Description
The Evondos medicine-dispensing robot is a robot that dispenses medication at the right time, in the right amount and to the right patient in accordance with the doctor’s prescription. It notifies the user about medication intake, dispenses the corresponding medication in a customized bag to facilitate taking each dose of medication, and notifies the responsible care provider if a dose is not dispensed.
Method
A pilot was designed by Group Mutuam to assess the usefulness of the Evondos medicine-dispensing robot for users living in assisted living apartments. The main objective was to assess the impact of the introduction of an automatic medication dispenser on the therapeutic adherence of each user. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the levels of satisfaction of care providers and the main carer or family member and to assess the functionality, usefulness and viability of the dispensing robot itself. A control group was created, organized by level of cognitive impairment and number of medications, with a range of 1:1.
Results
Patient recruitment began in February 2023, with a total of 7 patients who had previously used the medicine-dispensing robot participating. The group had an average age of 83, and 5.28 prescribed medications. During the study period, which ran between February–September, a total of 2,460 medication sachets were dispensed, with a 99.7% adherence to treatment achieved – only 8 medication sachets were not taken (0.3%), A total of 35 alarms were received and analyzed, which revealed that the next bag not being dispensed (which then had to be given manually) (6), and
the last medication not being taken (6) was the most common reason an alarm was triggered. A satisfaction survey was presented to all recruited patients, which asked them about various aspects of the dispensing robot’s performance and ease of use. The most notable results (on a scale of 1-5) were: overall satisfaction (4.5), ease of use (4.8), feeling of security (4.6) and peace of mind during use (4.3). When asked if they would recommend the Evondos medicine-dispensing robot to a family member or friend, the survey returned a score of 8.5 out of 10.
Conclusions
This pilot was designed to test the Evondos medicine-dispensing robot and confirms what we already stated in our information literature – achieving fantastic results in both therapeutic treatment and user satisfaction. The pilot also reinforces our view that we must continue to focus on technologies that improve therapeutic treatment by creating tools that improve the health outcomes of chronically ill patients.
Oriol Rovira Vergés
Technical Director of Farmàcia Group Mutuam,
Barcelona, Spain
Discover more about Evondos Group:
Evondos Group, the provider of the Evondos service and the Medido service, is the leading company in Europe when it comes to automated medicine-dispensing systems. With over 600 care organizations, cities or municipalities as customers throughout the Nordics and The Netherlands, the group is responsible for tens of millions of medication pouches being correctly dispensed — with an adherence rate of 99 percent and more than 800 000 working days saved.
