U.S. senators appriced this new digital pill that has sensors that indicate when you take the pill.This pill was developed for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, containing a tracking device and was Proteus Digital Health. This will make sure that patients are swallowing their pills on time.
How does this pill work?
“The system works by sending a message from the pill’s sensor to a wearable patch, which then transmits the information to a mobile application so that patients can track the ingestion of the medication on their smartphone.”
This sensor is the size of a grain of salt and is activated when it is wet from stomach juices.
I think this is an awesome invention with great capabilities. Not only for people with the mental and health disorders stated but also older people. When reading this I first thought about my grandmother who has had issues with taking her medications and taking the right amounts in the future. I could imagine this technology being used in nursing homes, hospitals, and doctors office all over the world in the near future. My only concern with this specific device would be potential health risks and the pricing but Im sure it was tested and would not have been approved if there were. Im excited to see the influence the internet of things has on the health industry with devices like this, I think there are endless possibilities.
Obviously this innovation can be very beneficial to patients with mental illnesses but there are many downsides to the pill. First of all I think the price of medication with the new technology could be extremely expensive. Medication is already very costly by itself but medication with sensors could make a bottle of pills much more expensive. Also the pills require a wearable patch. Personally I would not want to wear a patch on me all the time in order to track my medication. Furthermore, this technology requires a smartphone to track your progress. If you struggle from mental illnesses it may be hard to afford a smartphone along with expensive pills.
On the other hand the pill could be beneficial if a patient tries to overdose on the pills. If multiple pills are taken at the same time, the app could be lifesaving and alert emergency services in the event of trying to overdose. I feel that this technology can be very beneficial however this technology must be affordable and not make anyone feel left out. For example if people see that you are wearing the pill patch, it tells them that there is something wrong. I would feel insecure if this was the case in wearing the patch. Obviously there will be improvements made but I think there need to be a few changes to the product before it is taken to the markets.
I think it is great. This innovation is useful for the people who are easy to forget if they take pills and have a lot of pills to take. It could help these people get rid of the illness. But some people think privacy will become a problem. From my opinion, it is not a big deal to let this innovation benefit our life. And not only can it help the patients, but also can help the doctor to follow up their work to treat their patients. I think this technology will be a tendency in the medical domain.
I think this is an extremely good idea. I think it could also be helpful for pills that aren’t even for mental illness, too. When you are sick and on antibiotics that need to be taken at the same time every day, it will work. If someone is on birth control where it is crucial to take the pill around the same time every day in order for the pill to work, it is also beneficial. I personally am a very forgetful person so I think this idea is useful for everybody. However, it is definitely more important for those who do use it for mental health medication. Your mental health is a lot more important because it is very inhibiting for someone with a mental disorder to have a “down day”. Also, there are health side effects that come with not taking your medication which can sometimes lead to being hospitalized. Having a mental health disorder can make every day seemingly easy activities extremely difficult. Activities like getting out of bed, making rational decisions and going to work. So, having a pill tracker to ensure that you are taking your medication would be extremely beneficial for people who have mental health disorders.
http://www.healthtalk.org/peoples-experiences/mental-health/mental-health-ethnic-minority-experiences/not-taking-prescribed-medication
I think this is a great new innovation. The medical field is one of the most fascinating fields, and I think it is really cool to see new technologies emerging to help people. This will have a huge impact on people with memory loss who need to take pills, and could potentially be applied to everyone in the future. I certainly have been prescribed medicine and have had times where I forgot if I took the pill, so for someone who generally does not have memory loss this can help. I also think this has the potential to help fight diseases, because doctors could see if people are actually using the medicine or neglecting to take it.
From a personal standpoint I think that this innovation is crucial for those who suffer from the outlined mental illnesses. Often times when someone has a disease they are in denial and try to skip their medications and deceive their doctors, this combined with simply forgetting to take their medications can become a real problem. With this pill doctors and loved ones and track the patients use of their medications and have more peace of mind.
Along with this it can also give researchers information about the pills and the habits of the patients consuming them. The issue of the cost of medications that is lost when patients do not take their medication is also discussed in this thread. I think that this is also an important part of this digital pill because ti allows companies across the board to save money and help patients at the same time.
If those taking the pill agree to their personal information because processed then I do not see any problem with the pill.
I like the idea of this, but I also think that it’s almost a bit ridiculous. We shouldn’t feel forced to take our pills at the exact same every day. That’s too mundane and robotic for my tastes. I think this will help people with issues of forgetting to take their pills but I seriously think it’s a tad too far into science for the average person. http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/14/health/fda-digital-pill-abilify/index.html
This is CNN’s version of the news.
I agree that this innovation would be extremely useful for those who are prescribed numerous medications or just people who suffer from memory loss. I do not think privacy would be too much of an issue since health-related informations is only able to be seen by your personal physician. Some people do not like the idea of being tracked at all which might cause issues down the road, but being able to optimize and record when a medication was most effective could have a huge impact on someone’s life. I see this being effective for those who need to take medication to keep sane, it may not be for everyone, but many people could benefit from this technology.
Source for my comment: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/health/digital-pill-fda.html
This seems like an extremely useful innovation, not only for people with the disorders you mentioned, but also for pretty much anyone who has to take a medication regularly. While pill keepers can tell you if you’ve taken your medication that day, this app could tell you specifically when you took it, allowing you to be more precise with your ingestion of the medication. It could also have more benefits than meet the eye including allowing people to see whether taking their pills at a certain time of day/night renders them more effective. (This app would be even more useful if it included a comments section for each time a person took a pill ie. “felt less nauseous when I woke up”). Note: after reading this second article, I see that the app allows patients to record their moods, activity, and sleep, which would certainly be useful as well.
This article brings up another point that i had not previously considered, which is the cost associated with patients who do not take their prescribed medications. First of all, money is wasted on the medications that aren’t being consumed, and secondly, the article points out that patients who do not take their medications often grow sicker, needing more and more medical treatment – culminating in about $100 billion per year. This app would allow doctors to hold their patients responsible for taking care of themselves, also reducing the amount of money wasted.
There are many questions of privacy surrounding this topic, but I definitely believe this is not enough of a concern to stop the innovation from existing. First of all, the patients who are exposed to the digital pill can block doctors from seeing their information, which, in my opinion, makes the privacy question fairly void. In addition, I believe that the number of benefits this pill would bring is enough to outweigh the negatives. A final benefit of this pill is the amount of data that could be collected about medications and how they affect people of all demographics. Data on side affects, effectiveness, etc. would be extremely useful and beneficial to all.