DBA Design Challenge 2003

Life Circle / Seachange

Worldwide, 125,000 deaths result each year among those who fail to take their prescribed drugs correctly with the overall costs of non-compliance estimated at £60 billion. The problem is particularly acute among those who must follow complex, timed regimes for such chronic conditions as diabetes, asthma or arthritis. Forgetfulness, insufficient instructions by the doctor, packaging that is difficult to open and mystifying small print instructions all play their part in this daily drama.

Seachange responded holistically to the life or death nature of the issue by developing a communication and visual coding system suitable for both traditional and electronic media. The system would encourage compliance and reduce medical emergencies resulting from human or systemic error.

Some User Issues

• Time scale and delays in prescription reissue can be catastrophic
• Current system reliant on patient's ability to collect the prescription in person and then self-administer
• Timing of complex drug regimes for chronic conditions reliant on fallible human memory
• Information spread between different stakeholders but not necessarily shared
• No visual code to indicate generic types.

How Does it Work?

Seachange designed the following five step visual coding and alert system:

• Step 1 - The patient and GP personalise the information and any necessary updates. This information is stored on a central server to allow access by the GP, pharmacist or emergency services. The details are downloaded to a chip and held in smart card or other format of the patient's choice
• Step 2 - An alert message is sent automatically to the pharmacy when a prescription renewal is due
• Step 3 - A coded alert message is sent from the pharmacy to the patient's chosen device to signal that the prescript is ready for collection. The hierarchical icon system indicates the nature of the alert - whether it is for information, confirmation or to indicate an emergency
• Step 4 - Relevant information about the drug and regime is transferred to label with icons for quick identification
• Step 5 - The patient collects the prescript from the pharmacy using their smart card for identification.