Introducing smart packaging in residential networks to prevent medicine misuse

Abstract

The misuse of medicines, often due to forgetfulness or lack of information about drugs and interactions, impinges heavily on the well-being of people and the economies of health systems. Technology can help alleviate the problem by providing assistance to monitor medicine intake, issue reminders and deliver medical advice. We present a system that accomplishes these tasks by harnessing recent advances in smart packaging and residential networks. This combination yields a medicine manager with great precision in drug monitoring, plus unprecedented capabilities to reach the users and provide them with valuable information.