pérez-Jover, Virtudes et al. “Inappropriate Use of Medication by Elderly, Polymedicated, or Multipathological Patients with Chronic Diseases.” International journal of environmental research and public health vol. 15,2 310. 10 Feb. 2018, doi:10.3390/ijerph15020310
Fischer, Shira H et al. “Acceptance and use of health information technology by community-dwelling elders.” International journal of medical informatics vol. 83,9 (2014): 624-35. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2014.06.005
Pelletier, Allen L et al. “Vision Loss in Older Adults.” American family physician vol. 94,3 (2016): 219-26.
Bureau, US Census. Mobility Is Most Common Disability Among Older Americans. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2014/cb14-218.html. Accessed 5 Sept. 2020.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview | Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) | W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2020.