Design Conjecture | Chronic Conditions | Pill Assist
Pill Assist took inspiration from the Joint Pain Authority Team, specifically their tip to caregivers surrounding medication reminders. They note that pill organizers and phone alarms can help with medication adherence, which inspired me to combine these functions into a single product that could support users in managing their medications. As EMS workers described how poverty in rural communities can cause people to cut their pills in half or stretch their medication to avoid paying for more, I began thinking about how a lack of understanding can further contribute to this harmful behavior.
Users may not realize that changing how they take their medication, such as the amount or time of day, can prevent it from working as intended. This led me to incorporate explanations into the product, specifically explaining what each medication helps treat and why taking it as prescribed is important, so users can better understand the purpose behind their medications and create accessible personalized health guidance. This design allows users to be reminded to take their medication through music, which could create a more pleasant and less dreadful experience than the repetitive dings or alarms they may associate with hospital settings.
Even though the clean exterior emphasizes medical privacy, this could also make the device easy to misplace, especially because it is small and only accommodates one pill bottle. Many users may need to take multiple medications at the same time, which this design does not currently account for. Possibly developing it as a modular system might allow multiple units to connect together based on the user’s complex medication needs. More importantly, it does not solve the financial aspects that directly lead to users misusing/not using the pills they need.
