Automated pharmaceutical management and dispensing system

• US 6,219,587 B1
• Filed: 05/27/1998
• Issued: 04/17/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Omnicell Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nextrx Corporation
• Inventors: Wilson, John R., Smith, Michael F., Wilson, Ronald H., Ahlin, Arnold C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hartman, Jr., Ronald D
• Application Number:
  US09/085,968
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: 700/213, 700/231, 700/237, 700/215, 700/214, 700/233, 706/10, 221/2, 221/10
• US Class Current: 700/233
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/62 in which the articles are stored in compartments in fixed receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/069 by box-like containers, e.g. videocassettes, books
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/02 Devices for alarm or indication, e.g. when empty; Advertising arrangements in coin-freed apparatus alarms or warning devices indicating the interruption of flow to be metered G07F15/10
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

The system for automatically dispensing medications or other medical elements includes several groupings, i.e. vaults, of storage members, each vault containing approximately 100 individual cartridges, which each contain packages of unit-of-use doses of a given medication or other medical supply, such as syringes. Each storage member includes an ejector which ejects selected medications/supplies to a supply trough. The packages in the trough are moved to a central collator, which dispenses them to a bin receptacle which has been moved underneath the collator and which is typically identified with a particular patient. Information concerning medications/supplies for a particular patient is stored in a system database and used to determine the particular medications/supplies dispensed into a given bin. Bar coding is used to maintain control over the bins, and the medications, forming a closed information/control system. Particular medications and/or supplies which are not available in the automatic dispensing system are supplied from a supplemental medications cart which has been previously stocked with the correct additional medications by virtue of information from a control computer. The filled bins are transferred to a medication cart which can only be accessed as a result of a command signal after a particular patient and his/her associated bin have been matched. A nurse, having access to the correct bin and sector thereof, removes the medications from the cart and administers them to the patient.

Claims

1. An apparatus for automatically dispensing medical elements to an individual bin receptacle, the bin receptacle having at least one individual sector, comprising:

at least one vault storage assembly comprising a plurality of storage members for medical elements, each storage member holding a plurality of overjacket packages containing medical elements, each overjacket package having an indicia associated therewith indicating the medical element contained therein, the overjacket package having a size and configuration corresponding to a unit dose of medication and suitable for use in a bin receptacle;

an ejection member for ejecting the overjacket packages of medical elements from their associated storage member, in response to a signal command;

an assembly for moving a bin receptacle into a medical element receiving position;

a collecting and transferring assembly which receives the ejected overjacket packages of medical elements and transfers them into the bin receptacle; and

a controller, providing signal commands, for controlling operation of the apparatus.

2. An apparatus of claim 1, including a collator assembly for receiving ejected overjacketed medical elements and means for releasing the overjacketed medical elements in the collator assembly into the bin receptacle.

3. An apparatus of claim 2, wherein said controller includes a computer controller for automatically controlling the sequential operation of the vault storage assembly, the ejection member, the collection and transferring assembly, the collator assembly and the assembly for moving the bin into position.

4. An apparatus of claim 3, including a plurality of sensors to ensure proper operation of the ejection member, the collator assembly and the assembly for moving the bin into the medical element receiving position.

5. An apparatus of claim 3, wherein the apparatus includes an interface between the automatic controlling means and a source of information concerning selected medical elements which are to be dispensed into a particular bin receptacle, so as to maintain accurate monitoring of medical elements throughout a healthcare facility.

6. An apparatus of claim 3, including a supplemental medical element station located apart from the collator assembly from which medical elements not present in the vault storage assemblies can be loaded into the bin receptacle.

7. An apparatus of claim 6, wherein the supplemental medical element station is located downstream of the collator assembly and wherein the assembly for moving the bin receptacle out of the apparatus includes an assembly for moving the bin from the collator assembly to the supplemental medication station, wherein the supplemental medical element station is a cart which includes a plurality of separate container members, each container member including a visual indicator which is activated when medical elements present therein are to be dispensed into a bin receptacle approaching the supplemental medication cart.

8. An apparatus of claim 2, wherein the bin receptacle has more than one sector, and wherein the collator assembly includes means for receiving said medical elements from the vault assembly in such a manner that said medical elements are released into selected sectors of the bin receptacle.

9. An apparatus of claim 2, wherein the assembly for moving a bin receptacle into a selected position relative to the collator assembly includes an infeed conveyor, the infeed conveyor including a receiver for a stacked plurality of empty bin receptacles, an infeed elevator for removing one bin receptacle from the stacked plurality thereof, and an infeed shuttle for moving said one bin receptacle to the collator assembly, and wherein the assembly for moving the bin receptacle away from the collator assembly includes an outfeed shuttle for moving a filled bin receptacle from the collator assembly to an outfeed elevator, an outfeed elevator for forming a plurality of successively filled bin receptacles into a stacked plurality thereof which comprises the same plurality of bin receptacles in said stacked plurality at the infeed elevator, and an outfeed conveyor for advancing the stacked plurality of bin receptacles away from the outfeed elevator, wherein the infeed shuttle includes at least one track which mates with a matching groove in a bottom surface of the bin receptacle and further includes a carrier, including a bin connect element which connects the carrier to the bin receptacle, the infeed shuttle further including a bin release member, in the vicinity of the collator assembly, which acts upon the bin connect element to release the bin connect element from the bin receptacle when the bin receptacle reaches the vicinity of the collator assembly.

10. An apparatus of claim 9, wherein the outfeed shuttle includes an outfeed connect element which connects with a filled bin receptacle in the vicinity of the collator assembly and further includes an assembly for moving the bin to the outfeed elevator, the outfeed shuttle including a release member in the vicinity of the outfeed elevator which acts on the outfeed connect element as the bin approaches the outfeed elevator, releasing the connect element from the bin.

11. An apparatus of claim 9, including a plurality of cassette assemblies, each of which includes a stacked plurality of bin receptacles, the cassette assemblies including a bin mounting pole upon which a plurality of bin receptacles are mounted and a support member for the bin mounting pole, wherein the infeed conveyor is configured to accept and move successive cassette assemblies to the infeed elevator, wherein the outfeed conveyor is configured to accept and move successive cassette assemblies away from the outfeed elevator, wherein the infeed elevator includes infeed sensors to ensure that only one bin receptacle is released at a time from the stacked plurality of bin receptacles and the infeed elevator and wherein the outfeed elevator includes outfeed sensors to ensure that each bin reaching the outfeed elevator is accumulated into a stacked plurality of bin receptacles.

12. An apparatus of claim 2, wherein each plurality of storage members includes successive rows of upright cartridge assemblies, each cartridge assembly having stored therein a plurality of packages containing a medical element, each cartridge assembly including an opening at the bottom thereof to permit ejection of individual packages therefrom, the storage members including a pusher which moves between a first position and a second position, wherein movement of the pusher from the first position to the second position results in a single package being ejected from its cartridge assembly, wherein the pusher is controlled by an air pressure assembly, the pusher being maintained in a first, forward position by a first value of air pressure, continuously applied, and wherein the pusher is moved into its second, rearmost position by a second value of air pressure independent of, substantially greater than and applied in an opposing direction to that of the first value of air pressure, wherein termination of the application of the second value of air pressure results in the pusher moving back to its first, rearmost position.

13. An apparatus of claim 12, including first ejector light sensors which extend in front of each row of cartridge assemblies, so that an ejection of a package from any cartridge assembly in a row is sensed, the first ejector light sensors also sensing whether or not the actuated pusher directly in front of said cartridge has moved to its rearmost position during actuation thereof.

14. An apparatus of claim 12, including a package trough located beneath each plurality of storage members, to receive ejected packages from the cartridge assemblies, and a plough element positioned therein, wherein the ejected packages in the trough are moved by the plough element into the collator assembly, in response to a signal command.

15. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the medical elements are medications.

16. An apparatus of claim 15, wherein the bin receptacle has at least five sectors and is drug-specific.

17. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the medical elements include non-medication medical supplies.

18. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bin receptacle is patient-specific, for receiving medications for a specific patient.

19. An apparatus of claim 18, wherein the patient-specific bins include three separate sectors, a first sector containing medications for a next regular dosage time, a second sector containing medications for a later non-regular dosage time, and a third sector containing medications to be administered to the patient as needed.

20. An apparatus of claim 1, including a plurality of vault storage assemblies located around the central collator, wherein each vault storage assembly includes a plurality of individual storage members, each of which contains a plurality of identical overjacketed packages containing medical elements.

21. A method for dispensing medical elements for a patient into an individual bin receptacle and delivery of said bin receptacle to the patient, for use of the medical elements, wherein the patient has a unique identifying indicia, comprising the steps of:

receiving selected medical element information for a patient;

transferring said medical element information to a medical elements-dispensing apparatus;

maintaining a selected number of different medical elements in the medical elements-dispensing apparatus, wherein the medical elements have an indicia associated therewith;

moving a bin having at least one sector therein into the vicinity of the medical elements-dispensing apparatus such that medical elements can be dispensed thereinto, wherein each bin is associated with a patient;

automatically obtaining selected medical elements from storage members therefore in the apparatus and moving them into the bin;

moving the bin containing the medical elements to the vicinity of the patient associated with the bin; and

correlating the selected medical elements in the bin with the patient indicia to ensure a match prior to the patient receiving the medical elements.

22. A method of claim 21, including the step of confirming the accuracy of the medical element information before providing the patient with the medical elements in the bin.

23. A method of claim 21, wherein the medical elements are medications.

24. A method of claim 21, wherein the method is carried out in a hospital and wherein individual bins for all patients in the hospital are filled and delivered to the patients before each pre-selected dosage time.

25. A method of claim 21, wherein the step of moving a particular bin into the medical element-dispensing apparatus is initiated prior to the time that a previous bin has been moved away from the medical element-dispensing apparatus.

26. A system for automatically controlling the use of medical elements in a healthcare facility, comprising:

means for storing information concerning prescribed medical elements, including medications, for a plurality of patients at a healthcare facility;

at least one vault storage assembly comprising a plurality of storage members for medical elements, each storage member holding a plurality of overjacket packages containing medical elements, wherein the overjacket packages have associated therewith an indicia indicating the medical element contained therein;

an assembly for moving an individual bin receptacle for holding medical elements, the bin receptacle associated with one particular patient, to the vicinity of a medical element dispensing apparatus, said medical element dispensing apparatus including a dispensing assembly for dispensing prescribed medical elements into the bin receptacle in accordance with information from the information storing means;

a delivery system to move said bin receptacle with the dispensed medical elements therein to the vicinity of the patient;

a processor for correlating the identification indicia associated with the patient and identification indicia associated with the overjacket packages to ensure a match prior to the patient receiving the medical elements; and

a controller for automatically controlling the operation of the vault storage assembly and the bin receptacle moving assembly in accordance with a control program and information in the information storing means.

27. A system of claim 26, wherein the correlating means includes means for correlating identification indicia on the medical elements prior to the patient receiving the medical elements.

28. A system of claim 26, wherein identification of and control of the bin receptacle and the medical elements loaded therein includes use of bar codes on the medications and the patient associated therewith.

29. A system of claim 26, including a supplemental medical element station located apart from the medical element-dispensing apparatus, said station from which medical elements not present in the medical element-dispensing apparatus can be loaded into the bin receptacle.

30. A system for supplying medical elements in a bin receptacle to a patient, comprising:

a pharmacy computer into which prescription data for the patient is entered;

a medical element dispensing apparatus, including;

a plurality of overjacket package dispensers, each of which holds a plurality of overjacket packages that are adapted and arranged to contain only a single unit dose medical element;

an ejector associated with each of the overjacket package dispensers that operates under computer control to dispense one or more overjacket packages;

a computer system coupled to the pharmacy computer to receive the prescription data for the patient and to control the ejectors such that one or more overjacket packages fulfilling a patient'"'"'s prescription are dispensed; and

a gathering mechanism to collect the overjacket packages dispensed and transfer the overjacket packages into a bin receptacle associated with the patient.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the gathering mechanism includes a trough disposed beneath the plurality of overjacket package dispensers and a plough that moves within the trough to push the dispensed overjacket packages to the bin receptacle.

32. The system of claim 30, further including a cassette that holds a plurality of bin receptacles and a transport mechanism that removes a bin receptacle from the cassette and positions the removed bin receptacle to receive the dispensed overjacket packages.

33. The system of claim 30, further including a cart adapted to receive two or more cassettes of bin receptacles, wherein the cart includes a plurality of doors that are selectively opened to allow access to the overjacketed packages in a bin receptacle that is positioned behind the door.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein each overjacket package, bin receptacle and patient are marked with a code and wherein the cart includes a scanner capable of communication with the pharmacy computer, the scanner operating to read the codes on the bin receptacle, the overjacket packages in the patient'"'"'s bin receptacle, and the code on the patient, and transmitting the codes to the pharmacy computer to confirm the patient'"'"'s prescription prior to administration of the medical elements in the patient'"'"'s bin receptacle to the patient.