The increasing age of the population and changing policies on reimbursement for hospitalization have shifted responsibility for a significant portion of clinical care to patients and families. These changes are creating a need for inexpensive, easily used products to support the delivery of nursing services into home environments. This proposal involves the development of a drug dispensing system to control the administration of medications to patients at home. This bedside system will deliver drugs on a prescribed schedule, alert the patient, accommodate changes in prescription schedules, protect against overdoses and theft, and maintain a log of patient compliance for trans-telephonic transmission to a nursing center. This Automatic Drug Dispenser will be used in many clinical areas as a stand-alone device and will later become a module of a more comprehensive home care system. Phase I will include a study to develop a design concept, construct and test prototype devices, and a clinical evaluation program. The results of Phase I will provide the data necessary to evaluate the concept and specific performance features, and also to develop specifications for the design of a marketable product.
