| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 1
| Issue : 1 | Page : 51-54 |
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Innovative mobile application to identify narcotic and controlled pills in Saudi Arabia
Eman Almusalami1, Abdulkhaliq J Alsalman2
1 College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Alhasa, Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Northern Border University, Rafha, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence Address:
Abdulkhaliq J Alsalman
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Northern Border University, P. O. Box 840, Rafha 91911
Saudi Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/2543-1854.208926
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Background: With the rapid increase of smartphone usage worldwide for health care and fitness, developing applications for identify different types of medicines are deemed necessary. Pills are difficult to be identified, especially if they are without their package or prescription. Objective: The objectives of the study were to design and develop a mobile application for identifying unrecognized narcotic and controlled pills. Methods: For initial designing, we used the drawing features in Microsoft Office software. For development, we began developing an innovative, novel iOS and Android application. To accomplish this stage, the application features an array of possible identification characteristics. This application has been developed by image processor using compatible application; as the application has been loaded with all the opioid pills pictures that are available in Saudi Arabia along with their details to identify these pills. Results: We successfully developed a new and innovative mobile application to identify narcotic and controlled pills called “controlled and narcotic pill identifier (CNPI)”. With this newly CNPI application, the target user is able to identify the pills simply by taking pictures of medication pills from both sides and/or answering a couple of questions about the pills such as shape, color, and imprint. The initial testing proved feasibility, acceptability, and practicability of the application. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first mobile application developed for rapidly identifying the narcotic and controlled pills in different settings which is useful for clinicians and patients, as well as government officials.
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