Evondos medicine

Kramfors Municipality, Sweden – Impact of Evondos medicine dispensing robots exceeds expectations. The official report from the municipality recommends a swift transition from pilot to roll-out.

“It reminds me to take the right medicine at the right time, so I don’t need to worry that I might take a double dose or miss one entirely”, says one of the patients.

For several years now, Kramfors Municipality in Sweden has been working intensively on welfare technology and digitalisation, an approach that has advanced the municipality’s development of solutions for elderly care, enabling national metrics to be met.

The municipality has for example conducted a pilot project to test Evondos medicine-dispensing robots. And the results have been positive. According to the final report, the robots have had a real impact across the board, with a swift transition from pilot to roll-out being recommended.

“One prerequisite for this successful outcome was that the project had to be able to adapt both the organization and working method. Digital technology has huge potential to help older people stay in their own homes, feel safe and be an active part of their community while also being healthier. If they get the right support, older people are able to live more independently and do not need as much care. Digital technology can also contribute to a wider social circle and thus break the cycle of loneliness and isolation many older people experience,” states Kramfors Welfare Administration in the final report.

“By following up on how the automated medication dispensers have been working, as well as checking in with the employees who come into contact with them, we have clear evidence of how much the staff appreciate the support they get from the provider’s support team. And the same is true of the project support included in the service. A provider making sure that the municipality’s implementation goes as planned is unique! And something we’re very happy about,” says David Wiklund, Operations Developer at Kramfors Municipality, of the partnership with Evondos. 

An analysis of the project shows that 80 percent of those who have used the medicine-dispensing robots think that the solution works very well, while 20 percent think that it works well.  The analysis also shows that 93.33 percent felt more independent thanks to the use of the automated medication dispenser compared to medicines given to them via physical home visits.

The final report also reveals that the introduction of medicine-dispensing robots has had a positive impact on the employees’ working environment. One survey showed that 41.7 percent felt that their working environment had been improved due to the introduction of medicine-dispensing robots, while 58.3 percent said it had been partly improved. However, 91.67 percent of employees surveyed thought that the robots contributed to the independence of individual patients, with 8.33 percent saying it had partly contributed.

It has also emerged that the introduction of these devices has improved continuity in the visit plans. The medicine-dispensing robots replace the need for several visits each day, which means that some people do not need as many visits – and this in turn means that they see fewer different carers.

“Another effect of the medicine-dispensing robots is that it’s now possible to spread out the visits more evenly during the day rather than them simply revolving around the times that medicines tend to be taken,” explains Kramfors Welfare Administration in the final report.

The expectation is that economic added value will be achieved in the first year of the pilot project – despite the costs of launching the project.