Medical cart with electronically lockable pharmaceutical and narcotic drawers
First Claim
1. A medical cart for holding pharmaceuticals or the like and narcotic kind of contents comprising:
- a cart frame;
slidable drawers mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to pharmaceuticals or like contents therein and a closed position within the cart frame denying access to the contents;
at least one slidable narcotics drawer mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to narcotics therein and a closed position within the cart denying access to the narcotics;
a first locking device for locking the slidable drawers in their closed position;
a second locking device for locking the narcotics drawer in its closed position;
a keyless electronic operator for operating upon entry of a first code the first locking device to allow the slidable drawers to be unlocked and to be shifted to their open position to dispense the contents therein and for operating upon entry of another code the second locking device to allow the narcotics drawer to be opened.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A medical cart is provided with a keyless locking system for drawers containing narcotics and for other drawers containing pharmaceuticals. Some personnel may be authorized with codes to open both the narcotics and pharmaceutical drawers while other personnel may have codes that open the pharmaceutical drawers but do not open the narcotics drawers. Preferably, an audit trail is provided to know who had or tried to access the drawers and when the access was attempted and accomplished. To this end there is a memory store and read-out port that allows downloading or read-out of the audit trail. The medical cart has a simplified locking system with fewer and more reliable components comprising cam operated locking bars that operate locking rods that latch with latch portions on the slidable drawers in the cart. The drawers may be automatically locked upon slamming them to a closed position. Preferably, an associated timer causes an automatic relocking operation or a lock switch may be operated to set the locking mechanism to lock the drawer when it is pushed into its closed position. Also, a light source may be provided to illuminate the control panel and drawers. A motion sensor may switch the light off when the cart is put in motion. A light level sensor may sense the ambient light level and switch the light on when the cart enters a darkened room. A mechanical override may be provided to allow access to the contents in the drawers in the event of electronic failure.
84 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A medical cart for holding pharmaceuticals or the like and narcotic kind of contents comprising:
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a cart frame;
slidable drawers mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to pharmaceuticals or like contents therein and a closed position within the cart frame denying access to the contents;
at least one slidable narcotics drawer mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to narcotics therein and a closed position within the cart denying access to the narcotics;
a first locking device for locking the slidable drawers in their closed position;
a second locking device for locking the narcotics drawer in its closed position;
a keyless electronic operator for operating upon entry of a first code the first locking device to allow the slidable drawers to be unlocked and to be shifted to their open position to dispense the contents therein and for operating upon entry of another code the second locking device to allow the narcotics drawer to be opened. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A medical cart for holding pharmaceuticals or the like and narcotics comprising:
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a cart frame;
slidable drawers mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to pharmaceuticals or like contents therein and a closed position within the cart frame denying access to the contents;
at least one slidable narcotics drawer mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to narcotics therein and a closed position within the cart denying access to the narcotics;
a keyless operated locking device for selectively locking and unlocking the respective drawers upon the proper input of preprogrammed codes; and
an automatic locking timer operable after the elapse of a predetermined period of time to operate the locking device to lock the drawers when in the closed position. - View Dependent Claims (22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38)
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23. A portable medical cart for dispensing medications and narcotics, comprising:
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a cart housing, medication drawers in the housing movable from a closed position to an open position to allow access to medications therein;
at least one narcotic drawer in the housing movable from a closed position to an open position to allow access to narcotics therein;
a locking mechanism for the medication drawers and the narcotics drawer to lock the respective drawers in their closed position; and
an electronic operator operable by input of a first pre-programmed code to actuate the locking mechanism to unlock the medication drawer for removal of a medication and by input of a second pre-programmed code to actuate the locking mechanism to unlock the narcotic drawer to allow removal of narcotics from the narcotic drawer.
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36. A medical cart for holding pharmaceuticals or the like and narcotics comprising:
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a cart frame;
slidable drawers mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to pharmaceuticals or like contents therein and a closed position within the cart frame denying access to the contents;
at least one slidable narcotics drawer mounted in the cart frame and slidable to an open position to provide access to narcotics therein and a closed position within the cart denying access to the narcotics;
a locking mechanism including vertically movable locking members;
latching members for the locking mechanism and shiftable by the vertically movable locking members to unlatch the drawers to allow access to the drawers;
a turnable cam shaft for the locking mechanism having cams thereon turnable to operate the vertical movable locking members; and
a key operator turnable by a person to turn the cam shaft and to operate the locking mechanism to allow access to the contents in the drawers.
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Specification