Systems and methods for tracking pharmaceuticals within a facility
First Claim
1. A system for tracking and monitoring medical products within a healthcare facility for medical products received by a pharmacy of the facility to administration to patients including inventory of medical products in medication dispensing units of the healthcare facility, and for verifying receipt of medical products in the dispensing units, monitoring removal thereof and tracking delivery of medical products from dispensing units to patients, and for verifying that patients receive correct medical products before administration comprising a pharmacy terminal for receiving product information and RFID tag information of medical products in the pharmacy, a management computer for receiving product information read from RFID tags of the medical products from the pharmacy terminal, and for comparing information of the medical products shipped to the healthcare facility with the information received from the pharmacy terminal to verify that the medical products were received by the pharmacy, a plurality of medication dispensing units for receiving medical products to be dispensed to patients, and each including a medication dispensing terminal, each dispensing unit including at least one storage drawer for storing medical products therein, each dispensing terminal being capable of reading RFID tags of medical products inside the dispensing unit before the dispensing unit receives medical products from the pharmacy and reading RFID tags inside the dispensing unit after medical products are placed therein for determining the difference in RFID tag readings before and after the medical products are disposed in the dispensing unit, each dispensing terminal being capable of communicating with the management computer for detecting a mismatch between the medical products received by the dispensing unit and medical products withdrawn from the pharmacy, and a patient room terminal for communicating with the management computer and including an RF reader for verifying the patient to receive medical products and comparing medical product information read from RFID tags with information of medical products to be administered to the patient, and for detecting a mismatch.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A medication-dispensing unit is provided for tracking medical products having a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith. The dispensing unit includes compartments for receiving medical products therein, and readers for reading the RFID tags associated with the medical products in the compartments. A processor is coupled to the readers for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags in the compartment to identify the medical products in the compartments. The processor may identify a medical product removed from a compartment by determining a difference between readings of the RFID tags in the compartment taken before and after the medical product is removed from the compartment. The processor may verify that the medical product removed from the compartment is authorized to be removed or confirm that an identified patient is intended to receive the medical product being removed from the compartment.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A system for tracking and monitoring medical products within a healthcare facility for medical products received by a pharmacy of the facility to administration to patients including inventory of medical products in medication dispensing units of the healthcare facility, and for verifying receipt of medical products in the dispensing units, monitoring removal thereof and tracking delivery of medical products from dispensing units to patients, and for verifying that patients receive correct medical products before administration comprising
a pharmacy terminal for receiving product information and RFID tag information of medical products in the pharmacy, a management computer for receiving product information read from RFID tags of the medical products from the pharmacy terminal, and for comparing information of the medical products shipped to the healthcare facility with the information received from the pharmacy terminal to verify that the medical products were received by the pharmacy, a plurality of medication dispensing units for receiving medical products to be dispensed to patients, and each including a medication dispensing terminal, each dispensing unit including at least one storage drawer for storing medical products therein, each dispensing terminal being capable of reading RFID tags of medical products inside the dispensing unit before the dispensing unit receives medical products from the pharmacy and reading RFID tags inside the dispensing unit after medical products are placed therein for determining the difference in RFID tag readings before and after the medical products are disposed in the dispensing unit, each dispensing terminal being capable of communicating with the management computer for detecting a mismatch between the medical products received by the dispensing unit and medical products withdrawn from the pharmacy, and a patient room terminal for communicating with the management computer and including an RF reader for verifying the patient to receive medical products and comparing medical product information read from RFID tags with information of medical products to be administered to the patient, and for detecting a mismatch.
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8. A system for a healthcare facility for tracking and monitoring medical products received by the facility for ultimate administration to patients and including medication dispensing units for containing medical products, and for verifying receipt of medical products by the dispensing units as well as monitoring removal thereof to track delivery of medical products comprising
a terminal for receiving product information and RFID tag information of medical products received at the facility, a management computer for receiving product information read from RFID tags of medical products from the terminal, a plurality of medication dispensing units for receiving medical products to be dispensed to patients, and at least one RF reader mounted near a doorway of the healthcare facility for automatically reading RFID tags of medical products as they are moved within the facility.
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11. A system for a healthcare facility for tracking and monitoring medical products received by the facility for ultimate administration to patient and including medication dispensing units for containing medical products, and for verifying receipt of medical products by the dispensing units as well as monitoring removal thereof to track delivery of medical products comprising
a terminal for receiving product information and RFID tag information of medical products received at the facility, a management computer for receiving product information read from RFID tags of medical products from the terminal, a plurality of medication dispensing units for receiving medical products to be dispensed to patients, and at least one RF reader mounted near a doorway of a patient'"'"'s room of the healthcare facility for automatically reading RFID tags of medical products as they are moved to the patient'"'"'s room.
Specification