Apparatus, method, and program for continuously recording patient medication adherence.

Abstract

To provide a method for continuously recording a medication state of a patient.SOLUTION: Firstly, a patient photographs a two-dimensional code 111 recorded on a document 110 and generates (S201) prescription information 300. If the prescription information 300 is generated for the first time (S202), an alarm setting screen is displayed (S203). Then, a device 100 transmits (S204) at least one section of the prescription information 300 to a server 120. The server 120 transmits (S205) an alarm to the device 100 at the time set as an alarm time for each medicine. The medicine is displayed that should be administered as a content of the alarm, and by tapping or clicking and selecting a display element for recording medication history when the medicine has been administered, the device 100 can transmit (S206) the medication history to the server 120.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for continuously recording a patient's medication situation.

Background Art

[0002] Currently, a patient who has received a doctor's diagnosis gives the issued prescription to a pharmacy and receives medicine from a pharmacist. The patient receives medication guidance from the pharmacist when receiving the medicine. Patent Document 1 by the applicant discloses a technique for enabling a pharmacist to provide sufficient medication guidance to a patient.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] As described above, pharmacists provide guidance so that patients can take medicine appropriately, and there are also techniques for smoothly performing this. However, since the frequency with which patients visit a pharmacist is not high, the opportunities for pharmacists to guide patients are limited over the entire medication period. As a result, the medication situations of patients that pharmacists can grasp are also limited.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an apparatus, a method, or a program for continuously recording a patient's medication situation.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] To achieve this objective, a first aspect of the present invention is a method for continuously recording a patient's medication adherence, comprising the steps of: an application installed on a mobile terminal generating prescription information relating to one or more drugs represented by a two-dimensional code based on the two-dimensional code; transmitting transmission information including the drug name or identifier thereof and the time of administration or the alarm time corresponding to the time of administration or an identifier corresponding to either to a server that can communicate with the mobile terminal; receiving an alarm transmitted from the server at a time set as the alarm time; displaying a display element for recording medication history on the application as the content of the alarm; and transmitting the medication history, including the selection of the display element, to the server.

[0007] Furthermore, a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the application further includes the step of displaying an alarm setting screen for setting an alarm time when the prescription information is the first prescription information generated on the application.

[0008] Furthermore, a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the second aspect, the alarm setting screen is displayed with the alarm time corresponding to the medication time included in the prescription information enabled.

[0009] Furthermore, a fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in any of the first to third aspects, the content of the alarm is a message from a pharmacist or pharmacy.

[0010] Furthermore, a fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in any of the first to fourth embodiments, the application further includes the step of receiving an alert from the server from a pharmacist or pharmacy, in addition to the alarm, in response to the medication status based on the medication history meeting the conditions for an alert.

[0011] Furthermore, a sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in any of the first to fifth aspects, the application further includes the steps of displaying an input screen for inputting the patient's health history and transmitting the health history to the server.

[0012] Furthermore, a seventh aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the sixth aspect, the input items on the input screen are variable according to the type of drug included in the alarm.

[0013] Furthermore, an eighth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the sixth or seventh aspect, the application further includes the step of receiving an alert from the server from a pharmacist or pharmacy in response to the fact that the physical condition based on the physical condition history has met the conditions for an alert, in addition to the alarm.

[0014] Furthermore, a ninth aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a mobile terminal to perform a method for continuously recording a patient's medication status, the method comprising: a step of the program installed on the mobile terminal generating prescription information relating to one or more drugs represented by a two-dimensional code based on the two-dimensional code; a step of transmitting transmission information including the drug name or its identifier and the time of administration or an alarm time corresponding to the time of administration or an identifier corresponding to either to a server that can communicate with the mobile terminal; a step of receiving an alarm transmitted from the server at a time set as the alarm time; a step of displaying a display element for recording medication history on the program as the content of the alarm; and a step of transmitting the medication history, including the fact that the display element has been selected, to the server.

[0015] Furthermore, a tenth aspect of the present invention is a program installed on a mobile terminal for operating the mobile terminal as a device for continuously recording a patient's medication status, characterized in that the mobile terminal is made to perform the following steps: generate prescription information relating to one or more drugs represented by a two-dimensional code based on the two-dimensional code; send transmission information including the drug name or its identifier and the time of administration or the alarm time corresponding to the time of administration or an identifier corresponding to either to a server that can communicate with the mobile terminal; receive an alarm sent from the server at a time set as the alarm time; display a display element for recording medication history on the program as the content of the alarm; and send the medication history, including the fact that the display element has been selected, to the server. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] According to one aspect of the present invention, by enabling the easy setting of alarms for an application installed on a device used by a patient based on prescription information represented by a two-dimensional code, the patient is encouraged to take each prescribed medication appropriately at the appropriate time. Furthermore, the history of whether or not the medication was taken can be recorded on the same application and transmitted to the server as a medication history, thus enabling continuous recording of the patient's medication adherence. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0017] [Figure 1] This figure shows an apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart of the method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of prescription information generated according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of an alarm setting screen in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of a push notification in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] It is a diagram showing an example of alarm content in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] It is a diagram showing an example of the medication status in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] It is a diagram showing an example of the physical condition history input items according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] It is a diagram showing an example of a message sending screen for a pharmacist to send a message including advice to a patient according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0018] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0019] (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 100 can be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet, and includes an imaging element 101, and images a two-dimensional code 111 representing prescription information described in a prescription to generate prescription information. The two-dimensional code 111 is described in a document 110 delivered together with a medicine such as a medicine notebook data seed, and the patient may photograph this using the apparatus 100, for example, at home.

[0020] The device 100 comprises a communication unit 102 such as a communication interface, a processing unit 103 such as a processor or CPU, and a storage unit 104 including a storage device or storage medium such as memory or a hard disk. It can be configured by executing a program for each processing task, and may include one or more devices, computers, or servers. The program may also include one or more programs and can be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium to become a non-transient program product. The program can be stored in a storage device or storage medium accessible from the storage unit 104 or the device 100, and can be executed by the processing unit 103. The device 100 can communicate with the server 120 via a computer network, and although not shown, the server 120 can have a similar configuration to the device 100.

[0021] Figure 2 shows a flowchart of a method for continuously recording a patient's medication status according to this embodiment. First, the patient generates prescription information by taking a picture of the two-dimensional code 111 written on document 110 with a device 100 such as a smartphone at home (S201). Here, although the two-dimensional code 111 has been described as being written on document 110, it may also be received electronically by the device 100, and it is sufficient that prescription information represented by the two-dimensional code 111 is generated by processing the two-dimensional code 111.

[0022] Figure 3 shows an example of generated prescription information. It includes the patient's name, "Yutaka Nakao," the drug name, "Mucodyne Tablets 250mg," and the dosage information, such as the number of doses ("3 times a day") and the time of administration ("after each meal"). As shown in the figure, it may include drug names other than "Mucodyne Tablets 250mg," and information on multiple drugs may be included in the prescription information. The format of prescription information 300 is not necessarily the same depending on the system that generated the two-dimensional code 111.

[0023] The device 100 has an application or program installed for performing this method, and when prescription information is generated for the first time by this application (S202), the alarm setting screen is displayed (S203). If it is not the first time, the alarm setting screen may not be displayed and the process may proceed to the next step. This point will be further described later.

[0024] Figure 4 shows an example of the alarm setting screen. The alarm times corresponding to the time of administration are shown as wake-up, morning, noon, evening, and before bed. In the example in Figure 4, corresponding to the administration time of Mucodyne 250 mg tablets being set as "after each meal," the alarm setting screen 400 is displayed with breakfast, lunch, and dinner times enabled as alarm times, and each time can be changed. Here, "7:00" for morning, "12:00" for noon, and "18:00" for evening are given as initial settings, and the noon time setting is changed to "11:00." From the perspective of processing in device 100, the alarm setting screen 400 is displayed by enabling the alarm times corresponding to the time of administration of the drug included in the prescription information, by referring to the correspondence between the time of administration and the alarm time stored in the memory unit 104 or a storage device or storage medium accessible from device 100 (including a predictive model generated by machine learning). Since the prescription information shown in Figure 3 does not include times corresponding to "wake-up" and "before bed" as times of administration, these are not enabled in Figure 4.

[0025] Next, the device 100 transmits at least a portion of the prescription information 300 to the server 120 (S204). If the alarm setting screen 400 is not displayed, the device 100 may proceed to the transmission after generating the prescription information. The transmitted information includes, for each drug, the drug name or its corresponding drug identifier, and further includes the time of administration or its corresponding alarm time, or an identifier corresponding to either. The transmitted information may also include the patient's name. The transmitted information may also include the pharmacy name or its corresponding identifier. The user identifier of the user using the application installed on the device 100 is transmitted simultaneously with or before / after at least a portion of the prescription information 300, as necessary.

[0026] Server 120 stores the received administration time, the corresponding alarm time, or the corresponding identifier for each drug, and directly or indirectly transmits an alarm to the application installed on device 100 at the time set as the alarm time (S205). Alarm transmission may be performed directly by server 120 or indirectly by a device, computer, or server that can communicate with server 120 via a computer network, and all of these are included in the transmission from server 120.

[0027] Figure 5 shows an example of a push notification for an alarm received by the device. Figure 5 is the display screen 500 of the device 100, and it is prompting the user to take the necessary medication and record it, as the set alarm time for after dinner, "17:23," has arrived. Based on at least a portion of the received prescription information 300, the server 120 can send an alarm at the set time for each medication, and as an example, it can prompt the user to check the content of the alarm via a push notification.

[0028] Figure 6 shows an example of the alarm content displayed when a push notification is tapped. "Clarithromycin Tablets 50mg for Children" is displayed as the medication to be taken. If the medication is taken, the user can select a display element to record medication history, such as "Used," by tapping or clicking, and send a medication history to the server 120, including the medication name or its corresponding medication identifier, and the time of administration or its corresponding alarm time or its corresponding identifier (S206).

[0029] In this way, by making it possible to easily set alarms for the application installed on the device 100 used by the patient based on prescription information represented by a two-dimensional code, the patient is encouraged to take each prescribed medication appropriately at the appropriate time, and the history of whether or not the medication was taken can also be recorded on the same application and sent to the server 120 as a medication history, thus enabling continuous recording of the patient's medication status.

[0030] As shown in Figure 6, pharmacists can log in to a website for using the services provided by server 120 with their pharmacy account and include messages in the alarm to encourage patients to take their medication. More generally, the content of the alarm can be based on settings stored in server 120 for each pharmacy, depending on the pharmacy name or corresponding identifier included in at least a portion of the prescription information 300 transmitted to server 120.

[0031] Pharmacists can view medication status 700 on the website, which can be displayed based on the patient's medication history as shown in Figure 7. If a pharmacist or their pharmacy determines that there is a problem with the patient's medication status, or if the medication status meets the conditions for an alert, the server 120 can send a message containing situation-appropriate advice to the application on the device 100 used by the patient. This further promotes the continuous recording of the patient's medication status.

[0032] In the above explanation, it was assumed that the alarm setting screen 400 is displayed when prescription information is generated for the first time. However, it is sometimes preferable to display the alarm setting screen 400 even when prescription information is generated for the second time or later. Specifically, if the newly generated prescription information includes a medication time that does not correspond to any of the medication times included in the previously generated prescription information, the alarm setting screen 400 can be displayed with the corresponding alarm time enabled. In the example in Figure 4, if the newly generated prescription information includes a medication time for waking up, it is conceivable to enable and display the alarm time for waking up. Furthermore, in the explanation so far, the example given was to display the necessary alarm times enabled on the alarm setting screen 400, but it is also possible to display elements such as sliders to enable them without enabling them. In addition, the settings made on the alarm setting screen 400 can be sent to the server 120 and stored.

[0033] Furthermore, while the above explanation assumed that at least a portion of the prescription information 300 is transmitted to the server 120, and that the alarm time and alarm content are set on the server 120, it is also possible that the alarm time and alarm content are set on the device 100.

[0034] Please note that unless the word "only" is used, such as in "based only on XX," "according only to XX," or "in the case of XX only," it is assumed in this specification that additional information may also be considered. Also, please note that, as an example, the statement "if a, then b" does not necessarily mean "always b in the case of a" or "b immediately after a," unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, the statement "each a constituting A" does not necessarily mean that A is composed of multiple components, but rather includes the possibility that the component is singular.

[0035] Furthermore, for the sake of clarity, even if there are aspects of operation in some method, program, terminal, device, server, or system (hereinafter referred to as "method, etc.") that differ from the operation described herein, each aspect of the present invention is intended to cover the same operation as any of the operations described herein, and the existence of operation different from the operation described herein does not mean that such method, etc. is outside the scope of each aspect of the present invention.

[0036] Furthermore, it should be noted that in this specification, the term "alarm" broadly means "notification."

[0037] (Second embodiment) In the first embodiment, the patient's medication history is transmitted from an application installed on the device 100 to the server 120, and the pharmacist can view the patient's medication status on a website provided by the server 120. In the second embodiment, the patient's physical condition history is further transmitted from an application installed on the device 100, and the pharmacist can view the patient's physical condition on the website.

[0038] As an example, a list of items 800 for entering health history, as shown in Figure 8, can be displayed on an application installed on the device 100. After the patient selects any item by tapping or clicking, the input screen for that item is displayed. The list of items 800 or the input screen for any item can be displayed by the patient on the application, or it can be displayed before or after the display of medication alarm content to prompt the patient to enter their health history in addition to their medication history. Furthermore, the server 120 may directly or indirectly send notifications prompting the patient to enter their health history.

[0039] The input fields on each input screen can be made variable depending on the type of medication for which an alarm has been set. For example, if an anticancer drug is prescribed, it is preferable to display items that should be closely monitored as part of the cancer patient's physical condition, such as bowel movements, mouth ulcers, dizziness, and shortness of breath, in addition to general body temperature and weight, by referring to the correspondence between the type of medication and the input fields (including a predictive model generated by machine learning).

[0040] In this way, by enabling the input of a health history on an application installed on the device 100 used by the patient, the server 120 can record the patient's health condition in addition to their medication status. The recorded data is of great significance as it can be used for data analysis such as detecting, evaluating, and predicting the effects of medication and side effects caused by medication.

[0041] Pharmacists can view their health status, which can be displayed based on their physical condition, on a website provided by server 120. If a pharmacist or their affiliated pharmacy determines that there is a problem with the patient's health, or if the patient's health meets the conditions for an alert, server 120 sends a message containing situation-appropriate advice to the application on the device 100 used by the patient, enabling the pharmacist or their affiliated pharmacy to continuously implement appropriate pharmaceutical management. This effectively ensures that the patient takes their medication appropriately.

[0042] Figure 9 shows an example of a message sending screen on a website provided on a server, for a pharmacist or their affiliated pharmacy to send a message containing advice to a patient. Depending on the patient's medication status or physical condition, one or more pre-written advice templates are available for selection, and the pharmacist or pharmacy can create a message for the patient using these templates as needed. Such messages may also be included in alerts in the first or second embodiment. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0043] 100 devices 101 Image sensor 102 Communications Department 103 Processing Unit 104 Storage section 110 documents 111 QR code 120 servers 300 Prescription Information 400 Alarm settings screen Display screen of 500 devices 100 600 Alarm Contents 700 Medication status 800 List of items in health history 900 Message sending screen

Claims

1. A method for continuously recording a patient's medication adherence, The server receives prescription information regarding prescribed medications from the patient's mobile device. The server causes the mobile terminal to display display elements for recording the medication history of the drugs included in the prescription information, The server receives the medication history of the drug from the mobile terminal, The server causes the mobile terminal to display an input screen for entering the patient's health history, The server receives the health history from the mobile terminal, The server sends a message to the mobile terminal, including advice from the pharmacy, in response to the patient's medication status based on the medication history meeting the conditions for an alert. Includes, The input items in the aforementioned input screen are determined by referring to the correspondence between the type of drug included in the prescription information and the input items, and are therefore variable depending on the type of drug. The aforementioned correspondence includes a predictive model generated by machine learning.

2. The method according to claim 1, The aforementioned message includes advice from the pharmacy using a pre-defined format that allows the user to select from one or more options.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, The server further includes the step of displaying the medication status on a terminal used by a pharmacist belonging to the pharmacy so that it can be viewed.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The aforementioned message is based on the settings of each individual pharmacy.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The aforementioned prescription information is generated based on a two-dimensional code.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, The aforementioned prescription information includes the patient's name.

7. A program for causing a computer to perform a method for continuously recording a patient's medication status, wherein the method is: The server receives prescription information regarding prescribed medications from the patient's mobile device. The server causes the mobile terminal to display display elements for recording the medication history of the drugs included in the prescription information, The server receives the medication history of the drug from the mobile terminal, The server causes the mobile terminal to display an input screen for entering the patient's health history, The server receives the health history from the mobile terminal, The server sends a message to the mobile terminal, including advice from the pharmacy, in response to the patient's medication status based on the medication history meeting the conditions for an alert. Includes, The input items in the aforementioned input screen are determined by referring to the correspondence between the type of drug included in the prescription information and the input items, and are therefore variable depending on the type of drug. The aforementioned correspondence includes a predictive model generated by machine learning.

8. A server for continuously recording patients' medication adherence, The system receives prescription information regarding prescribed medications from a mobile device used by the patient, and displays a display element on the mobile device for recording the medication history of the medications included in the prescription information. The mobile device receives the medication history of the drug, The steps include receiving the medication history of the drug from the aforementioned mobile terminal, The mobile device is shown an input screen for entering the patient's health history. The aforementioned mobile device receives the health history, The mobile device is configured to send a message, including advice from the pharmacy, when the patient's medication status, based on the medication history, meets the conditions for an alert. The input items in the aforementioned input screen are determined by referring to the correspondence between the type of drug included in the prescription information and the input items, and are therefore variable depending on the type of drug. The aforementioned correspondence includes a predictive model generated by machine learning.

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