Dietetic Interns Enter the New World of Technology

There are many activities that present themselves while being an intern at the University of Maryland.  Some of these activities are optional -- and occur in the evening.  A recent open "techie meeting" -- "DC Tech Meetup" occurred on September 24, 2013 with a large agenda of presentations.  One UMCP dietetic intern attended focusing on those apps or software that might be of interest and useful either from a nutrition standpoint, or from a "let's get more efficient" standpoint.  Comments about two new tools included:

• MediSafe -- Personal Medicine Management System.  The developer created it as a result of his father overdosing on his insulin.  The father couldn't remember when he had last taken his insulin dose and took too much.  How it works:  Fill your pillbox -- select your meds by name.  The color, shape and inscriptions of each medicine are recorded. A personalized reminder can then be created to send to take the medicine.  Starting in 2014, patients will be able to record medication doses via smartphone touchtone.  If you don't take the medicine, a personalized message will be sent to a designated family member, who can then remind the patient to take their medicine.  MediSafe has partnered with pharmaceutical companies and feeds user data to the pharmaceutical companies (ie.  frequency of missed doses, etc.)



Photo courtesy of MediSafe Project







• Social Radar -- Provides social media information regarding people you know (directly or indirectly) located within a denoted geographical parameter around you.  This tool uses social media user's "check in" locations.  This tool can also provide navigation to specific people.  This could be useful at a professional or social gathering where you do not think you will know anyone.