Using mobile phones to improve medication compliance and awareness for cardiac patients

Abstract

Improving cardiac patients' medication compliance is a major factor in reducing mortality rate and reducing hospitalization rate. This paper describes a novel medication compliance management system. Its novelty lies in the combination of functionalities that helps the patient to comply with their medication regimen, together with a personal health monitoring system that monitors their health and collects vital signs data using a mobile phone and wireless bio sensors. The system is designed to collect and analyse medication compliance, side effects and symptom responses and transfers the collected data in real time to a web based system for remote monitoring by caregivers and health professionals. Health professionals can use the system to assess the effect of the medication regimen on their patients' health and adapt it to reduce side effects and maximise the patient's wellbeing.

Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey on Algorithms, Measurement Techniques, Applications and Challenges

“…AAL tools are advanced tools performing human-machine interactions. AAL tools aim to enhance the health status of the older adults by making them able to control their health conditions [96]. Such applications are used to track and monitor the elderly people.…”

Information Technology for Active Ageing: A Review of Theory and Practice

“…We mention only three in this paragraph, yet alternatives abound in the market and in literature [113]. Other examples of medication intake alerting applications are implemented as smartphone applications, which is the case of UbiMeds [154], Wedjat [178], AIS REMIND-Me [59] and the Medication Compliance System [135].…”

“…The Fujitsu smart stick (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ technology-21620624) and the alerting mobile application proposed by Qudah et al [135] can be also listed as monitoring applications. The first uses 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity to send positioning data back to a host computer, where caregivers or relatives can monitor the person's position, along with other vital signals like the hearth rate, addressing mainly that person mobility and transportation.…”

“…For instance, UbiMed [154] is a mobile application that offers automated scheduling, reminders and tracking of prescription drugs intake, including proactive alerts sent to physicians and relatives when the patient fails to adhere to the prescription regime. The medication compliance system [135] is another mobile application that integrates a medication compliance system with the use of biosensors (e.g., electrocardiogram) to "monitor and provide personalized feedback to cardiac patients and health professionals". These two applications also aim at compensating memory loss and improving adherence level to a treatment as described in Section 6.…”

“…Some of these applications are also used as alerting applications that remind the older adult about upcoming events like a visit to the doctor, the time for taking a medicine or the time to buy groceries [188] to encourage them to be more active. Some alerting applications that are used for improving adherence to a treatment are also bundled with monitoring applications that collect information about medication compliance and sends it back to doctors or the family for following up [113,135].…”