This one is actually a serious idea. Imagine that!
Certain fields have checklists, to keep things in order and ensure that everything that's supposed to get done at a particular time gets done at that time. I'm thinking aviation, as a well-known example.
But there's no checklist for stocking a pill dispenser. Someone who's on a bunch of meds for various times of the day is likely to have memory and concentration issues, so the weekly ritual of putting the pills into the 7-chambered pillboxes (one each for early morning, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night, perhaps) gets confusing, frustrating, and error-prone.
So here's an idea I'll throw out for free. The patient (or the patient's spouse or whatever) needs a checklist. Actually, a checklist for each time of day that pills are to be taken, plus a master that shows what checklists there should be.
Each checklist should include the patient's name, the date it was issued, which time of day it applies to, and the list of how many of what type of pill, plus a section for optional pills which may be taken at that time and why.
The master should include the patient's name, the date it was issued, and a list of the checklists and their current issue dates.
These should be printed on good-quality card stock in large print, laminated, and provided with a perforation in the top left corner so that the set of current cards can be kept together on a ring.
The format should be conducive to checking off items with a grease pencil (to be wiped clean at the beginning of the next week or whatever).
So what does it take to make this happen?
Printing, laminating, and perforating equipment are pretty standard. I expect someone's already got a combined inkjet printer and laminator, even.
Then there needs to be software to do the formatting. Not a big deal, right?
The problematic part would be extracting the necessary data from the patient's medical record... and making sure that the information that needs to be conveyed to the patient is (or, indeed can be) in the medical record in the first place. Which, I suspect, is a complete show-stopper, from what I've seen of medical record systems.
Oh, well. Another easy, life-improving, and possibly life-saving idea runs afoul of Big Software.
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