ScripTalk Talking Prescriptions
Currently, there are many people that have difficulty reading or understanding the contents and instructions of their prescription medications. The small print and look-alike packaging of medicine vials can lead to confusion, non-compliance, and mistakes.
Those with sight impairments, dyslexia, or reading problems must continually rely on the assistance of others to accurately determine the contents and instructions on their medications. Worse yet, these individuals might guess as to the contents and instructions of a container without confirmation. These judgments can lead to serious adverse affects.
Medication errors are in the forefront of the news lately. The seriousness of these problems has been demonstrated by recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that state medication errors inside US hospitals are the cause of upwards of 98,000 deaths each year. In addition, up to 2 million people are hospitalized from side effects or reactions to prescription drugs.
In general, pharmacies have been struggling with the issue of label readability and comprehension for many years. And, prescription non-compliance is radically affected by the users’ ability to know and understand the prescription label.
The ScripTalk System
Because prescription label information is so critical to the user, and the costs associated with errors are so high, En-Vision America has developed a new and innovative way to provide prescription information to the user. ScripTalk allows those that have difficulty reading or understanding their prescription labels the ability to better manage their own medication regimen.
When a patient using a ScripTalk reader submits a prescription, the pharmacy software prints and programs an auxiliary smart label using a dedicated, small-footprint printer. The smart label, which stores prescription information is placed onto the prescription container by the pharmacist. In the home, the patient uses a hand-held ScripTalk Reader that speaks out the label information using speech synthesis technology.
By simply moving the prescription within an inch of the ScripTalk reader, pertinent information, such as the name of the patient, the name of the drug, the dosage, general instructions, warnings, prescription (Rx) number, along with the doctor’s name and phone number are converted into speech.
