- A portable machine designed for use in the home that scans a medicine bottle with a barcode containing universally-acceptable messages for decoding; the portable machine (I'll call it RediMed, for lack of more time spent researching whether this product and/or name already exists)...RediMed has holders for up to 20 different types of meds (probably only pill form but I'm sure there's a way to invent liquid containers for such a product). The machine automatically dispenses meds at prescribed intervals and informs the patient via audible/visual methods locally at the machine and also sends messages to a computer/mobile phone via email/text or specialised app (this allows local/remote monitoring/logging). Redimed II will include a process involving pharmacies that could fill weekly or monthly meds via a swappable RediMed module that goes in the home-based machine, instead of putting the confusing pill sorting/popping responsibility on sick/ill customers. Could easily be adapted for hospital/skilled nursing facilities.
- If every living organism has a DNA barcode, how easy would it be to invent a product similar to an apheresis machine that pulls blood, separates it, analyses a portion for all distinct DNA barcodes in the patient's bloodstream and then returns the rest of the blood with some saline to the patient?
- There has got to be a better method for involving a patient, the "leader of the medical team" in a hospital, than printouts and verbal instructions associated with the patient's chart. My recent experience, through testing the system by playing both the well-informed and ignorant family member, showed me that a patient's chart is the biggest bottleneck and point of failure of the whole healthcare system. In this electronically-connected socioeconomic system in which we live, surely someone can invent a virtual patient advocate that analyses ongoing updates to the patient's chart and looks for anomalies such as missed meds, incorrect doses, incompatible prescriptions (with doctor consultation and/or patient approval for overriding), pattern-based predictive analysis/solutions (alerting the patient to positive lifestyle changes and/or potential diseases to look for), etc. If there's a TV in every patient's room, why not figure out a secure method linked to a patient's chart to put alerts up on the TV screen for the patient to know when the next dose/treatment/meal should be dispensed, empowering the patient's involvement as "leader"? That way, the hospital medical/support staff can concentrate on their competitive advantage - who provides the best bedside care/concern.
Sometimes I wish I was motivated to make money - there are so many easy, profitable inventions to cobble together from simple electronics, computer coding and company/government lobbying. Especially when you can leave the product liability issues for others to figure out (see, to the "big picture" business invention/development team, there's always plenty of money to go around, with room for accountants, lawyers, lobbyists and liability assessment experts to get involved - you're not just creating the next great thing, you're happily carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders for a while, knowing every node in the web is important/critical).
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