Schools
- Increased Compliance
- Reduced Risk
- Secured, Controlled Daily Dispensing
- Complete Audit Trail
Students and Medication Adherence
Educational institutions are not only faced with educating our children, but have recently taken on the additional burden of medication dispensing to their students.
Populations of children, largely comprised of elementary school students are deemed to require medication to control Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or other conditions. To ensure consistency and adherence, school teachers and administrators are now tasked with administering these medications to students while at school.
Why medications? Chronic illness is relatively common in schoolchildren and often requires treatment during school hours.
“Recent research suggests that, for every 1000 schoolchildren, as many as 160 may have symptoms suggestive of asthma, four have a diagnosis of epilepsy established by the age of 11, and between one and two children have insulin dependent diabetes. Furthermore, the prevalence of asthma and diabetes seems to be rising¹.”
Furthermore,
“Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder of childhood and is prevalent among approximately 3–5% of school-aged children. The negative impact of ADHD on school performance is profound. Children with ADHD have been shown to have lower grades, lower mathematics and reading achievement scores, and a higher rate of school dropout and grade retention¹”.
Nearly a million prescriptions for methylphenidate hydrochloride, the chemical name for Ritalin, and related drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were dispensed last year – more than double the number of a decade ago. While the guidelines are clear that drugs should be dispensed as a last resort, that is clearly not happening and teachers have taken on additional duties to ensure student who are prescribed these medications, are taking them as prescribed.
The Problem
If teachers are the ones administering these medications to their students, they may be subject to mistakes or errors in dispensing and certainly do not have the necessary qualifications to medically assess or monitor the effects of the medications they administer. The added responsibility and resultant stress to the teacher does not benefit either the student or the teacher. Seriously, line ups of students waiting to take their medications each day deflect the teacher’s attention from education to administration of medication.
¹US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
Secured, Controlled Dispensing
The RxPense® offers a high value solution to help with these situations. Better health care, delivered through better medication security, better monitoring, better connectivity, better data and better medication compliance will result in lower stress to teachers, students and their parents.
The RxPense® provides medication dispensing, student follow up and remote monitoring, data capture and reporting. Each student may be assigned an ID consisting of voice biometrics, RFID bracelet or PIN code to authenticate themselves at time of dispensing. Images are recorded as the medications are delivered. Confirmations are sent via SMS or email to parents or caregivers.
The RxPense® can significantly contribute to the overall health outcomes and well-being of Students, and their Teachers.
The RxPense® Hub
RxPense®* is a medication dispensing and remote monitoring solution that ensures indigenous peoples at home, local community or remote locations, take the correct medications on time and notifies caregivers or health care professionals if they miss a dose. It can also capture (through external sensors), monitor and store vitals along with the electronic patient record for better follow-up by doctors and pharmacists. It gives users access to digital health care and telemedicine.
Alerts and notifications include a series of visual, audible and vibration prompts to the patient and email, SMS and Cloud-based recording for caregivers. RxPense® secures and automates the dispensing of DisPill® packaged medications through a patented process, and reduces the risk of medication non-compliance, prolongs life and increases quality of life for the patient.
RxPense®* is the ideal pill dispenser for indigenous peoples. Remote locations are no problem. Controlled, monitored, authenticated doses ensure the right medications are delivered to the right person at the right time. Abuse is minimized. Adherence is increased.
Connected
In addition, the RxPense Hub features a full set of modern communications technologies specifically targeted for seniors, that enable both voice and “videoconference” communication directly from the device. These same technologies will enable “virtual doctors visits” that require no travelling, no time-off for a family member to accompany the patient.
Remote Monitoring
The ability to remotely monitor each client, both from the point of view of their medication compliance and from connected sensors that include everything from vitals monitoring to connected fall detection devices to quality of sleep devices, enable the residence to provide a significantly enhanced (and commercially desirable) service for its clients and their families.
Medication Adherence Solutions for
