Build a Prescription Reminder

Using Raspberry Pi Pharmaceuticals prescribed by physicians are important, but they need to be taken according to a proper schedule to be effective. In this article, Devlin describes his Raspberry-Rx Prescription Reminder project, a network-accessible, Wi-Fi connected, Raspberry Pi-based device that alerts a person when a particular medication should be administered. It also keeps a log of the actual times when medications were administered. It’s been said that television is a “vast wasteland,” but the commercials are sometimes educational. Watching some of these will convince you that there’s a pill to cure nearly every affliction, but the practical problem is that drugs need to be administered on a schedule. Some older people are prescribed so many drugs that it’s often hard for them to remember which drugs should be taken when. My elderly mother had a small plastic tub filled with pill bottles and eyedropper bottles with medications that needed to be administered at different times during the day. Fortunately, a younger family member lived with her and helped with the dosage schedule. Even younger people take many prescription drugs. I’m on a regimen of a daily baby aspirin and cholesterol medication that most men my age are advised to do. As another preventative, I’m taking a once-a-day multivitamin/multi-mineral supplement. And I’ve also taken antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medications after dental surgery. My mother’s experience and my own lesser struggle with taking pills on time inspired me to devise the network-accessible appliance presented here. This device reminds me to take a drug at its intended time, and it also keeps a record of what was taken when. This is an automated system that should be as accurate as but more convenient than using a smartphone alarm, as many people do. PRECAUTIONSA medical appliance is quite a step up from the flashing light and beeper boxes normally built by hobbyists. While my device doesn�