Forgetting to take your pills -- a common issue. Images from the article

A smart pill with ‘edible microchip’ tells you and your doctor when the next dose is due:

• A patch on the skin will pick up a signal once tablet is swallowed and relay this to a smart phone
• The system will be offered to patients taking medication for heart conditions and diabetes

JENNY HOPE and CLAIRE BATES reported in the Health section of DailyMail Online on the new device that dramatically helps to increase compliance in medication regimes:

An external patch logs what time the pills reach the patient's stomach and sends the information to their smartphone

Smart pills that tell patients and their doctors if medication is being taken properly are to go on sale in Britain.

Patients take their drugs along with an extra tablet embedded with a tiny edible sensor which sends back information to a receiver in the form of a patch worn on the shoulder or arm.

This tracks when the drugs were taken and the dose, as well as monitoring heart rate and body temperature. It also alerts a patient to when the next dose is due and records whether the patient is sleeping well or taking enough exercise.

The company video from Prometus Biomedical explains the benefits of this technology:

Read the full article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2087275/New-smart-pill-tells-patients-dose-due.html#ixzz1peDJM4f1

Some Social Media buffs might even post the readings from the stomach pill on their Facebook walls…

I find it incredible what kind of innovations we are witnessing since the advent of smartphones and tablets. Affordable and easy to operate computing devices with intuitive user interfaces will improve many aspects of our lives.

What is your take on this? What interesting and beneficial developments of technology and integration with our day-to-day lives are you aware of?

Related articles

• Smart Pill Contains Microchip to Monitor Patients’ Medication (medgadget.com)
• Microchip Smart Pill To Help Patients Dosages (privatehealthinsuranceguide.typepad.com)
• New pill with ingestible microchip monitors you from the inside (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• New SmartPill Broadcasts to iPhone (webpronews.com)
• The chips that are good for your health (independent.co.uk)
• ‘Smart pill’ monitors how your body responds to meds, sends info to your cell phone (textually.org)
• A new “smart pill” could let MDs know when patients have taken their meds: yes, it’s REAL (beyondmeds.com)
• Chips Away! (gadabout-blogalot.com)
• Helius intelligent medicine: High Street pharmacy offers pills with edible microchips to help doctors monitor patients’ health (dailymail.co.uk)