The research and the development of my master‘s degree thesis project investigate the world of health care. The intent is to understand and analyze the problem of chronic diseases, now considered to all effects a social and economic plague on a global level. The carried-out research seeks to understand what the extent of this problem is nowadays, and what could be the envisaged scenario as a consequence in the years to come. The research is intended as a starting point for reflection about everything that someway can be considered connected to the case of chronic diseases. This meant a particular attention on understanding the most diverse causes that lead to these health problems; the goal, where possible, was to get to understand the origin of the cause, and why people do not or do not want to understand the effect that some „habits“ may have on their clinical status. To succeed in all this, it was essential to create a wide range of basic knowledge about the health sector and to study who seems to be the most affected by this problem and the extent of the phenomenon worldwide. After collecting these information, I went to investigate what all this meant specifically for China, because the project that I aim to develop is primarily designed for the Chinese context. The further step that follows this first phase of analysis, that can be defined as cognitive, was the direct contact and investigation of those that are the main actors in the scene of this problem. I have done interviews with patients and professionals in the medical field. This phase of my research was essential to define the specific detail of this broad problem to focus on. So, I decided to investigate the problem of drug adherence from patients with chronic diseases even more closely. A lot has already been done in this area but seems that there are not any standard for treatments and monitoring that could be able to allow a significant mitigation of the problem. Therefore, I explored which were the main causes that push Chinese patients not to take their medications accurately. Once this question has been clarified, I have taken stock of the situation regarding how we are trying to solve this problem, looking for virtuous case studies that have shown to have a significant positive effect on the medication adherence of chronic patients. At this point, having a sufficiently large picture of the situation, I developed a system based on the use of a digital platform combined with a smart pill box, able to manage the interactions between patient-doctor-pharmacist, and to improve the adherence of the patient through a system of warning and information, designed to avoid all the unpleasant problems that may occur when a patient is unable to accept his health condition.
La ricerca e lo sviluppo del mio progetto di tesi di laurea specialistica riguarda il mondo dell'assistenza sanitaria. L'intento è quello di capire e analizzare il problema delle malattie croniche, ora considerate a tutti gli effetti una piaga sociale ed economica a livello globale. La ricerca condotta cerca di comprendere quale sia l'estensione di questo problema al giorno d'oggi, e quale potrebbe essere il pssibile scenario conseguenza negli anni a venire. Il lavoro si pone come punto di partenza la riflessione su ciò che può essere considerato connesso al caso delle malattie croniche. Questo include una particolare attenzione verso le cause che possono portare a tali problemi di salute, al fine di provare a comprenderene le varie origini; e uno sguardo ai motivi per cui le persone, nonostante acquisiscano consapevolezza, non vogliano rinunciare a determinate "Abitudini" malsane. Per fare questo, sono partito dal creare una conoscenze di base sul settore sanitario, studiare l'estensione del fenomeno a livello globale e capire quali sono le categorie maggiormente colpite. Dopo aver raccolto queste informazioni, ho indagato cosa significasse tutto ciò per la Cina, poichè l'intero progetto prevede il suo sviluppo in tale Paese. In seguito a questa prima fase di analisi generale, sono passato all'osservazione sul campo, entrando in contatto con quelli che sono i principali attori nella scena di questo problema in una delle principali città cinesi: Pechino. In particolare, ho fatto interviste con pazienti e professionisti in campo medico e questa fase è stata essenziale per definire gli aspetti su cui focalizzarmi. Di tutto il panorama analizzato, relativo alle malattie croniche, ho infatti deciso di prendere in analisi il problema dell' adesione ai farmaci da parte dei pazienti. A livello globale molto è già stato fatto, ma nel caso specifico della Cina non sono presenti programmi terapeutici dedicati, e quelli presenti sottovalutano l'importanza della fase di monitoraggio a seguito della definizione della terapia. Pertanto, ho esplorato le principali cause che spingono i pazienti cinesi a non seguire con costanza le terapie a loro assegnate, ed ho quindi preso in esame alcuni casi studio virtuosi, che hanno dimostrato di aver apportato forti miglioramenti all'aderenza alle terapie mediche. Sulla base dell'ampio quadro costruito, ho sviluppato una mia idea di soluzione: un sistema basato sull'uso di una piattaforma digitale combinata con una smart pill box, in grado di gestire le interazioni tra paziente-dottore-farmacista, e migliorare l'aderenza del paziente con un meccanismo di avvertimento-informazione, progettato per evitare le possibili problematiche derivanti dalla mancata consapevolezza o accettazione delle condizione di salute.
A new product/service to improve medications for chronic diseases
QUATTROCOLO, PAOLO
2017/2018
Abstract
The research and the development of my master‘s degree thesis project investigate the world of health care. The intent is to understand and analyze the problem of chronic diseases, now considered to all effects a social and economic plague on a global level. The carried-out research seeks to understand what the extent of this problem is nowadays, and what could be the envisaged scenario as a consequence in the years to come. The research is intended as a starting point for reflection about everything that someway can be considered connected to the case of chronic diseases. This meant a particular attention on understanding the most diverse causes that lead to these health problems; the goal, where possible, was to get to understand the origin of the cause, and why people do not or do not want to understand the effect that some „habits“ may have on their clinical status. To succeed in all this, it was essential to create a wide range of basic knowledge about the health sector and to study who seems to be the most affected by this problem and the extent of the phenomenon worldwide. After collecting these information, I went to investigate what all this meant specifically for China, because the project that I aim to develop is primarily designed for the Chinese context. The further step that follows this first phase of analysis, that can be defined as cognitive, was the direct contact and investigation of those that are the main actors in the scene of this problem. I have done interviews with patients and professionals in the medical field. This phase of my research was essential to define the specific detail of this broad problem to focus on. So, I decided to investigate the problem of drug adherence from patients with chronic diseases even more closely. A lot has already been done in this area but seems that there are not any standard for treatments and monitoring that could be able to allow a significant mitigation of the problem. Therefore, I explored which were the main causes that push Chinese patients not to take their medications accurately. Once this question has been clarified, I have taken stock of the situation regarding how we are trying to solve this problem, looking for virtuous case studies that have shown to have a significant positive effect on the medication adherence of chronic patients. At this point, having a sufficiently large picture of the situation, I developed a system based on the use of a digital platform combined with a smart pill box, able to manage the interactions between patient-doctor-pharmacist, and to improve the adherence of the patient through a system of warning and information, designed to avoid all the unpleasant problems that may occur when a patient is unable to accept his health condition.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2019_04_Quattrocolo.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/146918