The word adherence is used to describe how consistently a patient is taking their medication. Poor adherence results in poor patient outcomes. Devices to address the problem typically employ two strategies.
- Sensing
The goal of “sensing” is to record that a medicine has been dispensed, and when. That information is logged and perhaps made available to a care provider. - Notification
“Notifications” typically function to remind the patient to take their medication at the right time.
A Pill Dispenser accomplishes both. It dispenses pills and records the time that it did so. It also provides audible or visual reminders to the patient to ingest those pills. It might even record types of user activity that could imply that the pills were taken such as opening a door or pressing a button.
Porticos has worked on numerous projects in this field.