AUTOMATED DRUG PREPARATION APPARATUS INCLUDING AUTOMATED DRUG RECONSTITUTION

• US 20140290796A1
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baxter Corporation Englewood (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Baxter Corporation Englewood (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Tribble, Dennis, Osborne, Joel A., Khan, Abdul Wahid, Lefebre, Edward J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,382,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 141/94
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/10 Bag-type containers
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/20 Arrangements for transferring or mixing fluids, e.g. from vial to syringe
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/2096 Combination of a vial and a syringe for transferring or mixing their contents
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2200/74 for weight
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/10 Bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/30 Printed labels
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 3/002 Compounding apparatus specially for enteral or parenteral nutritive solutions bottling liquids B67C
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2207/00 Methods of manufacture, assembly or production
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/2448 comprising means for injection of two or more media, e.g. by mixing
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 3/003 Filling medical containers such as ampoules, vials, syringes or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 7/2821 applying plugs or threadless stoppers for bottles or jars B67B1/04
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 3/06 Affixing labels to short rigid containers
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 3/26 Affixing labels to non-rigid containers, e.g. bottles made of polyethylene, boxes to be inflated by internal air pressure prior to labelling

Abstract

An automated medication preparation system for preparing a prescribed dosage of medication in a drug delivery device includes a plurality of stations for receiving, handling and processing the drug delivery device so that the prescribed dosage of medication is delivered to the drug delivery device and a transporting device that receives and holds more than one drug delivery device and moves the drug delivery devices in a controlled manner from one station to another station. The system is configured so that two or more separate drug delivery devices can be acted upon at the same time.

Claims

1-29. -29. (canceled)

30. A method for preparation of medication orders, comprising:

storing in a database of a computer controller identifying information for a plurality of containers containing reconstitutable medications;

identifying by the computer controller, for a medication order, a correct one of the plurality of containers for reconstitution;

selecting a container containing a reconstitutable medication;

scanning the selected container to read identifying information on the selected container;

comparing the read identifying information to identifying information stored in the database for the identified container to confirm that the selected container is the identified container;

reconstituting the medication in the selected container;

delivering reconstituted medication from the selected container to a drug delivery device, wherein after the delivering step the selected container contains unused reconstituted medication; and

storing the selected container containing unused reconstituted medication for subsequent use.

31. A method as recited in claim 30, wherein said scanning step comprises:

reading a bar code on the container.

32. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

taking a photo image of the selected container.

33. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

retrieving by the computer controller the medication order from a database for storing medication orders.

34. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

determining by the computer controller the steps necessary to perform the reconstituting step.

35. A method as recited in claim 34, wherein the determining step comprises:

accessing a reconstitution database.

36. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

determining by the computer controller a location of the identified container prior to said selecting step.

37. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

cataloging the stored, selected container containing unused reconstituted medication.

38. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

delivering an amount of the unused reconstituted medication from the stored, selected container into another drug delivery device for another medication preparation order.

39. A method as recited in claim 30, wherein the storing step comprises:

storing the stored, selected container at a holding station having a grid with coordinates for determining where the stored, selected container is stored within the holding station.

40. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

labeling the stored, selected container containing unused reconstituted medication as a multi-use container.

41. A method as recited in claim 40, wherein said database identifies which of the plurality of containers contain medications for multi-use.

42. A method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

weighing the selected container before the reconstituting step to measure a weight; and

storing the weight at the computer controller.

43. A method as recited in claim 42, further comprising:

calculating a weight of the reconstituted medication to perform a safety check as to whether the reconstituted medication was properly reconstituted.

44. A method as recited in claim 30, wherein the drug delivery device is partially filled with a diluent prior to the delivery step.

45. A method as recited in claim 30, wherein said delivering step comprises:

delivering reconstituted medicine to the drug delivery device in an automated manner.

46. A method as recited in claim 45, wherein the withdrawing step comprises:

accessing the database to retrieve characteristics of the identified container; and

positioning a vented cannula relative to the selected container based upon the characteristics of the identified container.

47. A method as recited in claim 45, wherein the selecting, scanning, comparing, and reconstituting steps are performed in an automated manner.

48. A method as recited in claim 45, wherein the drug delivery device is a syringe, and further comprising:

storing a plurality of syringes at a first station;

advancing with an apparatus the syringe from the first station to a second station for performing the delivering step.

49. A method as recited in claim 48, wherein the selected container is a vial, and further comprising:

using an automated mechanism to deliver the selected container, after the comparing step, to a third station, for performing the reconstituting step.