ConviDose helps cut out worries over pill dosages

No mix-ups as machine packs patient's drug cocktail in individual sachets

By Melissa Pang, The Straits Times, 9 May 2012

REMEMBERING to take the right medication at the right time can be a tricky business - especially for patients taking several different drugs at once.

And with Singapore's population ageing rapidly, this problem is likely to become more common.

Now, a health-care group believes it has come up with a way to safeguard against wrong doses or medicines getting mixed up.

It is doing it all with a machine.

Called ConviDose, the device is programmed to sort different medications into individual sachets, each containing exactly the right amount. The personalised management system helps patients to keep track of which drugs to take, and when.

The National Healthcare Group (NHG) has three of the machines located at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). After being packed, the drugs are sent out to 3,000 patients at 14 nursing homes and four long-stay wards in IMH.

The packing service costs $10 per month for people on drugs already stocked by the nursing home. Those on special medication pay $2.50 more.

Patients will have all of their pills sealed in individual sachets bearing their names, identification numbers, and when the medicine should be taken.

The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home's executive director Low Mui Lang said the system saves precious time, and frees up nurses to care for patients. Her staff used to spend three hours packing a day's worth of medicine for a 39-bed ward at the home. As only registered nurses are allowed to do this, the amount of time they could spend with patients was reduced.

As Singapore's population ages, there will be more elderly people with chronic conditions, said the NHG's chief executive, Professor Chee Yam Cheng. 'As chronic diseases progress, complicated medication regimens cause a lot of confusion to individuals who take multiple medicines.'

Ms Chan Soo Chung, executive director of the NHG Pharmacy, said the problem is exacerbated when one has a poor memory or has physical problems. She added that where more than one physician is prescribing the medicine, there is also an increased risk of duplication.

The NHG hopes to eventually extend the service to all nine of its polyclinics. A pilot study is underway at the Toa Payoh branch, involving 20 elderly patients with chronic diseases.

Laundry operator Jamilah Othman, who brings her bedridden son home from Ren Ci Nursing Home once a year, said ConviDose has made administering medicine simpler.

'It's very easy now. I used to have to check what time and how much. It's now conveniently sealed in individual packets and I just have to note what time of day to give it to him,' said the 54-year-old.