Medication compliance is an important therapeutic issue which is of major interest to both health care providers and manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. This study, funded by Merck Company Foundation, Medco Inc and the Schimper Foundation, has as its goal to determine the effect of 2 types of telephone calls to remind patients to take their medications. This prevalent diagnosis, along with its requisite medication regime has been especially notable for the difficulties noted in medication compliance. The focus of this poster presentation will be to provide case study results from 4 patients with the goal of demonstrating the utility of this MEMS cap approach.
Technology provides dramatic new ways to improve patient care and facilitate nursing practice.
Video telephones and MEMS caps are two examples of how technology facilitates creative practice which can then be utilized to help elderly patients with difficult tasks such as medication management. Memory loss and social isolation are challenging problems for nurses. Technology provides new methods for caring, monitoring patient and developing nursing strategies. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand and describe how visiting home nurses experience the practice of nursing in the inner city and how the nurses perceive the introduction and use of hand-held computer technology into their practice. The nurse can now connect with institutions through these existing information links and communicate patient care needs.