Medical safety box

• US 8,544,646 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (Government of Saudi Arabia)
• Original Assignee: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (Government of Saudi Arabia)
• Inventors: Bouhraoua, Abdelhafid, Ndiaye, Malick, Farouk, Merah, Dehwah, Ahmad Hamoud Ahmad, Almourad, Saad Addin
• Primary Examiner(s): BURGESS, JOSEPH D
• Application Number:
  US13/154,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20120305428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• Field of Search: 206/438, 235/385, 340/572.1, 705 2- 3
• US Class Current: 206/438
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2203/10 Transponders
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 43/167 these elements being assembled by a separate pin-like member
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 55/14 Applications of locks, e.g. of permutation or key-controlled locks
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers

Abstract

The medical safety box is a system using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to ensure that correct delivery of the correct treatment in the form of medication or injection to in-hospital patients is consistently carried out. The system includes a medical box containing whatever medication or injection that needs to be administered to a specific patient. The box has a locking mechanism that can only be opened by an RFID wristband, which is worn by that same specific patient, thus assuring that the medicine in the box is administered to the correct patient.

Claims

1. A medical safety box, comprising:

a container having an open top and a bottom, the container being adapted for containing medication to be administered to a specific patient;

a lid pivotally attached to the container;

a plurality of combined power-signal metal strip connectors disposed on the top of the lid;

a plurality of combined power-signal metal ball bearing connectors disposed on the bottom of the container, the combined power-signal metal ball bearing connectors being connected in a common circuit with the plurality of combined power-signal metal strip connectors;

an information display disposed on the top of the lid comprising means for graphically displaying a hierarchical tree structure on said information display, the hierarchical tree structure identifying information related to each of a plurality of medical safety boxes stacked on top of each other, where a displayed root of the hierarchical tree identifies a top box and different nodes of the hierarchical tree displayed below the root identify boxes below the top box;

an electronically controlled lock releasably locking the lid closed over the open top of the container to selectively preclude access to the medication;

an RFID tag reader electronically connected to the electronically controlled lock;

means for programming the RFID tag reader to accept a unique RFID tag identifier number; and

means for sending an electronic signal to open the electronically controlled lock when the RFID tag reader has read the unique RFID tag identifier number from an RFID tag attached to a patient, thereby identifying the patient as being the specific patient associated with the medication to be administered.

2. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying data about the specific patient on said information display.

3. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying data about the medications to be administered on said information display.

4. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying an error message on said information display when said unique RFID identifier number does not match an RFID identifier number read in from the patient.

5. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for programming said medical safety box using an Enterprise Resource Planning system in a hospital setting.

6. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for electrically charging an on-board power source utilizing said combined power-signal strip and ball bearing connectors.

7. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising a computer interface connector disposed on said medical safety box.

8. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising a charging cart for carrying and charging a plurality of the medical safety boxes, the charging cart including an information panel for displaying patient information and status of the medical safety boxes.

9. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for authenticating a person administering the medication to be administered to the specific patient.

10. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising a built-in calendar clock accessible via said information display.

11. The medical safety box according to claim 1, further comprising means for building said hierarchical tree structure every time access to any of the medical safety boxes is needed.