Medication Dispenser to Improve Care at Home for the Elderly

Next-generation Medication Dispenser to Improve Care at Home for Community-dwelling Elderly

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of the Karie Automated Medication delivery device in enhancing medication adherence among a group of elderly patients with mild to moderate cognitive decline.

Given the risks associated with poor adherence and the apparent contribution of good adherence to reducing hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits, interventions for promoting good adherence should be pursued. To this end, a number of devices have been developed to promote medication adherence, though with limited success due to reliability, cost, etc. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of the Karie Automated Medication Delivery Device in enhancing medication adherence among a group of community-dwelling patients immediately following discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.

This study will utilize a multi-site randomized controlled trial design. One week prior to discharge from inpatient rehab, consenting patients will be randomly assigned to receive medication self-management education only (SME) or medication self-management education + Karie (SME+K). Both sites (West Park Healthcare Centre, and CapitalCare) will recruit 150 participants for the study. At each site, 75 patients will be in the intervention group (SME + Karie) and 75 will be in the control group (SME only).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Need to manage medications independently at home
• Stabilized on medication, as per pharmacist/physician discretion; and
• Mild-moderate cognitive/physical impairments, as per OT assessment
• Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score not less than 16
• English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• Absent from community for more than one month during study
• Inability to access study site pharmacy following discharge