Hospital drug distribution system
First Claim
1. A drug dispensing system comprising:
- a) a conveyor having a path along which containers are moved;
b) at least one container for drugs having a machine-readable indicia bearing information related to the drugs to be dispensed, the container being mountable upon the conveyor for movement along the path;
c) a plurality of drug dispensing devices disposed above the path, d) at least one detection device mounted adjacent to the path such that the detection devices can read the indicia on the containers;
e) a control computer operatively coupled to the conveyor, drug dispensing devices and detection devices.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A hospital drug distribution system for efficiently distributing solid medicinal units to hundreds of patients comprises subsystems for placing trays on a conveyor, placing cups thereon, labeling the cups, conveying the cups under drug tubes, sealing the cups, unloading the trays, and coordinating the overall activities of the system. Medicinal units are stored in long, thin vertical tubes positioned side-by-side, and are dispensed by valves disposed at the bottom of each tube. The rows of tubes are suspended over a conveying means transporting individual medication cups. The cups are arranged on trays on the conveying means in single file. The computer-controlled conveying means proceeds in a step-and-stop fashion, such that each cup stops briefly beneath each drug tube. When a cup completes its journey beneath the drug tubes, it contains the drugs needed by the patient to which it is assigned. Barcode readers at each valve scan the approaching cup to determine if drugs from the attached tube should be dispensed into it. The system is modular, as additional modules including multiple tubes can be added or removed as needed. When a tube becomes empty, it is discarded or sent to a drug refilling center for restocking. The hospital orders from the refilling center all needed tubes daily, preferably automatically over a computer network by a computer that tracks drug inventory levels. Replacement tubes are delivered overnight or within hours, depending upon the need. The system preferably operates in manual mode for special one-time orders.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A drug dispensing system comprising:
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a) a conveyor having a path along which containers are moved;
b) at least one container for drugs having a machine-readable indicia bearing information related to the drugs to be dispensed, the container being mountable upon the conveyor for movement along the path;
c) a plurality of drug dispensing devices disposed above the path, d) at least one detection device mounted adjacent to the path such that the detection devices can read the indicia on the containers;
e) a control computer operatively coupled to the conveyor, drug dispensing devices and detection devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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27. A method for dispensing drugs to one or more patients comprising the steps of:
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a) providing a drug-dispensing system comprising;
i) a conveyor having a path along which containers are moved;
ii) at least one container for drugs, the container being mountable upon the conveyor for movement along the path;
iii) a plurality of drug dispensing devices disposed above the path, iv) at least one detection device mounted adjacent to the path such that the detection devices can read the indicia on the containers;
b) placing the containers on the conveyor, each container being assigned to a patient by affixing to the container at least machine-readable indicia comprising information related to the patient'"'"'s identity and of at least one drug and a quantity for such drug needed by the patient;
c) reading the machine-readable indicia on at least one container by a detection device;
d) when the container is adjacent to a drug dispensing device having a drug related to the indicia read by the detection device in step c, dispensing the needed quantity of the drug from the drug dispensing device into the container;
e) after the container has passed underneath all drug dispensing devices containing drugs included in the machine-readable indicia on the container, removing such container from the conveyor.
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Specification