Journal Published Online: 26 February 2019
Volume 47, Issue 5

Improvement of Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) Process Through Development and Implementation of Methadone Dispenser

CODEN: JTEVAB

Abstract

Methadone is a controlled drug and can be prescribed by an authorized person in charge, under the direction of medical practitioners, for particular patients, to cure their addiction to opioid substances. The development and evaluation of a methadone dispenser present a prototype solution for solving the current manual methadone dispensing problems, which are prone to human error, with the implementation of the methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) program at the same time to increase public awareness about this program. In the current study, the performance of a methadone dispenser is evaluated by investigating the simulation analysis, feasibility, and efficiency of the device as compared to the manual technique. For testing purposes, methadone syrup was replicated with sugar solution of 66.6 g/50 mL at 25°C with a dynamic viscosity of 36.680 mPa.s. Thus, it was quantified that the time taken to dispense the sugar solution by using the methadone dispenser has shown a significant improvement of 81.40 % time reductions as compared to the manual technique. The low repeatability percentage of the methadone dispenser by 1.64 % contributes to a high precision device that is reliable enough to be implemented in the MMT program with a dispensing accuracy increment of 3.87 %, as compared to the manual technique. The findings suggest that the methadone dispenser is reliable and feasible and contributes to error reduction for implementation in the MMT program with approximately ≈ 97 % efficiency.

Author Information

Mohd Amran, Nor Amirah
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ab Karim, Mohd Sayuti
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abd Rashid, Rusdi
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuan Zahari, Tuan Zaharinie
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Latif Ishak, Amirul
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Pages: 13
Price: $25.00
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Stock #: JTE20180094
ISSN: 0090-3973
DOI: 10.1520/JTE20180094