A Review of Medication Adherence Monitoring Technologies

Abstract

Medication non-adherence is a prevalent, complex problem. Failure to follow medication schedules may lead to major health complications, including death. Proper medication adherence is thus required in order to gain the greatest possible drug benefit during a patient's treatment. Interventions have been proven to improve medication adherence if deviations are detected. This review focuses on recent advances in the field of technology-based medication adherence approaches and pays particular attention to their technical monitoring aspects. The taxonomy space of this review spans multiple techniques including sensor systems, proximity sensing, vision systems, and combinations of these. As each technique has unique advantages and limitations, this work describes their trade-offs in accuracy, energy consumption, acceptability and user's comfort, and user authentication.

A Multistakeholder-Centric Data Analytics Governance Framework for Medication Adherence and Improvement in Rural Settings

“…Indirect monitoring entails the use of technology devices for tracking activities that could signal when a patient has taken the drug or not. Many indirect adherence monitoring methods are device-facilitated by using various technologies [3,4]. Device-facilitated measuring can be classified into various categories such as sensor-based systems, proximity-based systems, vision-based systems, and fusion-based systems [4].…”

“…Many indirect adherence monitoring methods are device-facilitated by using various technologies [3,4]. Device-facilitated measuring can be classified into various categories such as sensor-based systems, proximity-based systems, vision-based systems, and fusion-based systems [4]. The sensor-based system can be classified into three subclasses, which are smart pill containers, wearable sensors, and ingestible biosensors.…”

“…Proximity-based systems are non-invasive systems that detect medication presence or absence within the proximity of a reader's antenna by using computer vision technology. Vision-based systems detect medication presence or absence within the scope of the camera, while fusion-based systems try to verify the operation of monitoring the medication-taking activity [4]. All of these methods have been found to perform creditably well in tracking medication adherence with different levels of accuracy, but they are strictly medication adherence monitoring methods.…”

“…Recent advancement in technology ensures that wearable devices are now able to work for longer periods before it is necessary to recharge their batteries. This explains why an increasing number of medication adherence methods are based on the wearable technologies that use sensors [3,4].…”

“…So far, several adherence-monitoring technologies such as Direct Observation Therapy (DOT), Video Observation Therapy (VOT), Indirect Monitoring Technology (Patient-facilitated or Device-facilitated), and Direct Monitoring Technology are being used to monitor adherence [2,3]. However, these methods have not yielded maximum improvement in treatment outcomes because of the challenges of medication adherence particularly associated with older people, and persons in rural settings [4]. The socio-economic challenges of people in the rural setting ranging from poverty, illiteracy, poor infrastructure, shortage of good medical facilities, and medical experts make it difficult for healthcare organisations to effectively monitor medication adherence of patients in these settings and to motivate them for good adherence behaviour.…”