VARIABLE DOSE DISPENSING SYSTEM

• US 20140214199A1
• Filed: 01/30/2013
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carefusion 303 Incorporated (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: Carefusion 303 Incorporated (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: UTECH, Thomas, DAVIS, Kim E., JASKELA, Maria C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,342,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/236
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

A variable dose dispensing system may include a processor and memory. The processor may receive a request for a variable dose order of a medication, such as from a user. The processor may request an amount of the medication to be administered, and receive, in response to the request, an indication of the amount to be administered. The processor may verify that the amount to be administered is within a range of the variable dose order. The processor may determine an item in a local inventory that contains at least the amount of the medication to be administered, and may dispense the item. If an amount of the dispensed item exceeds the amount to be administered, such as by a waste amount, the processor may display an indication of the waste amount to the user, and may transmit a notification of the waste amount, such as to a management server.

Claims

1. A method for variable dose dispensing, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a variable dose order of a medication;

requesting an amount of the medication to be administered;

receiving, in response to the requesting, an indication of the amount of the medication to be administered;

determining, by a processor, at least one item of a plurality of items in a local inventory, the at least one item comprising at least the amount of the medication to be administered; and

dispensing the at least one item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an item amount of the at least one item exceeds the amount of the medication to be administered by a waste amount and the method further comprises:

displaying an indication of the waste amount to a person who requested the variable dose order.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting, to a management system, an identifier of the person who requested the variable dose order of the medication, the amount of the medication to be administered, and at least one of the item amount of the at least one item dispensed or the waste amount.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining, by the processor, the at least one item of the plurality of items in the local inventory, the at least one item comprising at least the amount of the medication to be administered further comprises:

determining, by the processor, the at least one item of the plurality of items in the local inventory such that the waste amount is minimized relative to the plurality of items in the local inventory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dispensing the at least one item further comprises:

allowing a person who requested the variable dose order to physically access the at least one item while preventing the person from accessing others of the plurality of items in the local inventory.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a pharmacy system, an indication of a variable dose group for the variable dose order, wherein the variable dose group indicates the plurality of items in the local inventory from which the at least one item is determined for the variable dose order.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the variable dose group comprises a first item that is indicated as an equivalency of two second items.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first item comprises the amount of the medication to be administered and the first item not in the local inventory, and the dispensing the at least one item further comprises:

dispensing the two second items.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, prior to the dispensing, an identifier of a user; and

authenticating the identifier of the user, wherein the at least one item is only dispensed if the identifier of the user is authenticated.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein if there is not the at least one item in the local inventory that comprises at least the amount of the medication to be administered, the method further comprises:

requesting an identifier of a proximally located dispensing device that contains the amount of the medication to be administered;

receiving the identifier of the proximally located dispensing device; and

displaying, to a user who requested the variable dose order, the identifier of the proximally located dispensing device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing navigational directions to the proximally located dispensing device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying that the amount of the medication to be administered is within a range of the variable dose order.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the variable dose order from a pharmacy system.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a machine, allow the machine to perform a method for managing variable dose dispensing, the method comprising:

receiving, from a medication dispensing device, a user identifier associated with a user, a dispensed amount of a medication, and an amount of the medication to be administered by the user, wherein the dispensed amount exceeds the amount to be administered by a waste amount;

initiating, in response to the receiving, a timer associated with the user identifier and the medication; and

if, before the timer reaches a timeout threshold, an indication is received from a waste device that indicates that the user associated with the user identifier wasted the waste amount of the medication, storing the indication,

otherwise storing a notification that the user associated with the user identifier failed to waste the waste amount before the timer reached the timeout threshold.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting the notification that the user associated with the user identifier failed to waste the waste amount before the timer reached the timeout threshold.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the notification to the medication dispensing device, the notification further indicating that the user associated with the user identifier should not be allowed access to any other medications in the medication dispensing device.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a list of a plurality of items of the medication that are equivalencies.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the waste amount comprises a first item and the list of the plurality of items indicates that the first item is an equivalency of two second items.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein if the indication is received from the waste device, before the timer reaches the timeout threshold, that indicates that the user associated with the user identifier wasted the two second items, storing the indication, otherwise storing the notification that the user associated with the user identifier failed to waste the waste amount before the timer reached the timeout threshold.

20. A system for managing variable dose dispensing, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

provide a list of formulary items;

receive a selection of one of the formulary items;

receive a first indication of an amount of another of the formulary items that is an equivalency to the one of the formulary items;

store a first association between the amount of the another of the formulary items and the one of the formulary items; and

transmit the first association to a medication dispensing device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

receive a second indication of a variable dose group that is associated with the one of the formulary items;

store a second association between the variable dose group and the one of the formulary items; and

transmit the second association to the medication dispensing device.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

transmit the first association to a waste device.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the one of the formulary items and the another of the formulary items comprise different forms.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the one of the formulary items comprises a tablet form and the another of the formulary items comprises a caplet form.