Portable prescription order distribution cart and tracking system

• US 8,224,664 B1
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GSL Solutions, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: GSL Solutions, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: Louie, Shelton, Garrett, Stephen A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Koppikar, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raj, Rajiv
• Application Number:
  US10/928,758
• Time in Patent Office: 2,882 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 12/001 Trolleys for transport of medicaments, food, linen, nursing supplies carts specially adapted for surgery or diagnosis A61B50/13; hand carts B62B3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/70 in which the articles are formed in the apparatus from components, blanks, or material constituents
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/009 User recognition or proximity detection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A portable cart and related system for operating the cart to automatically detect and track a prescription orders through distribution, particularly within a health-care facility is disclosed. A unique wireless tag is operably secured to each prescription order, and tag readers, which are in communication with a computer system, are positioned near the cart and, if needed, throughout the facility, to detect the presence of a tag within a defined physical area. Preferably, unique tags are also operably secured to each worker and patient. The system this detected information to track the prescription order and preferably verify the proper distribution of the prescription order to the correct patient. More preferably, the system also records, or charts, the distribution event.

Claims

1. A prescription order tracking system for tracking a prescription order through distribution, said prescription order tracking system including:

a computer readable and wireless first tag operably secured to the prescription order;

a tag reader in communication with a computer system, said tag reader having a defined area near said tag reader wherein said computer system detects the presence of said first tag within said defined area;

a storage area having a plurality of spaced apart cubbies therein, each said cubby of said plurality of spaced apart cubbies having a unique visual identifier; and

,

said tag reader positioned adjacent to one cubby of said plurality of spaced apart cubbies such that said defined area is within said one cubby;

wherein said computer system determines the location of said prescription order by automatically detecting the presence of said first tag within said one cubby and correlating said visual identifier with said prescription order, said automatically detecting the presence of said first tag performed by or under control of the computer system.

2. The prescription order tracking system of claim 1, further including a plurality of tag readers in communication with the computer system, each tag reader of said plurality of tag readers having a unique defined area positioned so as to be substantially limited to an area within a unique cubby of the plurality of cubbies;

and,

wherein said computer system determines which unique cubby of the plurality of cubbies in which a prescription order is placed by automatically detecting the presence of said first tag within one of said plurality of cubbies and correlating the visual identifier associated with said unique cubby in which said first tag is placed.

3. The prescription order tracking system of claim 1, wherein:

said computer system includes a database identifying a patient associated with the prescription order; and

,

said computer system detects the removal of said prescription order from said one cubby, correlates the identity of the patient with the prescription order, and verifies that the prescription order has been distributed to the patient thereby defining a distribution event.

4. The prescription order tracking system of claim 1, wherein said system is used in a health care facility having a patient therein, said prescription order is for said patient, and said computer system correlates the prescription order with the identity of the patient;

wherein said storage area is a movable cart, and said system further includes;

a second tag reader operably secured to said portable cart defining a scanning area around the cart; and

,

a computer readable and wireless second tag operably secured to said patient within the healthcare facility, said second tag in communication with said computer system and having a unique identifier associated with the identity of the patient;

such that when the cart is placed near the patient and the prescription order is dispensed from the cart to the patient within said scanning area, the second tag reader detects the first tag operably secured to the prescription order and the second tag secured to the patient and verifies that the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order is the same as the identity of the patient associated with the detected tag.

5. The prescription order tracking system of claim 4, further including a transducer operably secured to the cart and in communication with the computer system for alerting a worker if the identity of the patient associated with the detected second tag is different from the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order.

6. The prescription order tracking system of claim 4, further including a transducer operably secured to the second tag and in communication with the computer system for alerting a worker if the identity of the patient associated with the detected second tag is different from the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order.

7. The prescription order tracking system of claim 4, further including a transducer operably secured to the first tag and in communication with the computer system for alerting a worker if the identity of the patient associated with the detected second tag is different from the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order.

8. The prescription order tracking system of claim 4, further including a computer readable and wireless third tag, said third tag in communication with the computer system and operably secured to the worker dispensing the prescription order from the portable cart and having a unique identifier associated with the identity of the worker;

wherein;

said second tag reader detects the presence of said third tag within the scanning area when said prescription order is dispensed, and records the identity of the worker who dispensed the prescription order to the patient.

9. The prescription order tracking system of claim 1, wherein said system is used in a health care facility having a patient therein, said prescription order is for said patient, and said computer system correlates the prescription order with the identity of the patient;

said system further including;

a second tag reader operably secured within the healthcare facility substantially near the defined area defining a scanning area around the patient;

said computer system correlating said second tag reader with the identity of the patient;

such that when the prescription order is dispensed from the cart to the patient, the second tag reader detects the tag operably secured to the prescription order and verifies that the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order is the same as the identity of the patient associated with the second reader.

10. The prescription order of claim 9, further including:

a computer readable and wireless second tag operably secured to the patient, said second tag in communication with the computer system and associated with the identity of the patient; and

,

the second tag reader detects the first tag secured to the prescription order and the second tag secured to the patent and verifies that the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order is the same as the identity of the patient associated with the detected tag.

17. The portable prescription order tracking system for tracking a prescription order through distribution of claim 1, further including:

a locking structure for securing said prescription order therein, said locking structure in communication with the computer system;

said computer system releasing said locking structure in response to predetermined criteria.

18. The prescription order tracking system for tracking a prescription order through distribution of claim 1, wherein said storage area is a moveable cart.

19. The prescription order tracking system for tracking a prescription order through distribution of claim 1, wherein said storage area is operably secured to a frame having at least one wheel for rolling said frame on a floor, thereby making the storage area portable.

20. The prescription order tracking system of claim 1, wherein:

said computer system includes a memory for storing data related to the prescription order'"'"'s placement relative to said one cubby, said data selected from the group consisting of the identity of the prescription order, the time the prescription order was placed in said one cubby, the date the prescription order was placed in said one cubby, the time the prescription order was removed from said one cubby, and the date the prescription order was removed from said one cubby.

21. The prescription order tracking system of claim 20, wherein, said computer system includes an interface for detecting the identity of the worker removing the prescription order from said one cubby and said data related to the prescription order'"'"'s placement relative to the unique cubby includes the identity of the worker removing the prescription order from said one cubby.

22. The prescription order tracking system of claim 21, wherein said interface is a wireless computer readable employee identification tag in communication with the computer system and operably secured to the worker.

23. The prescription order tracking system for tracking a prescription order through distribution of claim 4, wherein the computer system has memory, and data of the distribution event is recorded on said memory, said data of the distribution event is selected from the group consisting of the identity of the worker, the identity of the patient, the prescription order dispensed to said patient, the time the prescription order was dispensed to said patient, the date the prescription order was dispensed to said patient, and the location within the healthcare facility where the prescription order was dispensed.

11. A method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within a healthcare facility, said method comprising the steps of:

tagging the prescription order with a wireless tag readable by a tag reader in communication with a computer system;

positioning the tag reader within the healthcare facility;

said tag reader having a defined area in which the presence of the wireless tag within that region is detectable by the computer system and thereby able to correlate the location of the prescription order within the health care facility;

moving the prescription order with the wireless tag within the healthcare facility;

tracking the location of the prescription order within the health care facility by the computer system automatically detecting the tag within the defined area of the tag reader.

12. The method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within a healthcare facility of claim 11, further comprising the steps of positioning a plurality of tag readers, each spaced apart from the other, throughout the healthcare facility, each tag reader having a unique scanning zone in a separate defined area of the healthcare facility;

tracking the filled prescription order throughout the healthcare facility by detecting the presence of the tag within one of the separate defined areas of the plurality of tag readers; and

,

the computer system determining the location of the prescription order by correlating the location of the tag reader that detects the presence of the tag with the location of that tag reader.

13. The method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within a healthcare facility of claim 11, wherein said positioning a tag reader within the healthcare facility step includes operably securing the tag reader to a cart and placing the prescription order within the cart, thereby allowing the tag reader to move with the cart.

14. The method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within the healthcare facility of claim 11, further including the step of:

the computer system correlating the prescription order with the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order;

at the time the prescription order is distributed to the patient, the computer system independently detecting the identity of the patent within the healthcare facility; and

,

the computer system correlating the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order with the detected identity of the patent; and

,

signaling a worker if the detected identity of the patient is different from the identity of the patient associated with the prescription order.

15. The method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within the healthcare facility of claim 11, wherein the step of the computer system independently detecting the identity of the patent within the healthcare facility includes operably securing a wireless tag to the patient, said wireless tag having a unique identifier associated with the identity of the patient, and readable by the tag reader.

16. The method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within the healthcare facility of claim 14, further including the step of:

the computer system automatically recording a distribution event for future retrieval.

24. The method for tracking a prescription order through distribution to a patient within the healthcare facility of claim 16, wherein the distribution event includes data selected from the group consisting of the identity of the worker, the identity of the patient, the prescription order dispensed to said patient, the time the prescription order was dispensed to said patient, the date the prescription order was dispensed to said patient, and the location within the healthcare facility where the prescription order was dispensed.