UGM students developed the game application “Meet Pharmy” to introduce the pharmacist occupation to children, especially aged 2 to 14 years.
“Through this app, we try to introduce the pharmacist occupation, foster interest and insight among children into it,” explained Ris Heskiel Najogi Sitinjak, a Pharmacy student who was one of the app developers, during a press conference on Wednesday (5/15).
He developed the app together with fellow colleagues Shinta Diva Ekananda, Wahyunanda Crista Yuda, Muhammad Fikri Abdillah, and Muhammad Sulhan Hadi from the Faculty of Pharmacy; Luh Rai Maduretno Asvinigita and Lutfiana Pasebhan Jati from the Vocational School; and Ersa Anugratama Laksa from the Faculty of Animal Science.
Najogi said Meet Pharmy had been developed since November 2018.
“Children are already familiar with smartphones so we use this tool to foster children’s interest and insight into the pharmacist occupation through the Meet Pharmy game,” he explained.
Through this app they try to transfer health information to children, especially pharmacists’ communication with patients. Children are engaged in experiencing consulting with a pharmacist named Pharmy.
“Pharmy will give a prescription and also explain the importance of living a healthy lifestyle to avoid diseases,” he said.
Lutfiana added that Meet Pharmy has a number of features including three cases of simple illness, such as cough, runny nose, and fever which are often experienced by children. In addition, it is also equipped with a module feature for parents containing information about the diseases.
Currently they continue to develop the application by adding new languages. Previously, it was only available in English, but now it is also available in Indonesian. The main menu has also a more attractive design. In addition, they added updates to several display scenes. The language of the command is now shorter, and there are improvements to the steps of the game.
“Meet Pharmy can be downloaded at the Google Play Store and currently has been downloaded by more than 1,000 users,” she said.
With this application the eight students won the silver medal in the World Young Inventor Exhibition 2019 in International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX) in Malaysia on 2-4 May 2019. Previously they had won a gold medal in the category of Medicine and Public Health at Thailand Inventors’ Day 2019 on 2-6 February in Bangkok.
Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/17932-kenalkan-profesi-apoteker-pada-anak-lewat-game-meet-pharmy
