Creating tomorrow’s patient care solutions today

03 Apr 2019 | Tomorrow's Medicine

Most of us are familiar with Carousell as a platform where we buy and sell new or pre-loved goods. But do you know that Carousell and other apps like Jaga-Me (an on-demand platform for home nursing and caregiving services) and Zaarly (an app for the hiring of service experts of all kinds) started out as ideas in hackathons?

This is what the 2nd SingHealth Hackathon hopes to achieve – innovative solutions to tackle the challenges of an aging population and the burdens of chronic diseases in an increasingly complex healthcare system.

Held on 15 and 16 February 2019, the SingHealth Hackathon saw 80 healthcare professionals, medical and non-medical students from Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University, come together to co-create solutions to help Singaporeans to keep well, get well and age well.

Here are the three winning ideas.

Never miss a pill again

Team Med Buddy tackles the issue of medication non-adherence with a Bluetooth-enabled pill box and an app which guides patients to pack medication, sends reminders to take medication and even alerts the care team should the patient fail to take the medication.

Pain point:
Patients not taking their medicine as prescribed or discontinue taking their medicine on their own, is a common problem in Singapore. Current solutions which help patients manage their medication are inflexible and expensive. With Med Buddy app and a Bluetooth-enabled pill box, patients will be empowered to manage their medication.

How it works?
The pharmacist scans the QR code on the medication package for the patient to capture the medication details as well as select the dosage and medication time on the Med Buddy app. The app will prompt the patient to pack the medication at home into the Bluetooth-enabled pill box, which will light up to guide the placement of the pill into the corresponding compartment.

When it is time to take the medicine, the Med Buddy app will send a notification to remind the patient. The notification can only be turned off after the patient takes the medicine from the lighted compartment and closes the lid. The app also sends an alert to the care team if the medicine is not packed or if the patient has forgotten to take medicine.

Med Buddy (L-R): Timothy Soh (Student, Singapore Management University (SMU)), Tan Huirong (Student, SMU), Pang Su Yin (Senior Pharmacist, CGH), Dewi Azura Binte Hussain (Pharmacist, CGH), Dr Candice Chan (Consultant, SGH), Dr Agnes Koong (Clinic Director & Consultant, Marine Parade Polyclinic)

The team is pictured with SingHealth Deputy Group CEO, Adj Prof Lee Chien Earn (1st from right).

Kampung heroes to the rescue

Team Tolong Me pitched the idea of an app which matches volunteers with seniors who need help with non-healthcare related daily tasks (e.g. accompanying senior to medical appointments).

Pain point:
Seniors living alone may have difficulties managing their non-healthcare related daily tasks, for example, going for medical appointments on their own. Instead of calling upon community healthcare workers for assistance, the app matches community volunteers to elderly residents for such tasks. The team was inspired by the SGAssist app, which locates trained community volunteers to help residents during a medical emergency.

How it works?
The elderly residents can be referred by senior activity centres, residents’ committees (RCs), daycare centres, community nurses, etc, to key in their requests into the Tolong Me app. For volunteers, they can indicate their choice of location and tasks on the app. The volunteer can also provide updates on the resident’s well-being on the app which the community healthcare workers can use for reference. Once the task is completed, the elderly resident sends an acknowledgement via the app and the volunteer will be awarded points redeemable for rewards.

Tolong Me (L): Jason Seow (Senior Staff Nurse, SGH)
Missing from photo: Lim Jingfen (Senior Medical Social Worker, SGH), Esther Fan (Senior Staff Nurse, SGH), Low Shi Chia (Senior Staff Nurse, SGH) and Irene Tan (Nurse Clinician, SGH)

Don’t discharge without Com-Net

Team Com-Net’s winning idea features a web-based platform containing patients’ medical information that has several functions. One is a scheduling tool to match patients and healthcare providers’ availabilities and a location tracking system to ensure the safety of community healthcare workers.

Pain point:
With an ageing population, the problem of the fragmentation of the community care services for patients will worsen. Team Com-Net’s envision of a web-based platform for coordinating community care will solve this problem. It will contain patient information, a scheduling and a communicator tool.

How it works?
The scheduling tool will draw on both the patient and healthcare provider’s availabilities and propose the most suitable appointment date. Healthcare providers can talk to each other about the patient’s case and patients can also communicate with the healthcare providers directly through the communicator function.

There is also a safety feature in the platform to allow healthcare providers to send urgent messages and share their location for help in case of emergencies.

The data gathered through this scheduling tool will subsequently allow for optimisation of resources to better plan patient care needs and services in community, allowing healthcare workers to attend to more patients.

Com-Net (L – R): Elaine Gomez (Head, Rehabilitative Service, CGH), Adeline Phang (Senior Manager, Telehealth, CGH), Loh Sin Yee (Senior Physiotherapist, CGH), Shawn Ng (Medical Student, Duke-NUS), Tan Shuyan Melissa (Principal Physiotherapist, CGH)
Missing from photo: Rafidah Rahim (Senior Staff Nurse, CGH)

Miss the action at the SingHealth Hackathon? Check out the highlight reel by clicking on the video image below!