System of drug distribution to health care providers
First Claim
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1. A system for drug distribution to health care providers, said system comprising:
- a first drug inventory management software program for a drug distribution center;
a second drug inventory management software program for a health care provider facility computer;
a third drug inventory management software program for a nursing station, said third software program in association with a drug dispensing machine;
a low unit measure dose packaging including contents of a particular variety of drug, said packaging including at least one bar code whereby the information gathered from scanning said bar code is entered into said first and said second software programs; and
a first communication link between said first software program and said second software program and a second communication link between said second software program and said third software program, said first and second communication links adapted to enable drug inventory information at said nursing station within said health care provider to be shared with said drug distribution center to enable said drug distribution center to have knowledge of drug quantity and variety needs at said health care provider.
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Abstract
A system and method are described in which a drug distribution center operates a computer software drug inventory management program in electronic communication with a health care provider computer software program for drug distribution to patients. The system and method preferably incorporate low unit dose measure drug packaging including bar codes. The bar codes may be scanned into either software program for automatically tracking such information as drug lot numbers and expiration dates.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for drug distribution to health care providers, said system comprising:
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a first drug inventory management software program for a drug distribution center; a second drug inventory management software program for a health care provider facility computer; a third drug inventory management software program for a nursing station, said third software program in association with a drug dispensing machine; a low unit measure dose packaging including contents of a particular variety of drug, said packaging including at least one bar code whereby the information gathered from scanning said bar code is entered into said first and said second software programs; and a first communication link between said first software program and said second software program and a second communication link between said second software program and said third software program, said first and second communication links adapted to enable drug inventory information at said nursing station within said health care provider to be shared with said drug distribution center to enable said drug distribution center to have knowledge of drug quantity and variety needs at said health care provider. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for drug distribution to health care providers, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a first drug inventory management software program to be operated for a drug distribution center; providing a second drug inventory management software program to be operated at a health care provider; providing a third drug inventory management software program to be operated in association with a drug dispensing machine at said health care provider; providing a low unit measure dose packaging including contents of a particular variety of drug, said packaging including a bar code indicating information about said contents; scanning said bar code to thereby cause data from said bar code to enter at least one of said first program or said second program or said third program; and providing a first communication link between said first software program and said second software program and a second communication link between said second software program and said third software program, said first and second communication links to enable drug inventory information at said drug dispensing machine within said health care provider to be shared with said drug distribution center to enable said drug distribution center to have knowledge of drug quantity and variety needs at said health care provider. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification