Storage devices, systems, and methods for facilitating medication dispensing and restocking

• US 8,554,365 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnicell Incorporated
• Original Assignee: McKesson Automation Incorporated (Omnicell Inc)
• Inventors: Thomas, Ryan, Kolodziej, James, Braun, Pat, Rao, Jyotsna, Tylenda, Ben, Greyshock, Shawn
• Primary Examiner(s): WAGGONER, TIMOTHY R
• Application Number:
  US13/076,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20120253510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• Field of Search: 700/236, 700/237, 700/240, 700/241, 700/242
• US Class Current: 700/242
• 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: G07G 1/01 Details for indicating displaying information in general G09F, G09G
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers

Abstract

A storage device, method, and computer program product is provided that includes a number of drawer-level display devices. Each drawer-level display device may be associated with and disposed on a particular drawer. Each drawer-level display device may be configured to present a user with medication information for a selected medication stored in the associated drawer. Thus, a user can have direct access to information required for completing a dispensing or restocking operation at the accessed drawer and does not need to refer back to the cabinet-level display device for information. The drawer-level display devices may be main drawer-level display devices, located near a leading end of each drawer, and/or secondary drawer-level display devices located at the pockets defined by the drawer. Thus, the information needed to complete a dispensing or restocking operation that is in progress can be found at the drawer-level, where the user'"'"'s attention is already focused.

Claims

1. A storage device for dispensing medication comprising:

at least one drawer, wherein each drawer defines a plurality of pockets and each pocket is configured to store at least one medication; and

a plurality of drawer-level display devices, wherein each of the drawer-level display devices is associated with and disposed on a particular drawer, the plurality of drawer-level display devices, for each associated drawer, comprising a main drawer-level display device disposed on the associated drawer and a plurality of secondary drawer-level display devices, wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is associated with and disposed proximate at least one of the pockets defined by the associated drawer,

wherein the main drawer-level display device is configured to present a user with a name of the selected medication to be dispensed or restocked and an inventory of the selected medication stored in an identified pocket defined by the associated drawer, and

wherein the secondary drawer-level display devices are each configured to present to a user a quantity of the selected medication to be dispensed from or restocked to the associated pocket.

2. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the at least one drawer is slideably received within the storage device.

3. The storage device of claim 1 , wherein the drawer-level user input device is configured to receive input from a user selecting a workflow function.

4. The storage device of claim 1 further comprising a sensor configured to detect pocket access by a user during a medication dispensing or restocking operation.

5. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the secondary drawer-level display devices are each configured to sequentially identify a single pocket defined by the associated drawer from which the selected medication is to be dispensed or to which the selected medication is to be restocked.

6. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the secondary drawer-level display devices are collectively configured to identify substantially simultaneously more than one pocket defined by the associated drawer from which the selected medication is to be dispensed or to which the selected medication is to be restocked.

7. The storage device of claim 1 further comprising a cabinet-level display device associated with the one or more drawers of the storage device and configured to present medication information related to any of the associated drawers.

8. The storage device of claim 1 further comprising a cabinet-level user input device associated with the one or more drawers of the storage device and configured to receive input from a user related to any of the associated drawers.

9. A system for dispensing medication from a storage device, wherein the storage device comprises a plurality of drawers, the system comprising:

a processor configured to access medication information;

a plurality of main drawer-level display devices in communication with the processor, wherein each main drawer-level display device is associated with a drawer of the storage device; and

a plurality of secondary drawer-level display devices in communication with the processor,

wherein each main drawer-level display device is configured to present to the user a name of a selected medication that is to be dispensed from or restocked to the associated drawer and an inventory of the selected medication stored in an identified pocket defined by the associated drawer, and

wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is associated with and disposed proximate at least one of a plurality of pockets defined by a particular drawer, and wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is configured to identify at least one of the associated pockets from which the selected medication is to be dispensed and to present to a user a quantity of the selected medication to be dispensed from the identified pocket.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is configured to identify at least one of the associated pockets to which the selected medication is to be restocked.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is only accessible to the user when the associated drawer is accessed by the user.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein each main drawer-level display device is disposed proximate a leading edge of the respective associated drawer and is accessible to the user when the associated drawer is accessed by the user.

13. The system of claim 9 further comprising a plurality of drawer-level user input devices in communication with the processor, wherein each drawer-level user input device is associated with a particular drawer and is configured to receive input from the user regarding an inventory of the selected medication stored in the identified pocket of the associated drawer.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each drawer-level user input device is configured to receive input from the user regarding a workflow function.

15. The system of claim 9 further comprising a sensor in communication with the processor, wherein the sensor is configured to detect pocket access by the user during a medication dispensing or restocking operation, and wherein the processor is configured to present medication information regarding an additional selected medication to be dispensed or restocked based on feedback received from the sensor.

16. The system of claim 9 further comprising a cabinet-level display device in communication with the processor and configured to present to the user at least one item of information from the accessed medication information.

17. A method of dispensing medication from a storage device comprising:

presenting medication information relating to a first selected medication to a user via a cabinet-level display device associated with a storage device comprising at least one drawer, wherein each drawer defines a plurality of pockets and each pocket is configured to store at least one medication;

providing the user with access to a first identified drawer in which the first selected medication is stored; and

identifying a location of the first selected medication and a quantity of the first selected medication to dispense via at least one of a plurality of drawer-level display devices associated with and disposed on the first identified drawer,

wherein each of the drawer-level display devices is associated with and disposed on a particular drawer, the plurality of drawer-level display devices, for each associated drawer, comprising a main drawer-level display device disposed on the associated drawer and a plurality of secondary drawer-level display devices, wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is associated with and disposed proximate at least one of the pockets defined by the associated drawer,

wherein the main drawer-level display device is configured to present a user with a name of the selected medication to be dispensed or restocked and an inventory of the selected medication stored in an identified pocket defined by the associated drawer, and

wherein the secondary drawer-level display devices are each configured to present to a user a quantity of the selected medication to be dispensed from or restocked to the associated pocket.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of identifying the location and the quantity of the first selected medication comprises identifying a location of the first selected medication and a quantity of the first selected medication to restock via at least one of the plurality of drawer-level display devices.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the storage device further comprises a plurality of drawer-level user input devices, wherein at least one of the drawer-level user input devices is associated with a particular drawer and is disposed on the associated drawer, the method further comprising the step of receiving user input via a drawer-level user input device associated with the first identified drawer.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of providing the user with access to a second identified drawer in which a second selected medication is stored based on the user input received.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

sensing the user'"'"'s access of a particular pocket defined by the first identified drawer and in which the first selected medication is stored; and

automatically providing the user with access to a second identified drawer in which a second selected medication is stored based on the access sensed.

22. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion configured for presenting medication information including a first selected medication to a user via a cabinet-level display device;

a second executable portion configured for allowing the user access to a first identified drawer in which the first selected medication is stored;

a third executable portion configured for presenting a user with a name of the selected medication to be dispensed or restocked and an inventory of the selected medication stored in an identified pocket defined by the first identified drawer via a main drawer-level display device associated with and disposed on the first identified drawer; and

a fourth executable portion configured for identifying a location of the first selected medication and a quantity of the first selected medication to dispense via at least one secondary drawer-level display device, wherein each secondary drawer-level display device is associated with and disposed proximate the identified pocket.

23. The computer program product of claim 22 further comprising a fifth executable portion configured for receiving user input at a drawer-level user input device regarding a dispensing or restocking operation, wherein the drawer-level user input device is associated with a particular drawer and is disposed on the associated drawer.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 further comprising a sixth executable portion configured for allowing the user access to a second identified drawer in which a second selected medication is stored based on the user input received via a drawer-level user input device associated with the first identified drawer.

25. The computer program product of claim 22 further comprising:

a fifth executable portion configured for sensing the user'"'"'s access of a particular pocket defined by the first identified drawer and in which the first selected medication is stored; and

a sixth executable portion configured for automatically allowing the user access to a second identified drawer in which a second selected medication is stored based on the access sensed without requiring user interaction with the cabinet-level display device between dispensing or restocking operations related to the first and second selected medications.