Medication dispenser station

• US 5,014,875 A
• Filed: 03/01/1989
• Issued: 05/14/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Carefusion 303 Incorporated (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: Pyxis Corp. (Cardinal Health, Inc.)
• Inventors: Williams, William D., Taylor, Ronald R., McLaughlin, Carol F., Steusloff, Patrick M.
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/317,640
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 221/2, 221/3, 221/5, 221/7, 221/15, 221/69, 221/76, 221/82, 221/122, 221/281, 221/154, 364/403, 364/413.02, 364/479, 312/209, 70/78, 70/81, 70/82, 70/87
• US Class Current: 221/2
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00

Abstract

An improved medication dispenser station is provided for controlled access storage of medications and other pharmaceuticals in a medical facility, such as a hospital or the like. The dispenser station comprises a housing with a plurality of normally locked drawers which have been preloaded with selected pharmaceutical items. A control unit on the housing is programmed to unlock the drawers one at a time to permit access to the contents thereof, with such access being contingent upon keyboard entry of a predetermined access code and other selected information sufficient to generate an access record. In a preferred form, each drawer includes multiple compartments containing multiple pharmaceutical items in a presorted array. One or more of the drawers desirably includes a multicompartment carousel tray which rotates in response to appropriate data entry via the keyboard to align and lock a designated compartment for access through an access opening in an overlying cover plate, thereby restricting access to a single compartment of the rotatable tray.

Claims

1. A medication station, comprising:

a station housing;

a plurality of drawers carried by said station housing, each of said drawers being movable between an open position and a closed position, each of said drawers defining at least one compartment for containing a pharmaceutical item, said compartment being accessible to the exterior of the station housing when the drawer associated therewith is in the open position; and

a control unit for selectively locking said drawers in the closed positions to prevent access to the drawer compartments, said control unit including keyboard entry means for entry of predetermined access data, lock means for selectively locking and unlocking said drawers, and controller means responsive to entry of said access data to selectively unlock at least one of said drawers while maintaining the remaining ones of said drawers in a locked condition to permit opening of said at least one of said drawers and access to the compartment defined thereby while preventing access to pharmaceutical items within said remaining ones of said drawers;

at least one of said drawers having a carousel tray mounted therein and defining an access opening to permit access to one of said tray compartments, said control unit further including means for rotating said carousel tray within said drawer to a selected position aligning a selected one of the tray compartments with said access opening, and means for locking said tray in said selected position when said at least one drawer is moved to the open position.

2. The medication dispenser unit of claim 1 wherein said at least one drawer includes spring means reacting between said drawer and said station housing to bias said drawer toward an at least partially open position when said drawer is unlocked by said control unit.

3. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein said controller means includes means for detecting the rotational position of said carousel tray.

4. The medication dispenser station of claim 3 wherein said tray is rotatably supported upon a turntable having peripheral notches formed therein, said detecting means comprising an optical detector associated with said notches to track the rotational position of said turntable, said turntable and said tray including drive means connected therebetween for supporting said tray in a predetermined rotational position on said turntable and for rotating said tray with said turntable.

5. The medication dispenser station of claim 4 further including a lock pin within said at least one drawer, and means for seating said lock pin into one of said turntable notches when the drawer is moved to the open position to lock said turntable and tray against rotation.

6. The medication dispenser station of claim 5 wherein said seating means includes a spring for urging said lock pin to seat within said one turntable notch, said spring further reacting between said drawer and said station housing to urge said drawer toward an at least partially open position when said drawer is unlocked.

7. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein said carousel tray includes a plurality of removable dividers defining said tray compartments.

8. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein said at least one drawer and said cover plate include interlocking flange means for mounting said cover plate onto said drawer, said control unit lock means further including means for locking said drawer in a partially open position in response to entry of first access data and for permitting said drawer to be fully opened in response to entry of second access data, said cover plate being blocked against removal from said drawer when said drawer is in the partially open position, said cover plate being removable from said drawer when said drawer is fully opened.

9. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein at least one of said drawers includes a partition grid separating the interior of said drawer into a plurality of compartments.

10. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein at least one of said drawers has a plurality of open bins supported therein.

11. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein said control unit further includes means for generating an access record in response to entry of said access data.

12. The medication dispenser station of claim 11 wherein said access record generating means includes a printer.

13. The medication dispenser station of claim 11 wherein said access record generating means includes a disk drive unit.

14. The medication dispenser station of claim 1 wherein said control unit is mounted on said station housing.

15. A medication dispenser station, comprising:

a station housing;

at least one drawer carried by said station housing for movement between on open position and a closed position, said drawer defining a plurality of compartments for containing pharmaceutical items in presorted array, said compartments being accessible to the exterior of said station housing when the drawer is in the open position;

a control unit for selectively locking said drawer in the closed position to prevent access to the drawer compartments, said control unit including keyboard entry means for entry of predetermined access data, lock means for selectively locking and unlocking said drawer, and controller means responsive to entry of said access data to selectively unlock said drawer to permit opening thereof;

said drawer having a carousel tray mounted therein and defining said plurality of said compartments for containing the plurality of pharmaceutical items in a presorted array, and a cover plate mounted on said drawer in a position overlying said tray and defining an access opening to permit access to one of said tray compartments, said control unit further including means for rotating said carousel tray within said drawer to a selected position aligning a selected one of the tray compartments with said access opening, means for locking said tray in said selected position when said at least one drawer is moved to the open position, and means for detecting the rotational position of said carousel tray;

said tray being rotatably supported upon a turntable having peripheral notches formed therein, said detecting means comprising an optical detector associated with said notches to track the rotational position of said turntable, said turntable and said tray including drive means connected therebetween for supporting said tray in a predetermined rotational position on said turntable and for rotating said tray with said turntable; and

a lock pin within said drawer, and means for seating said lock pin into one of said turntable notches when the drawer is moved to the open position to lock said turntable and tray against rotation, said seating means including a spring for urging said lock pin to seat within said one turntable notch, said spring further reacting between said drawer and said station housing to urge said drawer toward an at least partially open position when said drawer is unlocked.

16. The medication dispenser station of claim 15 wherein said carousel tray includes a plurality of removable dividers defining said tray compartments.

17. The medication dispenser station of claim 15 wherein said control unit further includes means for generating an access record in response to entry of said access data.

18. A medication dispenser station, comprising:

a station housing;

a plurality of drawers carried by said housing for movement between open and closed positions, said drawers defining a plurality of compartments for receiving and storing pharmaceutical items in a presorted array, said compartments being inaccessible when said drawers are closed;

lock means associated with each of said drawers for individually locking said drawers in the closed position; and

a control unit on said housing for operating said lock means to selectively lock and unlock said drawers thereby to control access to items contained therein, said control unit including data entry means for entry of predetermined access data, and controller means responsive to said access data for selectively unlocking said drawers to permit opening thereof;

at least one of said drawers having a carousel tray mounted therein and defining a plurality of said compartments for containing a plurality of pharmaceutical items in a presorted array, and a cover plate mounted on said at least one drawer in a position overlying said tray and defining an access opening to permit access to one of said tray compartments, said control unit further including means for rotating said carousel tray within said drawer to a selected position aligning a selected one of the tray compartments with said access opening, and means for locking said tray in said selected position when said at least one drawer is moved to the open position;

said at least one drawer and said cover plate including interlocking flange means for mounting said cover plate onto said drawer, said control unit further including means for locking said drawer in a partially open position in response to entry of first access data and for permitting said drawer to be fully opened in response to entry of second access data, said cover plate being blocked against removal from said drawer when said drawer is in the partially open position, said cover plate being removable from said drawer when said drawer is fully opened.

19. The medication dispenser station of claim 18 wherein said carousel tray includes a plurality of removable dividers defining said tray compartments.

20. The medication dispenser station of claim 18 wherein at least one of said drawers includes a partition grid separating the interior of said drawer into a plurality of compartments.

21. The medication dispenser station of claim 18 wherein at least one of said drawers has a plurality of open bins supported therein.

22. The medication dispenser station of claim 21 wherein one of said bins includes a one-way cap to permit return of unused pharmaceutical items into said one bin.

23. The medication dispenser of claim 18 wherein said control unit further includes means for generating an access record in response to entry of said access data.

24. The medication dispenser station of claim 23 wherein said access data includes selected information representing said access record.

25. A method of storing and dispensing pharmaceutical items, comprising the steps of:

stocking a plurality of pharmaceutical items in a presorted array into a plurality of drawers adapted for opening and closing movement with respect to a dispenser station housing;

entering predetermined access data into a control unit associated with the dispenser station housing to specify a desired pharmaceutical item stocked within one of the drawers;

normally maintaining the drawers in closed and locked positions to prevent access tot he contents thereof;

unlocking said one drawer in response to said entering step by automatic operation of the control unit, while maintaining the remaining drawers in a locked condition, to permit opening of said one drawer and access to the desired pharmaceutical item therein, while preventing access to the pharmaceutical items in said remaining drawers, at least one of said drawers including a carousel tray with a plurality of tray compartments, the tray being mounted for rotation within said one drawer for rotation beneath an overlying cover plate having an access opening therein, and further including the steps of rotating the tray to align a selected one of the compartments with the cover plate access opening, and locking the tray against further rotation when the drawer is opened; and

generating an access record.