A team of MIT professors and researchers has received a grant to continue developing the Ubox, an intelligent pill delivery system intended to increase medication compliance for rural patients suffering from TB.
Though many of the world’s worst diseases can be treated with drugs, the problem of adherence–—patients correctly following the timing and dosage of long, complex prescriptions—–remains a major challenge in public health, especially in the developing world. To combat the problem, this E-Team has created uBox, a cheap, rugged, “smart” pillbox designed for rural communities in the developing world.
UBox is a palm-sized plastic container with sixteen compartments. The user rotates the top handle clockwise to expose a new compartment, and pulls down a small lid at the base of the device to retrieve medication. A simple electronic timer records each time the lid is lowered to remove pills, creating a log of when the patient takes the medication. Further, healthcare workers who are assigned to ensure patients take their pills are given a USB-like modified audio plug and insert it into a port on top of the uBox when visiting a patient. The uBox records the time and date of this action, allowing for healthcare worker tracking as well.
More at the New Scientist…
National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance E-Team Grant Profile…
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