App Focus: Medisafe
I thoroughly enjoyed doing my last app focus on Flightradar24, so I thought I’d follow it up with another fabulous app for you to sample. This time, I’ve got a fantastic app that I’ve found not only beautifully designed, but practical & potentially detrimental to your health! I bet not many apps on your phone could say that.
Danny & I stumbled upon Medisafe by accident earlier this year after a bout of surgery. Often times, people get discharged from hospital in a daze, doped-up to the eyeballs on narcotics. It’s difficult to get a solid grip on how you should be taking your meds when you’re seeing sounds. Even if you’re just on a regular medication, remembering to take it at the right time can be difficult. That’s where we found this cool little app really helpful.
Medisafe is basically a digital pill organiser. But, it’s so much more than that! Two brothers created the app after their father accidentally overdosed on his insulin after forgetting he’d already had it. The app is a tool to improve medication adherence, provide information & support. There’s also an option to keep a track of a dependent’s medication schedule in addition to your own. You can set reminders for you to fill a new script & it even has functionality to accommodate diary entries or measurements, such as blood pressure. A great addition to this app, is the option to put it in ‘weekend mode’, which allows you to set a morning medication reminder a little later so you can enjoy your Sunday sleep in.
This app is free from the App Store or Google Play & is available on Android in addition to iOS. It also links in with your iWatch for alert notifications. When first downloading it, you can get stuck right in – no sign ups or subscriptions. Just go ahead & add your medication & dosage! There’s a cute little feature here – you can select what the tablet / spray / cream, etc. looks like & its colour to help you distinguish between your medications. There are plenty of ways to set up your schedule & you can customise how you’d like to be alerted. Moving through to your virtual pillbox, you get a beautifully simple day view of your meds & when they’re due. It’s got a lovely, clean design & isn’t cluttered with ads or buttons, which I find really appealing.
Opting to link a ‘Medfriend’ into your schedule gives you the security of knowing that someone’s keeping an eye on you. I see great potential here for those who are caring for others, particularly for those who take multiple medications a day. When linked, your Medfriend will receive an alert if you fail (after several prompts) to acknowledge that you’ve taken your meds. Not only does it increase adherence, but it also promotes social support. In fact, Medisafe reports that after 90 days of using the app with a Medfriend, a group of 4,000 users were 59% more likely to be adhering to their medication.
After using the app myself, I really like its clean design, simplicity in its use, practicalities & the fact that the app promotes education on drug interactions & general information on medications or conditions. It certainly helped me make sure my pill-laden husband was medicated correctly & on time. For that, I owe the app a lot!
Take a look at their website if you’d like to know more at www.medisafe.com, or download the app from your preferred store.
- Amber
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