Prescription Reminders

New technology aims to help patients with prescription reminders.
The Los Angeles Times (1/11, Dance) reports on "new devices to help people take their meds on time and improve the results coming out of clinical trials for new drugs." The new pills "will report back to a recorder or smart phone exactly what kind and how much medicine has gone down the hatch and landed in the stomach. Someday they may also report on heart rate and other bodily data." The "next generation of pills is all about compliance, as it's termed in doctor-speak -- the tendency of patients to follow their doctors' instructions (or not)."
Another Los Angeles Times (1/11, Dance) story reports that "in addition to dreaming up higher-tech pills, scientists are also working on drug delivery approaches that don't go the oral route." Instead, "patients must receive the medicine as injections or infusions so it directly enters the bloodstream." Researchers are hoping "to replace the uncomfortable, time-consuming needle-based treatments with drug pumps that are easier and less painful for patients to use."
Three technologies caregivers want discussed. The Wall Street Journal (1/10, Hobson, subscription required) "Health Blog" reported that a new survey released last week revealed the three technologies that caregivers want the most. These include having the ability to keep tabs on personal health records, a system to help coordinate caregiving, and a system that would help ensure that patients take medication appropriately, and provide alerts when the proper dose is not taken. The majority of respondents said that they would purchase these technologies despite cost or privacy concerns.