Final Project: Strengths and Weaknesses

The InhaleSur device described herein offers a unique opportunity to improve compliance in a market that is untapped; proactive inhaler protocol training occurs in physicians offices and pharmacies, but a thorough literature search uncovered no core technology that continually monitors inhaler usage throughout the entire course of treatment. InhaleSur will improve compliance with inhaler protocols first by ensuring that each canister is sufficiently shaken before inhalation of the medications within. Proof-of-concept for this device has been successfully demonstrated with a simple Arduino microcontroller that uses an accelerometer and a push button to detect the magnitude and frequency of device shaking; it also records when the canister has been compressed to alert the user when a refill is required. The accelerometer used for this proof-of-concept device can only measure tilt relative to gravitational forces rather than actual linear acceleration when transmitting data in real-time, and this is currently a device design weakness. Future work will incorporate a more sophisticated accelerometer into the design. Miniaturization of the device is also critical to ensure portability. The core strengths of InhaleSur are that it provides real-time feedback for the entire course of treatment for a patient suffering from asthma and removes the ambiguity associated with guessing whether or not the medication is sufficiently mixed. Additionally, knowing when to replace the medication canister reduces wasted drugs and ensures that patients are getting as effective a treatment as possible. Future design iterations will include the ability monitor the user’s force of inhalation as well as the ability to alert the user to the proper compression time of the canister. Commercialization designs of InhaleSur will also incorporate auditory alerts to these factors to make the device accessible to blind persons.  InhaleSur will improve compliance with inhaler procedures and has the potential to dramatically impact the quality of life for asthma sufferers.