By Tom Rhoads, Founder & CEO, Spencer Health Solutions
The staff at Spencer Health Solutions has found the profound interest in digital health technology that has emerged since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic not only long overdue but extremely valuable. Now more than ever, researchers are eager to test different digital health solutions in the field, with actual patients, to determine their usefulness and future potential.
Such was the case when a research team from the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy established an observational pilot study to examine whether the use of in-home medication dispensing and telehealth technology would yield valuable data about usability, usefulness, satisfaction, and the impact on caregiver support.
The results of this study have been published in the May 2022 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research.
To summarize, the study placed the spencer smart hub in a community-dwelling setting where 58 adults aged 45 and older were taking at least one chronic medication that was administered with the assistance of a caregiver. The six-month study period would measure medication adherence, usability, usefulness, and user satisfaction based on real-time adherence data collected with spencer. Caregiver burden was measured using a visual analog scale, using a baseline rating at the beginning of the study, and one after six months.
Final determination: Smart medication adherence products such as spencer, when connected and clinically monitored, can be a useful solution for medication management and have the potential to improve caregiver burden.
For details about the study design, cohort demographics, adherence definitions, and other details, please read “An In-Home Medication Dispensing System to Support Medication Adherence for Patients with Chronic Conditions in the Community Setting,” on the JMIR Formative Research site.