Young Designers '13

Diploma Project

New Media Interventions to Improve Medical Adherence

Keywords

Medical adherence
Design for elderly
Pill manager
Mobile apps

Student

Rucha Patwardhan

patwardhan.rucha@gmail.com
http://www.ruchapatwardhan.com

Guide

Shashank Mehta

shashank@nid.edu

Sponsor

Honeywell Technology Solutions

Synopsis

Negligence of medical adherence for the elderly – managing medication schedules and time-oriented treatments, endless hospital/clinic visits etc. – due to lack of attention and organisational skills can lead to additional psychological and physiological problems. This project explores opportunities for seamlessly integrating the aforementioned tasks into the patients’ daily lives through a high-potential design and technological intervention.

The final design of a complete and coherent medication-friendly ecosystem for the elderly had an interactive planning app; colour-coded bottles; bar codes to identify pills; and user-friendly load, refill and dispense mechanisms. It also boasted several digital interface options to view medical schedules and make emergency calls plus a reminder system that allowed for personalised alarms.