Novo Nordisk

Medication Management for Alzheimer's Disease Patient

In most cases of Alzheimer’s Disease, the average age of diagnosis is between the ages of 55 to 64 years. Given this average age of diagnosis, and the length of time which the disease progresses, many of these Alzheimer’s patients have also been diagnosed with other co-morbid conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease, and depression. Managing the medications for some, or in some cases all of these conditions, is notoriously complex and difficult for both the patient and the caregiver. Medication contraindications often occur, and the patient will need to deny one medication in order to take one that is deemed more critical. Further complications often arise, given the cognitive impairment of the patient, which places more stress on the caregiver to negotiate the polypharmacy demand and avoid adverse events for the patient. This student team worked to develop a tool/device and/or process which can alleviate the complexity of this circumstance for the Alzheimer’s patient in particular, but could also be utilized for other complex medical conditions. This tool attempted to utilize the unique medical circumstance of the user (patient) and be able to communicate a plan for the patient to manage their medications through distinct direction and/or dispensing, or both. This may be a stand-alone device (dispense medications) or a smartphone application which guides/manages the patient, and may be designed to accommodate the degree of Alzheimer's (mild, moderate, severe impairment). Anticipated outcomes this student team worked toward include: • Working prototype, potential hardware/device, end-user platform/application • Solution is accessible from smartphone, wearable or as standalone device • Drawings, schematics, plans for tool elements beyond physical prototype