Healthcare workstations and RFID devices for detecting medication errors, falls and wandering

• US 20080129496A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GT Angel LLC
• Original Assignee: GT Angel LLC
• Inventors: Koblasz, Arthur
• Granted Patent: US 8,878,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/540
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0261 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect trespassing over a fixed physical boundary, e.g. the end of a garden
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A medication administration system that includes a system of pillboxes, a pharmacy workstation, and a system of attendant workstation. The pharmacy workstation reads RFID or barcode tags on the pillboxes and medication wrappers containing medication units as the medication units are checked into the pillboxes to ensure that the pillboxes are filled in accordance the appropriate prescription regimens. The attendant workstations read the RFID or barcode tags on the pillboxes and medication wrappers as the medication units are checked out of the pillboxes to ensure that the medications are administered in accordance the appropriate prescription regimens. The attendant workstations may activate alarms, which may include communicating the alarms to a central monitoring station or mobile communication devices assigned to healthcare providers, when the determine that a pillbox in not correctly filled, when a medication has been checked out of a pillbox improperly, or when a medication has not been checked out on time.

Claims

1. An attendant workstation comprising:

a storage compartment for receiving one or more pillboxes, each pillbox comprising an electronically readable pillbox tag and a plurality of compartments, the pillbox tag storing an electronically readable pillbox identifier, and each compartment configured to hold medication units packaged within medication wrappers;

an attendant workstation computer configured for associating a patient identifier and prescription regimen with each pillbox tag, each prescription regimen comprising a plurality of medication units, dosages and administration time limits for medications prescribed for an associated patient;

a pillbox tag reader interfaced to the attendant workstation computer for reading the pillbox identifiers from the pillbox tags and transmitting the pillbox identifiers to the workstation computer;

a medication tag reader interfaced to the attendant workstation computer for reading medication identifiers from electronically readable medication tags associated with the medication wrappers contained in the pillboxes and transmitting the medication identifiers to the workstation computer;

the attendant workstation computer further operable for receiving a selected pillbox identifier for a pillbox in the storage compartment, receiving a selected medication identifier for a medication unit checked out of the selected pillbox, accessing the prescription regimen associated with the selected pillbox, determining whether the selected medication unit is in accordance with the associated prescription regimen, and activating an incorrect medication check-out alarm in the event that the selected medication unit is not in accordance with the associated prescription regimen.

2. The attendant workstation of claim 1, further operable for activating a late medication alarm in response to determining that a medication unit has not been checked out of a pillbox in accordance with the administration time limits established for the medication unit by the associated prescription regimen.

3. The attendant workstation of claim 2, further operable for communicating the late medication alarm to a central monitoring station.

4. The attendant workstation of claim 2, further operable for communicating the late medication alarm to a wireless communication device associated with a healthcare provider.

5. The attendant workstation of claim 1, further operable for responding to receipt of a pillbox within the workstation storage compartment by automatically reading the received pillbox tag and all medication tags within the received pillbox, accessing the prescription regimen associated with the received pillbox, determining whether the medication tags within the received pillbox are in accordance with the prescription regimen associated with the received pillbox, and activating an incorrect pillbox contents alarm in response to determining that the medication tags within the received pillbox are not in accordance with the prescription regimen associated with the received pillbox.

6. The attendant workstation of claim 5, further operable for communicating the incorrect pillbox contents alarm to a central monitoring station.

7. The attendant workstation of claim 5, further operable for communicating the incorrect pillbox contents alarm to a wireless communication device associated with a healthcare provider.

8. The attendant workstation of claim 1, wherein:

the pillbox tags comprise RFID tags and the pillbox tag reader comprises an RFID transceiver; and

the medication tags comprise barcodes and the medication tag reader comprises a barcode reader

9. The attendant workstation of claim 1, wherein the pillbox tags comprise RFID tags, the medication tags comprise RFID tags, and an RFID transceiver serves as the pillbox tag reader and the medication tag reader.

10. The attendant workstation of claim 1, wherein the pillbox tags comprise barcodes, the medication tags comprise barcodes, and a barcode reader serves as the pillbox tag reader and the medication tag reader.

11. A pharmacy workstation comprising:

a receptacle tray for receiving a pillbox comprising an electronically readable pillbox tag and a plurality of compartments, the pillbox tag storing an electronically readable pillbox identifier, and each compartment configured to hold medication units packaged within medication wrappers;

a pharmacy workstation computer configured for associating prescription regimens with pillboxes, each prescription regimen comprising a plurality of medication units for an associated patient;

a pillbox tag reader interfaced to the pharmacy workstation computer for reading the pillbox identifier from the pillbox tag on a received pillbox located within the receptacle tray and transmitting the pillbox identifier to the pharmacy workstation computer;

a medication tag reader interfaced to the pharmacy workstation computer for reading medication identifiers from electronically readable medication tags associated with the medication wrappers containing medication units as the medication units are checked into the received pillbox and transmitting the medication identifiers to the pharmacy workstation computer;

the pharmacy workstation computer further operable for accessing the prescription regimen for the received pillbox and activating an incorrect medication check-in alarm in the event that a medication unit checked into the received pillbox is not in accordance with the prescription regimen for the received pillbox.

12. The pharmacy workstation of claim 11, further operable for indicating a properly filled pillbox message in response to determining that all medication units associated with the prescription regimen for the received pillbox have been checked into the received pillbox.

13. The pharmacy workstation of claim 11, wherein:

the pillbox tags comprise RFID tags and the pillbox tag reader comprises an RFID transceiver; and

the medication tags comprise barcodes and the medication tag reader comprises a barcode reader

14. The pharmacy workstation of claim 11, wherein the pillbox tags comprise RFID tags, the medication tags comprise RFID tags, and an RFID transceiver serves as the pillbox tag reader and the medication tag reader.

15. The pharmacy workstation of claim 11, wherein the pillbox tags comprise barcodes, the medication tags comprise barcodes, and a barcode reader serves as the pillbox tag reader and the medication tag reader.

16. The pharmacy workstation of claim 11, wherein the pharmacy computer is configured to control a system of medication location and quantity indicators, each located adjacent to a storage location for an associated supply of medication units, to indicate a location and quantity of medication units to be checked into the received pillbox in accordance with the prescription regimen for the received pillbox.

17. The pharmacy workstation of claim 16, wherein each medication location and quantity indicator comprises one or more lights controlled by the pharmacy computer to illuminate or blink to indicate the location and quantity of medication units to be checked into the received pillbox in accordance with the prescription regimen for the received pillbox.

18. The pharmacy workstation of claim 11, wherein the receptacle tray comprises a shape that only allows the received pillbox to fit into the receptacle tray with a predefined orientation, and the receptacle tray further comprises a system of lights for illuminating compartment of the received pillbox where medication units are to be placed as they are checked into the received pillbox.

19. A medication administration system, comprising:

a plurality of medication units, each having an associated electronically readable medication tag;

a plurality of pillboxes, each having an associated electronically readable pillbox tag and one or more compartments for housing medication units;

a pharmacy workstation configured to receive a pillbox, read the pillbox tag to identify the received pillbox, access a prescription regimen assigned to the received pillbox specifying one or more of the medication units, read the medication tags as medication units are checked into the received pillbox, and indicate whether the received pillbox has been filled with medication units in accordance with the prescription regimen assigned to the received pillbox; and

a plurality of attendant workstations, each configured to receive a pillbox, read the pillbox tag to identify the received pillbox, access the prescription regimen assigned to the received pillbox, read the medication tags as medication units are checked out the received pillbox, and indicate whether a medication unit checked out of the received pillbox is in accordance with the prescription regimen assigned to the received pillbox.

20. The medication administration system of claim 19, further configured to activate an incorrect medication check-out alarm in response to determining that a medication unit checked out of the received pillbox is not in accordance with the prescription regimen assigned to the received pillbox.