Medicine Dispenser for the Elderly

Abstract

Global ageing is no longer an alien term. In fact it has quickly immersed and become one of the top concerns for many developed and developing countries. This issue is an urgent problem and Singapore is no exception to the rule. As of 2008, there are more than 300,000 persons who are aged 65 years and above in Singapore. The number of persons aged 65 years and above will escalate from 8.7% in 2008 to about 19% of Singapore's population in 2030 [1]. Many countries have soon realized the demographic shift effect and have since started to work on how to manage the ageing society in both social and individual level to curb ageing population issues and to reach out a lending hand to the elderly.

Adding on to the worry of the above disscussion, it was found that in Singapore context 9 out of 10 seniors reported having at least one chronic health condition [1]. This statistics reflect on the increase of physicians visited and the need for regular medication to stabilize elderly health condition. Hence there is a need to assess on the needs for elderly health care and quality of care that could help them in their daily lives.

Noticing with the advanved in technologies over the years, it has greatly improve the lives of many and bringing much convenience to human. This report presents the work done towards addressing one of the situations faced by the elderly population, the taking of medicine. This project aims to identify what are the needs in elderly healthcare targeting home user and how existing technology can be implemented to improve elederly quality of life by bringing convenience to them. This report will present our study, approach, and design to develop a medicine dispenser to be used in a simple and friendly way by the elderly and the caretakers.