DATA TRANSMISSION CAPTURE IN SUPPORT OF MEDICATION PREPARATION

• US 20070043767A1
• Filed: 08/22/2006
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baxter Corporation Englewood (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Forhealth Technologies Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Osborne, Joel, Tribble, Dennis, Valentine, Matthew, Khan, Abdul, Olaen, Greg, Rasmussen, Randall
• Granted Patent: US 9,053,218 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1734 Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and software interface enables selective processing of data transmissions containing one or more medication orders intended for a pharmacy. Data transmissions are monitored and parsed for prescribed information which is utilized to populate a prescribed data structure. The data structure and parsing rules can be associated with a specific source that can be determined from the data transmission. The parsed data is tested against an order database to determine suitability for automated handling. If suitable, the medication preparation system prepares the medications identified by the data. Those portions of the data that are not suited for automated handling are released (e.g., from the parser). Further verification can be performed by determining the source of the data transmission and verifying it as a valid source. Data transmissions can be monitored over a network, within a network component, or in cooperation with another software program.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for selectively processing data transmissions containing one or more medication data intended for a pharmacy, comprising the steps of:

(A) monitoring a data transmission of an order entry system, the data transmission having an identifiable source;

(B) parsing the data transmission for prescribed information in accordance with a set of configuration rules associated with the source;

(C) populating a data structure with data parsed from the data transmission in accordance with the set of configuration rules.

(D) testing the parsed data stream against an order database to determine suitability of the medication data therein for automated handling by a medication preparation system associated with the pharmacy;

(E) using the medication preparation system, preparing one or more medications corresponding to the one or more medication data determined to be suitable; and

(F) releasing only those portions of the data transmission that are not suitable, the released data transmission being recorded for manual handling.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the source of the data transmission.

3. The method of claim 2, including the step of verifying the source of the data transmission is one of a plurality of valid sources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the populating, parsing, testing, using and releasing steps are performed in response to a positive verification of the source of the data transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring step includes sniffing data transmissions over a network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring step includes monitoring transmissions at a network port.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring step includes examining email messages sent to one or more addresses.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring step includes monitoring a network directory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring step is performed by a dedicated messaging software program.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of logging the data transmission and logging an indication associated with the data transmission of whether the data transmission was released or not released.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of testing includes examining any parsing errors to determine suitability for automated handling.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data transmission identifies a particular listener software module (“

LSM”

) and wherein the source is the particular LSM and wherein the step of populating the data structure with data parsed from the data transmission is in accordance with the set of configuration rules for the particular LSM.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the parsing step further comprises testing the data transmission for one or more delimiters.

14. The method of claim 10, including the additional step of associating metadata with the data transmission, wherein the metadata includes a marker indicative of whether a given record has been parsed.

15. The method of claim 10, including the additional step of querying the database to identify a subset of records marked as not having been parsed.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the parsing step includes the steps of:

(A) retrieving at least one of the subset of records; and

(B) parsing the at least one record in accordance with a set of configuration rules.

17. The method of claim 16, including the additional step of populating a data structure with data parsed from each retrieved record in accordance with the set of configuration rules.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the data transmission is from a listener software module (“

LSM”

), the metadata for each record identifies the trapped data transmission as being from that said LSM, and the set of configuration rules is associated with said LSM.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the data transmission of the order entry system includes a drug order and wherein the drug order fails the testing step as not being suitable for automated handling by the medication preparation system under one or more of the following conditions:

1. the automated medication preparation system cannot recognize a drug code included in the drug order;

2. the automated medication preparation system recognizes the drug code but does not handle the drug specified in the drug order and therefore cannot fill the drug order;

3. the automated medication preparation system recognizes the drug code and ordinarily can fill the drug order, but does not have the required drug in stock at the present time.

4. the data transmission cannot be parsed.

20. The method of claim 1, including the additional step of routing a suitable order to a scheduler for handling in accordance with a prescribed priority.

21. A computer system including software loaded into a memory of one or more machines executable by one or more processors in support of data transmission management, comprising:

(a) at least one listener software module (“

LSM”

) executing on a first machine, the LSM receiving data transmissions containing one or more medication data from a port of the first machine;

(b) a parser software module (“

PSM”

) communicatively connectable to the LSM and executing on a second machine, the PSM processing the data transmissions received from the LSM to extract the one or more medication data therefrom and populate a data structure therewith; and

(c) a set of configuration rules accessible by the PSM, the set of configuration rules defining the manner of processing by the PSM on the data transmissions from a prescribed LSM,

wherein the PSM is configured to determine suitability for handling of drug orders by an automated medication preparation system with reference to an order database, and

wherein the data structure enables data handling and preparation of one or more medications by the automated medication preparation system.

22. The interface of claim 21, wherein the first and second machines are the same machine.

23. The interface of claim 21, wherein the data transmission identifies a particular LSM and wherein the set of configuration rules used for processing the data transmission by the PSM is selected for the identified LSM.

24. The interface of claim 21, wherein the LSM saves the received data transmission as a record in a database, the LSM associates metadata with the received data transmission, and the metadata includes a marker indicative of whether a given record has been parsed.

25. The interface of claim 24, wherein the PSM is configured to query the database and identify a subset of records marked as not having been parsed.

26. The interface of claim 25, wherein the PSM is further configured to retrieve the subset of records and parse the subset of records in accordance with the set of configuration rules.

27. The interface of claim 26, wherein the processing by the PSM includes selectively printing portions of the received data transmission onto an adhesive label.

28. The interface of claim 21, wherein the PSM is configured to route the data in the populated data structure to a scheduler for handling in accordance with a prescribed priority.