Hospital drug distribution system

• US 20020198624A1
• Filed: 06/22/2001
• Published: 12/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Greenwald Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Shlomo Greenwald, Zipora Greenwald
• Inventors: Greenwald, Shlomo, Greenwald, Zipora
• Granted Patent: US 6,597,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/231
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

A hospital drug distribution system for efficiently distributing solid medicinal units to hundreds of patients comprises subsystems for placing trays on a conveyor, placing cups thereon, labeling the cups, conveying the cups under drug tubes, sealing the cups, unloading the trays, and coordinating the overall activities of the system. Medicinal units are stored in long, thin vertical tubes positioned side-by-side, and are dispensed by valves disposed at the bottom of each tube. The rows of tubes are suspended over a conveying means transporting individual medication cups. The cups are arranged on trays on the conveying means in single file. The computer-controlled conveying means proceeds in a step-and-stop fashion, such that each cup stops briefly beneath each drug tube. When a cup completes its journey beneath the drug tubes, it contains the drugs needed by the patient to which it is assigned. Barcode readers at each valve scan the approaching cup to determine if drugs from the attached tube should be dispensed into it. The system is modular, as additional modules including multiple tubes can be added or removed as needed. When a tube becomes empty, it is discarded or sent to a drug refilling center for restocking. The hospital orders from the refilling center all needed tubes daily, preferably automatically over a computer network by a computer that tracks drug inventory levels. Replacement tubes are delivered overnight or within hours, depending upon the need. The system preferably operates in manual mode for special one-time orders.

Claims

1. A drug dispensing system comprising:

a) a conveyor having a path along which containers are moved;

b) at least one container for drugs having a machine-readable indicia bearing information related to the drugs to be dispensed, the container being mountable upon the conveyor for movement along the path;

c) a plurality of drug dispensing devices disposed above the path,

d) at least one detection device mounted adjacent to the path such that the detection devices can read the indicia on the containers;

e) a control computer operatively coupled to the conveyor, drug dispensing devices and detection devices.

2. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, in which the indicia comprise an identifier of a patient to which the container is assigned.

3. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, in which the indicia comprise an identifier of at least one drug to be dispensed into the container.

4. The drug-dispensing system of claim 3, in which the indicia further comprise an indication of the quantity of the at least one drug to be dispensed into the container.

5. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, in which there are a plurality of detection devices, each being coupled to at least one dispensing device, so that as the container is moved by the conveyor along the path, the indicia is read by each of the detection devices as the container moves adjacent to the detection devices;

and if the information in the indicia is such that a drug in a dispensing device associated with the detection device is to be dispensed into the container, the drug dispensing device is operated to dispense a quantity of the drug into the container.

6. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, further comprising a container-removing station, such that a container is removed from the conveyor when the container reaches a selected location on the path.

7. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, further comprising a container-preparation station, such that a container is placed on the conveying means in single file.

8. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, further comprising a station for application of the indicia upon the containers.

9. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1 wherein the conveyor is an index-driven chain.

10. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1 wherein the path is substantially ‘

U’

shaped.

11. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1 further comprising at least one tray, capable of mounting to the conveyor, the tray being capable of holding a plurality of containers.

12. The drug-dispensing system of claim 11, further comprising a container-preparation device which places trays on the conveyor, places containers onto the trays, and affixes labels to the containers.

13. The drug-dispensing system of claim 11 wherein the plurality of trays is held to the conveyor by a connector located substantially at a center of a bottom surface of the tray.

14. The drug-dispensing system of claim 1, in which each of the drug dispensing devices comprises:

a tube for storing internally a plurality of solid units of a drug,

a dispensing valve, connected to the tube, for dispensing one or more of the solid units into a container on the path.

15. The drug-dispensing system of claim 14, in which the drug dispensing devices further comprise machine-readable indicia identifying a drug stored inside the tube.

16. The drug-dispensing system of claim 14 in which each drug dispensing device further comprises an empty-tube indicator which is activated when the drug tube runs out of units, and the dispensing valve ceases being activated until the empty tube is replaced with a tube containing units.

17. The drug-dispensing system of claim 16 wherein the empty-tube indicator is a light.

18. The drug-dispensing system of claim 14 wherein each drug dispensing device further comprises a special indicator and a manual-mode dispensing member and

the special indicator is activated in response to a special order for a drug contained in the tube;

the drug device with an activated special indicator responds to actuation of the manual-mode dispensing member, by dispensing the quantity of the drug stored in its tube required by the special order; and

the special indicator ceases being activated after the drug-dispensing device dispenses drugs in response to actuation of its manual-mode dispensing member.

19. The drug-dispensing system of claim 18 wherein the special indicator is a light.

20. The drug-dispensing system of claim 18 wherein the manual-mode dispensing member is a switch.

21. The drug-dispensing system of claim 14 in which each drug dispensing device comprises two tubes in adjacent positions, the two tubes comprising a first tube and a second tube, wherein the dispensing device dispenses medications from the first tube, and when first tube cannot dispense a needed medication, the dispensing device dispenses medications from the second tube.

22. The drug-dispensing system of claim 21 wherein each of the two tubes is operatively connected to a separate valve, and the drug dispensing device further comprises control electronics operatively connected to the separate valves of the two tubes.

23. The drug-dispensing system of claim 14, further comprising a storage system for additional tubes containing a backup store of drugs, comprising an enclosed powered storage rack for tubes, having an extraction door, such that access to the tubes is only through the extraction door, the tubes being movable along a path to a position adjacent to the extraction door.

24. The drug-dispensing system of claim 23, in which the path is a continuous loop.

25. The drug-dispensing system of claim 23, in which the tubes have machine-readable indicia identifying a drug stored inside the tube, and the storage system further comprises a reader for the machine-readable indicia on the tube.

26. The drug-dispensing system of claim 25, further comprising a control coupled to the powered rack, the extraction door and the reader, such that when a desired drug is requested through the control a tube is moved adjacent to the extraction door, and the extraction door may not be opened until the machine-readable indicia on the tube is read by the reader and the control confirms that the drug identified by the machine-readable indicia matches the desired drug.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of:

f) distributing the container to a location from which a patient to which the container is assigned can obtain the drugs inside the container.

29. The method of claim 27, in which each of the drug dispensing devices comprises:

a tube for storing internally a plurality of solid units of a drug,

a dispensing valve, connected to the tube, for dispensing one or more of the solid units into a container on the path.

30. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

maintaining an inventory of the drugs in the plurality of drug dispensing devices; and

when a drug dispensing device becomes empty of drugs, notifying of a need to reorder drugs.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the step of notifying comprises printing a reorder notice.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the step of notifying comprises transmitting an order to a drug refilling center.

33. The method of claim 32, in which each of the drug dispensing devices comprises a tube for storing internally a plurality of solid units of a drug and a dispensing valve, connected to the tube, for dispensing one or more of the solid units into a container on the path;

and the method further comprises, when the drug refilling center receives the order,

shipping a tube containing the drug from the drug refilling center.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein there are a plurality of detection devices, each associated with a drug dispensing device, and the step of dispensing the drug is initiated by reading the indicia by the detection device associated with the drug dispensing device.

35. The method of claim 27, in which the drug dispensing system further comprises a central processor coupled to the at least one detection device and to the conveyor, and the method further includes the step of entering into the central processor at least one instruction to dispense a drug into a container, the central processor controlling the conveyor and the drug dispensing devices to dispense the drug in accordance with the instruction, and the method further includes the step of comparing the drug indicated in the indicia read by the detection device to the drug entered by the instruction to confirm that a correct drug will be dispensed into the container.

36. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step, after the drugs have been dispensed into a container, of placing a seal on the container.

27. A method for dispensing drugs to one or more patients comprising the steps of:

a) providing a drug-dispensing system comprising;

i) a conveyor having a path along which containers are moved;

ii) at least one container for drugs, the container being mountable upon the conveyor for movement along the path;

iii) a plurality of drug dispensing devices disposed above the path,

iv) at least one detection device mounted adjacent to the path such that the detection devices can read the indicia on the containers;

b) placing the containers on the conveyor, each container being assigned to a patient by affixing to the container at least machine-readable indicia comprising information related to the patient'"'"'s identity and of at least one drug and a quantity for such drug needed by the patient;

c) reading the machine-readable indicia on at least one container by a detection device;

d) when the container is adjacent to a drug dispensing device having a drug related to the indicia read by the detection device in step c, dispensing the needed quantity of the drug from the drug dispensing device into the container;

e) after the container has passed underneath all drug dispensing devices containing drugs included in the machine-readable indicia on the container, removing such container from the conveyor.