WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.320 Ah, Friday evening, half seven. 00:04.180 --> 00:07.840 Leon, he's nine, is tucked up in bed with his teddy, 00:08.420 --> 00:12.380 explaining to me that the light has to stay on, but only a little bit. 00:13.460 --> 00:16.560 Day three of the antibiotic, his ear. 00:17.720 --> 00:23.920 Augmentin, three times a day, eight in the morning, two in the afternoon, eight at night. 00:23.920 --> 00:30.120 And as I'm settling him down, I look at the orange bottle on the chest of drawers. 00:30.940 --> 00:34.520 And it's only now that it hits me. 00:35.620 --> 00:36.300 Two o'clock. 00:37.100 --> 00:40.700 Two o'clock was when Leon had a temperature of 39. 00:41.300 --> 00:45.660 I was ringing the surgery, a GP on the phone, a dose of paracetamol, 00:46.040 --> 00:49.280 the visit to his gran cancelled, my husband at work. 00:49.280 --> 00:56.960 And that little pink medicine syringe stayed on the kitchen worktop, untouched. 00:58.480 --> 01:02.260 And now, half seven, he's fast asleep. 01:03.220 --> 01:06.400 In half an hour, I meant to give him the eight o'clock dose. 01:07.520 --> 01:10.640 Question, give a double one to make up for it? 01:11.500 --> 01:14.700 Skip the eight o'clock one, since the two o'clock's gone anyway. 01:15.680 --> 01:17.900 Ring the GP on a Friday night. 01:19.280 --> 01:23.180 Hello, I'm Tomasz Schuster, and I built the Moya Pteczka app. 01:24.200 --> 01:26.760 Isa, did this actually happen today? 01:27.340 --> 01:30.800 Not today, but last November, yes. 01:31.980 --> 01:37.460 Six hours went by before I'd admit to myself that I had no idea what to do. 01:38.120 --> 01:39.860 And it wasn't the first time. 01:40.500 --> 01:43.240 Listen, this isn't Isa's just unlucky. 01:43.240 --> 01:46.240 This is data from the World Health Organization. 01:46.940 --> 01:50.540 With long-term treatments, half of patients missed doses. 01:51.060 --> 01:51.620 Half? 01:51.920 --> 01:57.220 And for short antibiotic courses, the proportion that never get finished comes out even higher. 01:58.120 --> 02:01.720 Different studies, different countries, all agreed on one thing. 02:01.720 --> 02:04.940 A missed antibiotic dose isn't the exception. 02:05.680 --> 02:06.560 It's the norm. 02:07.200 --> 02:08.600 That doesn't help me. 02:09.200 --> 02:10.020 Quite the opposite. 02:11.060 --> 02:13.720 Half of all parents, me included. 02:14.320 --> 02:19.280 And the bacteria we didn't quite finish off is busy breeding resistance. 02:20.100 --> 02:20.460 Brilliant. 02:20.460 --> 02:21.200 I know. 02:21.700 --> 02:24.700 Which is why this episode isn't about why we missed doses. 02:25.440 --> 02:27.520 It's about what to do in that moment. 02:28.080 --> 02:33.220 Half seven on a Friday, when you've already missed one, and you don't know what's next. 02:34.620 --> 02:35.220 All right. 02:35.780 --> 02:36.420 Tell me. 02:36.820 --> 02:43.080 Because the myth of double dose, we'll make it up, is stuck in the head of just about every parent. 02:43.500 --> 02:44.360 And it's wrong. 02:44.820 --> 02:45.780 For most medicines. 02:46.540 --> 02:47.440 But here's the catch. 02:47.440 --> 02:55.840 I, Tomas, I'm not going to tell you now, on a podcast, whether to double the augmenting specifically, or skip it. 02:56.260 --> 02:56.860 Why not? 02:57.220 --> 02:59.720 Because that is not a podcaster's call. 03:00.200 --> 03:02.380 It's the pharmacists, or the GPs. 03:03.120 --> 03:05.600 And that's exactly where the app can do something. 03:06.000 --> 03:06.420 Meaning? 03:06.840 --> 03:08.480 The app doesn't prescribe. 03:09.400 --> 03:13.200 The app hands you the facts for the phone call you're about to make. 03:13.200 --> 03:17.900 You open the Moira Pteczka app on the Friday at half seven. 03:18.560 --> 03:21.860 You look at Leon's card, at the Augmentin entry. 03:22.520 --> 03:23.480 And you see a bar. 03:24.220 --> 03:26.080 Dose seven of twenty-one. 03:27.000 --> 03:31.280 And next to today's times, two o'clock in red, due. 03:31.920 --> 03:35.800 Which is exactly what the GP on the line is going to ask. 03:35.800 --> 03:36.480 Yes. 03:37.160 --> 03:37.680 You ring. 03:38.200 --> 03:38.560 You say, 03:39.120 --> 03:42.400 Hello, my nine-year-old, day three of Augmentin. 03:42.960 --> 03:44.480 I've missed the two o'clock dose. 03:44.860 --> 03:46.020 The last one was this morning. 03:46.640 --> 03:47.880 The next is due at eight. 03:48.580 --> 03:49.300 What do I do? 03:49.680 --> 03:51.800 And the pharmacist answers straight away. 03:52.140 --> 03:53.080 In thirty seconds. 03:53.600 --> 03:55.520 Because you're asking something specific. 03:56.140 --> 03:56.360 Not, 03:56.740 --> 03:58.800 I've got in a muddle, please help me. 03:59.340 --> 04:03.120 The app turns panic into one precise question. 04:03.120 --> 04:06.460 So, the app is a cheat sheet for my brain. 04:06.920 --> 04:11.460 Which, at half seven on a Friday, has well and truly clocked off. 04:11.980 --> 04:12.380 Exactly. 04:13.240 --> 04:14.220 And there's a second thing. 04:14.820 --> 04:17.840 You tap Taken on the notification when you give the medicine. 04:18.400 --> 04:19.840 Recorded immediately. 04:20.480 --> 04:21.540 Even with no signal. 04:21.960 --> 04:23.080 Even with no signal? 04:23.540 --> 04:26.080 Even if you close the app or switch the phone off. 04:26.600 --> 04:28.180 The dose is saved locally. 04:28.860 --> 04:31.340 It syncs back the moment you've got signal again. 04:31.340 --> 04:33.800 And if I simply don't hear the notification? 04:34.780 --> 04:35.900 Phone on silence. 04:36.220 --> 04:37.200 Kids in the bath. 04:37.320 --> 04:38.160 Dinner on the hob. 04:38.580 --> 04:39.540 My dad ringing. 04:40.060 --> 04:42.680 That's exactly the case this record is built for. 04:43.200 --> 04:45.620 It doesn't depend on your mood as a parent. 04:46.200 --> 04:47.160 The app just waits. 04:47.940 --> 04:49.820 At six the next morning, on the Saturday, 04:50.320 --> 04:51.940 when you wake up and put the kettle on, 04:52.340 --> 04:53.960 you open the app and you see 04:53.960 --> 04:55.040 Yesterday. 04:55.840 --> 04:56.360 Two o'clock. 04:56.660 --> 04:57.180 In red. 04:57.820 --> 04:58.080 Due. 04:58.720 --> 04:59.880 You look at the facts. 04:59.880 --> 05:02.360 You decide what happens next. 05:04.200 --> 05:04.520 Tom. 05:05.160 --> 05:07.460 I'm starting to see it like this. 05:08.260 --> 05:12.080 The app takes the counting and the remembering off me. 05:12.620 --> 05:17.460 But it does not take the responsibility for the decision off me. 05:18.120 --> 05:21.920 And that's exactly the line most medical apps don't respect. 05:22.440 --> 05:24.740 Most apps pretend they'll handle the lot. 05:25.220 --> 05:26.260 You've missed a dose. 05:26.440 --> 05:27.080 Take it now. 05:27.080 --> 05:33.160 That's pseudo-medical advice with no pharmacological basis for most medicines. 05:33.800 --> 05:36.220 Because every medicine is different. 05:36.760 --> 05:38.040 Augmentin in a child. 05:38.600 --> 05:40.180 Levothyroxine in an adult. 05:40.700 --> 05:41.840 The contraceptive pill. 05:42.400 --> 05:43.040 Blood thinners. 05:43.600 --> 05:47.680 Each has a different rule for what to do after a missed dose. 05:47.680 --> 05:54.000 An app that pretends to know every rule for every medicine is an app that lies. 05:54.640 --> 05:55.140 All right. 05:55.360 --> 05:56.860 That does sound honest. 05:57.560 --> 05:59.580 We don't pretend to be doctors. 06:00.080 --> 06:01.520 That's the whole point. 06:02.160 --> 06:03.800 The edit is your memory. 06:04.500 --> 06:07.320 The GP and the pharmacist are your knowledge. 06:07.320 --> 06:10.200 Those are two different things. 06:10.200 --> 06:11.560 Right. 06:12.360 --> 06:13.400 Practical question. 06:14.200 --> 06:15.700 Leon finishes the antibiotic. 06:16.460 --> 06:19.060 We're going to the GP on Monday for a check-up. 06:19.580 --> 06:21.160 What do I take with me? 06:21.880 --> 06:22.620 You open the app. 06:23.160 --> 06:27.020 On Leon's card, you choose Export PDF Report. 06:27.020 --> 06:31.660 The app makes an A4 sheet landscape, laid out as a table. 06:32.200 --> 06:33.240 And what's on it? 06:33.740 --> 06:35.320 The medicine name with the strength. 06:35.840 --> 06:36.380 Augmentin. 06:36.720 --> 06:40.080 312.5 milligrams per 5 milliliters. 06:40.620 --> 06:41.960 The active ingredient. 06:42.540 --> 06:44.380 Amoxicillin with clavulanic acid. 06:45.340 --> 06:45.900 The schedule. 06:46.480 --> 06:48.200 8-2-8. 06:48.800 --> 06:49.760 And the details. 06:50.300 --> 06:51.780 Prescription or over-the-counter. 06:52.280 --> 06:53.180 How much is left. 06:53.660 --> 06:54.620 The expiry date. 06:54.620 --> 06:59.060 So the GP doesn't have to ask, and what's the child actually been taking? 06:59.440 --> 07:00.460 They can see it. 07:00.960 --> 07:02.120 They see the exact schedule. 07:02.540 --> 07:03.360 In black and white. 07:03.640 --> 07:04.420 Not from your memory. 07:05.200 --> 07:06.600 That's half the conversation done. 07:06.880 --> 07:08.280 Before you've even sat down. 07:08.680 --> 07:10.860 And how many doses we actually gave? 07:11.460 --> 07:12.320 That's on the screen. 07:12.500 --> 07:13.080 On the card. 07:13.560 --> 07:14.000 The bar. 07:14.440 --> 07:16.080 Dose 20 of 21. 07:16.820 --> 07:17.880 One not ticked off. 07:18.180 --> 07:19.520 That Friday, 2 o'clock. 07:19.980 --> 07:21.780 The app doesn't put that in the PDF. 07:22.340 --> 07:23.600 And it doesn't judge you for it. 07:23.600 --> 07:25.440 But you can see the counter. 07:25.980 --> 07:27.800 And you can tell the GP straight out. 07:28.400 --> 07:29.860 20 of 21. 07:30.400 --> 07:31.120 I missed one. 07:31.120 --> 07:35.400 Because normally the GP asks across the desk. 07:35.920 --> 07:39.000 So, Mum, has he been taking it properly? 07:39.860 --> 07:41.960 And I say, yes, Doctor. 07:42.540 --> 07:45.860 And I go home feeling like I've just told a lie. 07:45.860 --> 07:50.280 And you know what really gets to me about that question? 07:50.660 --> 07:53.620 That it's put as if the GP were testing me. 07:54.240 --> 07:55.960 And I've got two children. 07:56.540 --> 07:57.680 Leon with a temperature. 07:58.240 --> 08:00.340 Basher at nursery with chicken pox. 08:00.700 --> 08:03.220 And I'm supposed to sit down and admit, 08:03.720 --> 08:05.220 Friday night I forgot. 08:05.740 --> 08:07.280 Saturday morning I forgot. 08:07.280 --> 08:10.000 And that's why a parent lies. 08:10.580 --> 08:14.200 Because the shame is bigger than the fear of a second course. 08:14.900 --> 08:17.960 And then I'm looking at the prescription for the next antibiotic. 08:18.680 --> 08:19.700 A stronger one. 08:20.120 --> 08:23.140 Because the course didn't work. 08:23.660 --> 08:27.520 And a GP who doesn't know the first one was missed prescribes a second. 08:28.080 --> 08:29.740 And the cycle feeds itself. 08:30.460 --> 08:31.500 Stronger antibiotic. 08:32.120 --> 08:32.980 Resistance grows. 08:32.980 --> 08:35.600 That is a public health problem. 08:36.420 --> 08:38.100 And it breaks in a single moment. 08:38.760 --> 08:41.280 When, instead of shame, you've got a counter. 08:41.980 --> 08:45.280 You say, 20 of 21, I missed one. 08:45.740 --> 08:47.280 And the doctor looks at the fact. 08:47.880 --> 08:48.860 Not at your face. 08:49.620 --> 08:49.900 Alright. 08:50.980 --> 08:53.960 And do you remember Joanna from the last episode? 08:54.940 --> 08:56.300 Eight medicines a day. 08:56.920 --> 08:57.480 73. 08:58.660 --> 08:59.180 Polypharmacy. 08:59.440 --> 08:59.960 I remember. 09:00.480 --> 09:02.100 And that's the second layer of this. 09:02.100 --> 09:06.920 Because for Joanna, a missed dose of ferrosamide, a water tablet for her heart, 09:07.380 --> 09:10.380 is not the same as a missed dose of vitamin D. 09:10.800 --> 09:12.020 The first one's dangerous. 09:12.580 --> 09:13.980 The second isn't. 09:14.400 --> 09:16.260 The first is clinically significant. 09:16.680 --> 09:19.640 The second's a bruised ego, not a health problem. 09:20.240 --> 09:22.380 And the app doesn't know which is which. 09:22.820 --> 09:24.300 And a good thing it doesn't. 09:24.700 --> 09:26.220 And a good thing it doesn't. 09:26.580 --> 09:30.680 Because if it pretended to know, it'd be telling that very lie we talked about. 09:30.680 --> 09:32.640 The app does one thing. 09:32.960 --> 09:36.180 It shows whether today's dose is ticked off or waiting. 09:36.840 --> 09:37.660 The daughter asks, 09:37.880 --> 09:39.120 Mum, did you take the pink one? 09:39.580 --> 09:40.440 Mum opens it, 09:40.600 --> 09:42.760 sees, done, next to today's dose. 09:43.200 --> 09:44.560 Answers, yes love. 09:45.120 --> 09:46.040 Nobody's guessing. 09:46.040 --> 09:48.140 It's smaller than it sounds. 09:48.460 --> 09:50.260 And bigger than it sounds. 09:50.700 --> 09:51.700 Both at once. 09:53.340 --> 09:56.320 And there's a third case hardly anyone talks about. 09:57.620 --> 09:58.340 Levothyroxine. 09:58.900 --> 09:59.880 The thyroid tablet. 10:00.700 --> 10:06.320 A mum, 42, every morning, on an empty stomach, half an hour before her coffee. 10:07.120 --> 10:08.560 A simple rule, supposedly. 10:09.080 --> 10:11.320 For 20 years, supposedly. 10:11.880 --> 10:12.600 And what happens? 10:12.600 --> 10:17.700 What happens is that three mornings a week she takes the tablet with her coffee. 10:18.420 --> 10:23.240 Because she's up, making the sandwiches, someone's shouting, someone's lost a shoe. 10:24.100 --> 10:28.200 She sips her coffee, glances at the worktop, sees the box. 10:29.120 --> 10:30.540 Did I take it or not? 10:31.260 --> 10:32.220 Well, I must have. 10:32.380 --> 10:33.300 I always do. 10:34.020 --> 10:35.840 She takes a second one to be safe. 10:36.380 --> 10:40.180 Or she doesn't take it at all because I've probably already had it. 10:40.180 --> 10:43.020 And that's exactly the question the app answers. 10:43.500 --> 10:45.680 It doesn't shout, Anna, take it now. 10:46.100 --> 10:51.600 It just, on the levothyroxine card, today's dose is either ticked off or waiting. 10:52.200 --> 10:52.980 Did I take it today? 10:53.420 --> 10:54.740 You look, you know. 10:55.260 --> 10:56.140 No more guessing. 10:56.720 --> 11:00.740 So I don't take a second one and I don't skip it out of uncertainty. 11:00.740 --> 11:04.320 Yes, the app won't draw you an adherence chart over six months. 11:04.860 --> 11:06.940 But every morning, it answers one question. 11:07.680 --> 11:09.300 Did I take it or not? 11:10.000 --> 11:15.040 And when you go to the endocrinologist to check your thyroid, your TSH, you go with the 11:15.040 --> 11:17.140 habit of marking every single dose. 11:17.620 --> 11:19.800 Not with, I think I've been fairly regular. 11:20.560 --> 11:22.600 And this is a mum, not a gran. 11:23.160 --> 11:25.960 The sandwich generation has its health too. 11:26.680 --> 11:27.180 Exactly. 11:27.180 --> 11:30.020 Missing doses isn't a pensioner's problem. 11:30.480 --> 11:35.940 It's the problem of anyone who takes something every day and has children, a job, a phone, 11:36.340 --> 11:39.340 a mum, a mother-in-law, two cats. 11:40.360 --> 11:42.420 And there's one more feature we haven't mentioned. 11:43.280 --> 11:49.380 Because Leon took Augmentin for seven days, but on day five, in the app I saw there were 11:49.380 --> 11:53.600 three doses left, and in the bottle there was already half a measure. 11:54.380 --> 11:55.200 Not enough. 11:55.460 --> 11:56.960 And the app told you that? 11:57.180 --> 12:00.860 A notification for the eight o'clock dose on the Saturday morning. 12:01.860 --> 12:02.420 Augmentin. 12:02.740 --> 12:03.440 One measure. 12:04.180 --> 12:07.220 Only 0.8 of a measure left in your cabinet. 12:07.840 --> 12:08.980 Remember to top it up. 12:10.020 --> 12:13.800 I put my shoes on, drove to the chemists, bought a second bottle. 12:14.800 --> 12:16.180 Leon finished the course. 12:16.980 --> 12:18.900 No panic at eight on the Sunday night. 12:19.340 --> 12:19.860 Oh no! 12:20.220 --> 12:21.480 The antibiotics run out. 12:21.720 --> 12:22.880 The chemists are all shut. 12:23.480 --> 12:24.040 Exactly. 12:24.040 --> 12:29.220 And it's a small detail, but with an antibiotic, it makes a difference. 12:29.220 --> 12:34.960 A dose missed because the bottle ran out is the daftest missed dose you can possibly imagine. 12:34.960 --> 12:37.760 The app steps in, so that doesn't happen. 12:37.760 --> 12:38.200 Yes. 12:38.200 --> 12:39.200 Yes. 12:39.200 --> 12:42.720 The Moyab-Techa app won't finish the course for you. 12:43.380 --> 12:44.200 You'll finish it. 12:44.560 --> 12:45.840 Because you ring the pharmacist. 12:46.220 --> 12:47.380 Because you open the notification. 12:48.260 --> 12:49.340 Because you look at the bar. 12:49.740 --> 12:50.940 20 of 21. 12:51.880 --> 12:53.720 The app is a tool for memory. 12:54.440 --> 12:56.940 The decision stays with you and your GP. 12:57.940 --> 13:04.000 By the way, everything we're talking about here really is a feature in the Moyab-Techa app. 13:04.660 --> 13:08.100 This isn't an advert, just for context, to be clear. 13:08.200 --> 13:11.780 If you're listening to this with a poorly child on antibiotics at home, 13:12.320 --> 13:14.740 or an elderly parent on a pile of medicines, 13:15.380 --> 13:17.420 or yourself on levothyroxine, 13:18.000 --> 13:21.640 the Moyab-Techa app is free and works offline. 13:22.200 --> 13:24.300 You'll find the link in the episode description. 13:25.260 --> 13:26.720 And if you liked the episode, 13:27.380 --> 13:29.680 share it with someone who gets up in the morning thinking, 13:30.320 --> 13:31.860 today I won't forget. 13:32.520 --> 13:33.520 And forgets. 13:33.520 --> 13:36.600 One more thing before we go. 13:37.220 --> 13:40.220 This podcast is made with the help of artificial intelligence. 13:41.000 --> 13:42.240 I wrote the dialogue myself, 13:42.560 --> 13:45.200 but the voices you're hearing aren't ours. 13:45.660 --> 13:47.980 They're AI-generated synthetic voices. 13:48.820 --> 13:50.480 We're telling you this straight out because 13:50.480 --> 13:54.100 we think it should be the standard for any podcast made this way. 13:54.760 --> 13:58.260 Full details are in the show notes and in every episode description. 13:58.260 --> 14:00.460 Until next time. 14:00.460 --> 14:02.500 Until next time.