Summary of the Dissertation

As part of Jens Juhl’s doctorate, a technical assistance system was developed to alleviate the workload of nursing staff in their daily work. In particular, preparing medications is a process that must be carried out daily to ensure that all patients in need of care are consistently provided with their individual medications. This process is usually performed under time pressure and without adequate error checking. Errors can have serious consequences for patients’ health.

Using an intelligent augmented reality (AR)-based support system, the preparation of medications can be accelerated—even when caring for a large number of patients—and the number of errors can be significantly reduced. The system uses a camera and projector that continuously scans the table within the field of view using AI methods to locate pill boxes and then automatically recognizes all dispensed medications. These are projected onto the table along with the individual patient’s digital medication schedule, and any discrepancies are reported to the caregiver in real time.