Design and evaluation of a multimodal mHealth based medication management system for patient self administration

The intake of prescribed medication presents a challenge, in particular for elderly people and in cases where a variety of medications have to be taken in accordance to a complex schedule. To support patients with this task, an mHealth-concept was developed and evaluated in the course of a clinical trial. The system used a multimodal user interface concept, i.e. both RFID tags and barcodes to identify and document the intake of medications. Results of the clinical study with 20 patients indicate that the multimodal mHealth concept utilizing barcode and RFID tags enabled easy-to-use medication management. Although further clinical evaluation is needed to assess whether such a tool can also enhance adherence, the system shows the potential for targeting the problem of medication management with mHealth methods.