Method for monitoring the taking of medicines

Patient monitoring system, has a manual scanner to register the drug data for storage in a memory, with an electronic unit to determine adverse effects and contraindications. Patient monitoring system, has a manual scanner to register the drug data for storage in a memory, with an electronic unit to determine adverse effects and contra-indications. For the system to monitor the administration of medications by a patient (1), as each medication is taken for use it is passed manually through a scanner (5) where the machine readable data can be registered. The scanned data are passed to an electronic unit (8) with a memory (6) where the nature of the medication and its time of administration can be accessed. The machine readable data can be a code which is optically scanned, and especially a barcode (4) on the packaging blister, leaflet or package (2). The code can also be an optical, electronic or magnetic code on a code carrier (3) at the medication, as a code chip card.