Design and development of separation tool for tablets and capsules medicine from aluminum pack

Medicine is used to prevent the patients from disease and to maintain a good health. Medicine is commonly available in tablets and capsules and both types are packed in aluminum pack. When patient returns the unused or expired medicine to pharmacy in government clinic and hospital, pharmacist will separate the medicine from the pack before moving it to disposal factory. This study aims to investigate the current method used by pharmacist to separate the medicine and identify the work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) effect among them. A questionnaire survey was distributed to the pharmacist and pharmacist assistant in order to collect information. The result showed that all of them used hand manually to separate the medicine from aluminum pack. As consequence, they have high tendency to get carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and spend a lot of time to complete the task. Thus, there is a necessity to design and develop a separation tool for tablets and capsules medicine from aluminum pack. Throughout process of user need identification, idea development, and prototype fabrication, a new tool can be operated to separate 4-6 packs of medicine depends on the size of pack either tablets or capsules at the same time. Previously, time to separate the medicine is 1-4 hours depends on the quantity of medicine but by using this new tool the time consumption can be reduced until 75%. The significance of the research is it may help to reduce work load of pharmacist then, prevent from WMSD.