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Inspiration
Social work! One of our members received a client over the summer who was constantly in pain but had no access to medicine. His doctor would not allow him to receive pain medication because the client had a history of drug abuse in his records from eight years ago. He cycled through nearly a dozen doctors within less than a year, and they continually refused to prescribe pain medication. The patient ended up not receiving the necessary care and pills. This example inspired our group to find a solution to the problem of drug abuse and neglecting patient care.
What it does
The pill bank dispenses medication at intervals determined by the doctor who prescribed the medicine. Additionally, an alarm system is used to remind patients to take their dosage of pills. This system begins with the doctor inputting a prescription in his patient's electronic health records (EHR). There is no need to use any other prescription system because the EHR speaks with the pharmacy automatically, therefore streamlining the process. We included an emergency button in the mechanical instructions of the apparatus to ensure patient safety in case of adverse reactions to medication. The notification system not only consists of an alarm on the apparatus itself, but also allows the Pill Bank to speak directly with systems such as SMS, phone call, and Amazon Echo. The Pill Bank prompts for log-in information to maximize security and patient confidentiality, as well as ensuring that others do not utilize the patient's medication. The physician is notified when the patient forgets or skips a dose.
How we built it
The software was done in node.js, angular.js, express.js, mongodb, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Challenges we ran into
The first challenge we face was finalizing the team. One of our team members left us in the middle and thus, this increased each member's work load. Another challenge was that the lack of coding experience and knowledge made the coding work difficult to distribute. Finalizing the solution and idea plan was difficult in the Pill Bank's developmental infancy.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are very proud of the prototype of the Pill Bank! In addition our group is proud of how our logo, and overall design came out. The soft skills that came out in how we communicated with one another and formulated the presentation was incredible because these were gradually developed and came into fruition over time. We started from ground one, where our group chemistry was not ideal, and then we overcame that in ways we did not expect ourselves.
What we learned
We learned how to really make use of our resources, such as mentors and staff. Through this, we were able to pitching ideas more clearly and concisely. We learned that each member has their own unique skill sets and how to utilize that most effectively.
What's next for Pill Bank
We envision that Pill Bank will be developed into a real model with a much stronger back-end software. We hope to improve the quality of care and thus assist individuals struggling with drug abuse, medication adherence, and contentious doctor-patient relationships. Along with this, we envision trust-worthy hospitals and healthier communities.
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