PATIENT MEDICINE REMAINDER SYSTEM

ABSTRACT:
In general, most of the patients forget to take the appropriate prescribed medication at the
required time. There are occasions when patients remember to take medicines at the stipulated time
but forget which pill has to be taken at that particular time. This poses a big problem as it affects the
dosage quantum required for the patient that results in not yielding the right recovery result. It is
difficult for doctors/paramedics/attenders to monitor patients round the clock. Inorder to avoid these
problems, patient medicine reminder system have been implemented.
The system allows the user to enter the prescribed timings, at which the patient has to take
the medication.This is done using a few switches and the list of medicines to be administered is
entered through the PC. This data will be stored in the EEPROM by the microcontroller. The
microcontroller continuously reads the time from the RTC .When the timings read from the RTC
equals the timings stored in the EEPROM, the system alerts the buzzer and displays the list of
medicines to be taken at that particular prescribed time on the LCD. Thus, the patient can listen to
the audio indication and see the name of the medicines on the LCD and take them on time.


INTRODUCTION:
Patient monitoring and management in critical care environments such as the ICUs , SICUs
and ANCUs involve estimating the status of the patient and reacting to events that may be life
threatening. It is impossible to keep a tab on every patient throughout the day. New solutions are
needed in this field to help the doctors and the nursing staff to monitor the patients.
A critical element of this is the medicineadministration and monitoring. This has been
achieved by the patient medicine reminder system. This system consists of an 8-bit microcontroller
with an in-built EEPROM and a real time circuit. This system is driven by an embedded program
that inputs predefined parameterswhich is processed based on the input variables entered via a user
interface device such as the PC. All the entries made by on the PC is concurrently and
simultaneously displayed on the LCD panel of the device. The logic for the processing is built into
the embedded program to initiate the alert through an audio alarm. Not only does it have an alarm
system, but also an LCD display which displays which medicine is to be taken at the reminder time.

BLOCK DIAGRAM:


























COMPONENTS USED:

1. Microcontroller AT89S52
2. DS1307 RTC
3. 24C04 SQUARE EEPROM(memory IC)
4. PC
5. Buzzer
6. MAX232(RS 232)
7. LCD
8. 11.0592 MHz crystal oscillator
9. Resistors- 10k ,330k,8.2k ohm
10. Capacitors-33pF,10mF
11.Step down transformer
12.Reset switch
13.Voltage regulator

DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS:

AT89S52 MICROCONTROLLER

8-bit Microcontroller with 8K Bytes In-System Programmable Flash The AT89S52 is a low-power,
high-performance CMOS 8-bit Microcontroller with 8K bytes of in-system programmable Flash
memory.
RTC-DS1307:
A real-time clock (RTC) is a computer clock (most often in the form of an integrated
circuit) that keeps track of the current time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal
computers, servers and embedded systems, RTCs are present in almost any electronic device which
needs to keep accurate time

SQUARE EEPROM(24C04 IC):
EEPROM (also written E
2
PROM and pronounced "e-e-prom," "double-e prom" or simply "e-
squared") stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory and is a type of non-
volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices to store small amounts of data that
must be saved when power is removed, e.g., calibration tables or device configuration.
It basically utilizes floating gate transistors (FGMOS).



MAX232 IC AND RS 232 CABLE:


The MAX232 is an IC, first created in 1987 by Maxim Integrated Products, that converts signals
from an RS-232 serial port to signals suitable for use in TTL compatible digital logic circuits. The
MAX232 is a dual driver/receiver and typically converts the RX, TX, CTS and RTS signals.
The drivers provide RS-232 voltage level outputs (approx. 7.5 V) from a single + 5 V supply via
on-chip charge pumps and external capacitors. This makes it useful for implementing RS-232 in
devices that otherwise do not need any voltages outside the 0 V to + 5 V range, as power supply
design does not need to be made more complicated just for driving the RS-232 in this case.
The receivers reduce RS-232 inputs (which may be as high as 25 V), to standard 5 V TTL levels.
These receivers have a typical threshold of 1.3 V, and a typical hysteresis of 0.5 V.

`WORKING:

The working of this system is very simple and user friendly.


When the ac mains is switched on, a 12 volts supply is given to the transformer. This voltage
is then stepped down to 5 volts and sent to the power supply board. Here , the ac volt is converted to
dc using a series of resistors and a rectifier network. The capactive network then filters the dc
voltage. The regulated output is sent finally to the micro controller board.

In the micro controller board the AT89S52 microcontroller is pre embedded with a software
program using a compiler. The input of the micro controller is given from the oscillating crystal
11.0592 via the pins X1, X2(18,19). The entire system is further interfaced to a pc using a MAX 232
port to connect the RS232 cable. A 6 pin cable is used for the interconnection between the lcd and
the micro controller via the pins (32-37). Next set of pins (8pin connectors) is used for interfacing
between the RTC (Real Time Clock) and the micro controller. Apart from this the micro controller
board is embedded with a reset switch.

In the RTC board a series of 4 switches and a memory battery is connected to the EEPROM
and the DS1307 RTC. Here, the time , date and year along with the entry data for medicines can be
given as input to the EEPROM.

When the power supply is given the leds will glow indicating that the system is running.
Now, the RS232 cable is inserted into the RS232 port of the cpu. When this is done, a hyperterminal
window is opened on the monior. The reset switch has to be turned on at this instant. The monitor
then displays a welcome note. The next step is to switch on the EM(Enter Medicine) switch. When
this is pressed, the monitor displays ENTER MEDICINE & DOSAGE TO BE GIVEN. At the
prescribed timings (as prescribed by the doctor/physician) the buzzer gives an alarm, along with the
simultaneous display of the name of the medication and the dosage on the lcd. The alarm can be
turned off by pressing the EM switch once again.









APPLICATIONS:

Health maintenance organizations, medical researchers and health practitioners realize that
in an environment that rewards short-term cost savings and emphasizes management of current
diseases, increased use of patient reminders can significantly improve delivery of preventive care
services and treatment for chronic illnesses and can lead to long-term beneficial outcomes as well.

The applications of patient medince reminder system is been initiated in a wide range in the modern
health care field. Its been implanted in most of the hospitals to ease the effort of the patient
entourage. It is as well a second-hand for the aged and memory loss group.

FUTURE SCOPE:

1) This device can also embedded with a memory reading and writing device like smart card (atm like)
where patients personal and health information is stored.
In personal information patient ID, patients name, surname, birth date, blood type, gender, address
and mobile telephone numbers are stored in patient card. Patient health information stored in the card is
chronic and/or important former diseases with diagnosis dates, permanently used medications with
doses, allergies with diagnosis dates, immunizations with their dates, surgical operations including
operation date, clinic name and summary information. Patients last examination and prescription
information are also stored in card.

2)This device can also implemented with a wireless modules like Bluetooth for updating data
And also can embed with heart rate monitor using IR sensor and using GSM module for monitoring
Health of a remote person.
References:

1) www.wikipedia.com
2) Celler, Branko, Nigel Lovell, and Daniel Chan. The Potential Impact of Home Telecare of
Clinical Practice. The Medical Journal of Australia. 1999: 518-521.
3) thesai.org/.../Paper_21-Smart_Card_Based_Integrated_Electronic_Health...