MEDICATION DELIVERY AND VALIDATION SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS
First Claim
1. A medication delivery system comprising:
- a medication delivery apparatus forming a node on a communication network;
a presentation unit at the medication delivery apparatus for presenting medication elements stored at the medication delivery apparatus in an order corresponding to the order of a prescribed course of treatment for a patient, each medication element having associated indicia signifying characterizing data for the medication element an inspection unit for inspecting the indicia associated with a presented one of the medication elements to determine characterizing data for said one presented medication element;
a validation means for comparing the determined characterizing data to stored data corresponding to the course of treatment, the stored data signifying characterizing data for a medication element next scheduled to be presented;
a notification unit at the delivery apparatus operable to issue an alert at the medication delivery apparatus conditional on a valid output from the validation means; and
a compliance unit at the medication delivery apparatus for sending to another node on the network an indication whether the one medication element has been consumed by the patient.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system, method and apparatus for validation of medication for consumption by a patient. A patient unit, which is one node on a communication network, is operated to present medication elements stored at the patient unit in an order corresponding to the order of a prescribed course of treatment for the patient. Indicia on the medication elements are inspected to derive characterizing data such as nature of drug and scheduled time of consumption. The derived data is compared to stored data corresponding to a next scheduled medication element. If there is a match, the patient is informed that validated medication is ready to be consumed. The patient then arranges for the medication to be delivered from the patient unit and for a notification to be sent to a compliance agent at a remote network node.
66 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A medication delivery system comprising:
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a medication delivery apparatus forming a node on a communication network; a presentation unit at the medication delivery apparatus for presenting medication elements stored at the medication delivery apparatus in an order corresponding to the order of a prescribed course of treatment for a patient, each medication element having associated indicia signifying characterizing data for the medication element an inspection unit for inspecting the indicia associated with a presented one of the medication elements to determine characterizing data for said one presented medication element; a validation means for comparing the determined characterizing data to stored data corresponding to the course of treatment, the stored data signifying characterizing data for a medication element next scheduled to be presented; a notification unit at the delivery apparatus operable to issue an alert at the medication delivery apparatus conditional on a valid output from the validation means; and a compliance unit at the medication delivery apparatus for sending to another node on the network an indication whether the one medication element has been consumed by the patient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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11. A medication delivery system as claimed in 7, further comprising an exit aperture at the exit zone, the delivery mechanism operable to present a leading one of the containers at the exit aperture for the container to be gripped by a user, and a formation at the exit aperture constraining the user to grip the container at a position encouraging a clean separation of the container from an adjacent container.
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23. A method of delivering medication comprising:
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presenting medication elements stored at a medication delivery apparatus forming a node on a communication network, such presentation being in an order corresponding to the order of a prescribed course of treatment for a patient; inspecting indicia associated with a presented one of the medication elements to determine characterizing data for said one presented medication element; comparing the determined data to stored data corresponding to the course of treatment, the stored data signifying characterizing data for a medication element next scheduled for consumption by the patient; issuing an alert at the medication delivery apparatus conditional on a valid output resulting from the comparing; sending to another node on the network an indication whether the one medication element has been consumed by the patient. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A medication delivery method as claimed in claim, further comprising packaging the medication elements in the cartridge at an automated dispensing apparatus and delivering the cartridge to a user of the automated dispensing apparatus for transfer to the storage unit of the medication delivery apparatus.
Specification