MEDICATION TO A PATIENT

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

[0001] This application relates generally to a method and apparatus for administering a medication to a patient and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for obtaining one or more parameters governing operation of a drug delivery system from a computer-readable code.

2. Description of Related Art

[0002] Drugs to be administered to patients in hospitals or other healthcare facilities are accompanied by instructions for administering the drugs to their respective patients. The instructions may be hand written or typed on documents provided to medical personnel separately from the drugs to be administered. When administering the drugs, the medical personnel may refer to the accompanying documentation to identify the drug and determine other parameters governing administration of the drug, such as the dosage of and/or rate at which the drug is to be administered.

[0003] Manually administering the drug according to the instructions and parameters may not be feasible or practical. For example, the drug may be required to be administered very slowly over a long period of time. Medical personnel may not be able to manually administer the drug in small enough increments with a desired degree of accuracy, and can not devote all of their attention to delivering a drug to a single patient because other patients also require attention.

[0004] Using an automated drug delivery device may enable medical personnel to administer drugs slowly over long periods of time. However, the information identifying the drug and other parameters governing administration of the drug such as the dosage of and/or rate at which the drug is to be administered must be transferred from the documentation to the drug delivery device. Additionally, other information required for proper operation of the specific drug delivery device being utilized must also be entered. Transferring the information from the documentation accompanying the drug and inputting the other information specific to the drug delivery device being used is prone to human error, particularly if the instructions include handwritten portions that are illegible. This problem can be compounded in healthcare facilities using two or more different types or brands of drug delivery device, each requiring different information specific to the type and/or brand of the drug delivery devices. Medical personnel may not be familiar with the user interface of each different type/brand of drug delivery device, and may erroneously enter information because of this lack of familiarity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0005] The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, embodiments of which will be described in detail in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:

[0006] FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a communication network at a healthcare facility; and

[0007] FIG. 2 shows block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an automated drug delivery device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to be taken as a limitation on the present invention. Relative language used herein is best understood with reference to the drawings, in which like numerals are used to identify like or similar items. Further, in the drawings, certain features may be shown in somewhat schematic form.

[0009] It is also to be noted that the phrase "at least one of, if used herein, followed by a plurality of members herein means one of the members, or a combination of more than one of the members. For example, the phrase "at least one of a first widget and a second widget" means in the present application: the first widget, the second widget, or the first widget and the second widget. Likewise, "at least one of a first widget, a second widget and a third widget" means in the present application: the first widget, the second widget, the third widget, the first widget and the second widget, the first widget and the third widget, the second widget and the third widget, or the first widget and the second widget and the third widget.

[0010] There is a need in the art for a method and apparatus that utilize computer-readable codes to instruct a drug delivery device to administer a drug to a patient while reducing the possibility of human error.

[0011] FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of a communication network 10 established at a healthcare facility. As shown, the communication network 10 includes a computer terminal 12 that executes computer-executable instructions forming an application (referred to hereinafter as an "administration tool" or "AT") that can be used by a pharmacist to create and manage a formulary of drugs. The formulary created and managed by using the AT can be delivered to one or more labeling devices 14 that print labels for use within the healthcare facility to label drug containers to identify the drug(s) stored therein. Networking devices 16 such as a network switch or router can be included as part of the communication network 10 to establish communications between the computer terminal 12 and the labeling device 14, and optionally a network-accessible storage device 18 as is known in the relevant networking art. An example of the labeling device 14 is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 13/274,184 to Edwards et ah, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In addition to, or instead of the labeling devices 14, the labels for labeling the drug containers can be generated and printed using the AT and a computer printer attached as a peripheral to the computer terminal 12.

[0012] The computer terminal 12 can be located in a pharmacy at a healthcare facility, where an inventory of controlled drugs and medicinal substances (hereinafter generally referred to as "drugs") to be administered to patients of the healthcare facility is maintained. A pharmacist or other user with the proper permission maintains a master drug database ("MDD") containing an identity, identification code (e.g., NDC) number, concentration and other pertinent information for drugs used by the pharmacy. Drugs can be entered into the MDD manually by the pharmacist or automatically in response to the pharmacist scanning a barcode or other computer-readable code associated with a drug. Drugs can also be imported into the MDD from a third-party database licensed for use by the healthcare facility, or otherwise entered into the MDD.

[0013] From the MDD, the pharmacist creates and manages a formulary to be stored in a non-transitory computer memory provided to the drug labeling device 14 using the AT. The formulary can include a subset of the MDD, and the subset can optionally include drugs that are commonly administered to patients at the healthcare facility where the labeling device 14 is positioned. Thus, the formulary includes a plurality of entries, each including a drug and information related to the drug such as an identification code, a drug class in which the drug belongs, a concentration of the drug, an upper limit on the quantity of drug that can be administered or administered over a defined period of time, and other information specific to the drug of each entry. The MDD, the formulary, or both can be locally stored on a computer memory provided to the computer terminal 12, on a network accessible storage server 18, or both. At least the formulary is distributed over the network or manually transported to be stored on the labeling device 14.

[0014] In addition to the drug-specific information, each entry in the formulary can optionally also include delivery information to be entered into an automated drug delivery device 20 (FIG. 2) that controls administration of a drug to a patient. The delivery information can include information specific to the type and/or brand of the automated drug delivery device 20, and/or any additional information concerning the drug, patient or both, as that information pertains to the particular administration of the drug to a specific patient. For instance, the delivery information can optionally include Patient name, Patient ID, Dilution, Volume, Quantity of active Ingredient, Flow Rate, Dosage, Patient weight, Order Number, Nurse I.D., Time and Date, Units. Together, the drug-specific information and the delivery information can be utilized by the automated drug delivery device 20 to render the automated drug delivery device 20 operable to administer the drug to the patient. According to alternate embodiments, the combination of the drug-specific information and the delivery information can optionally establish all of the operational parameters of the automated drug delivery device 20 to administer the drug to the patient without additional input by a human operator.

[0015] At least one of the computer terminal 12 and the labeling device 14 also includes a scanner 17 and a label printer 15. To prepare a drug to be administered to a patient, a user can scan a computer-readable code, such as a barcode, RFID tag, etc..., adhered to, or otherwise associated with a container storing the drug to be administered using the scanner 17. In response to scanning the computer-readable code, a processing component of the computer terminal 12 and/or labeling device 14 generates label content to be printed onto a new label to be applied onto the container to be connected to the automated drug delivery device 20 as a drug source 24 as described below. The label content includes at least a barcode or other computer-readable code that can be printed by the label printer 15 or otherwise produced on demand by the computer terminal 12 and/or the labeling device 14. The computer-readable code to be included in the label content is described below as a barcode for the sake of brevity. The information to be encoded by the barcode includes: (i) at least a portion of the drug information specific to the drug to be administered retrieved from the formulary by the processing component, and (ii) at least a portion of the delivery information specific to the automated drug delivery device 20 that is to administer the drug to be labeled retrieved by the processing component from the formulary. According to an embodiment, the combination of the (i) portion of the drug information and the (ii) portion of the delivery information encoded include most, or all of the operational parameters required to be input to the automated drug delivery device 20 for proper administration of the drug to the patient.

[0016] As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the automated drug delivery device 20 generally includes a fluid flow initiator 22 such as a pump or a plunger, for example, that is operable to dispense a predetermined quantity of a drug from a drug supply 24 connected to the automated drug delivery device 20. The drug supply 24 can be an intravenous bag, vial, or other drug container containing the drug. The quantity of the drug supplied from the drug supply 24 is urged by the initiator 22 toward a delivery device 26, such as a needle intravenously installed in the patient, for example, that introduces the drug to the patient. Tubing 28 or another conduit conveying the drug from the drug supply 24 to the delivery device 26 can optionally extend through the automated drug delivery device 20 as shown in FIG. 2. For such embodiments, the initiator 22 can include a motor or other actuator that acts on the tubing 28 to regulate the flow of the drug to the delivery device 26. However, alternate embodiments include an initiator 22, such as a plunger, that acts on a drug supply 24 that is plumbed by tubing 29 or another conduit (represented as a broken line in FIG. 2) or other directly to the delivery device 26 without being routed through the automated drug delivery device 20.

[0017] A scanner 26 that is operable to interrogate the barcode printed onto the new label prepared using the label printer 15 is also provided to the automated drug delivery device 20. In response to reading the barcode, the scanner 26 transmits a signal indicative of the information encoded by the barcode to a computer processor 30, that interprets the encoded information represented by the signal from the scanner 26 by referencing the formulary 32 stored in a non-transitory memory 34, such as a hard drive or flash memory device, for example. The computer processor 30 can optionally identify from the memory, based on the signal from the scanner 26, at least one of: the drug, concentration, rate of administration, an upper and/or lower limit on the quantity of and/or rate at which the drug is to be administered, and any other operational parameters for administration of the drug identified (collectively the "Operational Parameters"). According to one embodiment, all of the Operational Parameters required for proper administration of the drug with the automated drug delivery device 20 can be established in response to scanning the barcode on the new label printed by the label printer 15 and applied to the drug supply 24. Accordingly, administration of the drug from the drug supply 24 to the patient can be initiated without manual, human entry of any of the Operational Parameters into the automated drug delivery device 20. According to an illustrative embodiment, a user can scan the barcode with the scanner 26 to establish at least one, and optionally a plurality or all of the Operational Parameters, provide the drug supply 24 to the automated drug delivery device 20, optionally confirm or enter an Operational Parameter such as the flow rate setting, prime the drug supply 24 and press a start button via a user interface 38 to initiate administration of the drug with the automated drug delivery device 20. Steps such as manually keying in a flow rate, for example, can be eliminated through the use of the scanner 26 to obtain such information from the barcode appearing on the label applied to the drug supply. [0018] According to an alternate embodiment, the Operational Parameters can optionally be presented to a user who scanned the barcode on the new label using a display device 36 provided to the automated drug delivery device 20. The Operational Parameters can be presented for confirmation purposes, requiring the user to manually enter a confirmation command via a user interface 38 provided to the automated drug delivery device 20. The confirmation command can indicate to the automated drug delivery device 20 that the user has confirmed the Operational Parameters displayed as being appropriate for administration of the drug in question. This confirmation can be recorded in the memory 34, and/or optionally transmitted by the automated drug delivery device 20 over the communication network 10 (FIG. 1) to be stored, along with other information such as the identity of the user who entered the confirmation, the date/time of confirmation, and other pertinent information in a log on the storage server 18 for documentation purposes. Such an embodiment requires the automated drug delivery device 20 to include a network adaptor, which can optionally be a hard- wired or wireless communication link, configured for communications over the network 10.

[0019] According to alternate embodiments, the user interface 38 can be utilized by a user to input any Operational Parameters required for administration of the drug to the patient by the automated drug delivery device 20 not established by the computer processor 30 in response to scanning the barcode on the new label.

[0020] Illustrative embodiments have been described, hereinabove. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above devices and methods may incorporate changes and modifications without departing from the general scope of this invention. It is intended to include all such modifications and alterations within the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, to the extent that the term "includes" is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.