Nextrx Corporation

Other

Omnicell, Inc.

Ronald H Wilson

Michael A Stoy

Michael F Smith

John R Wilson

Arnold C Ahlin

The system for automatically dispensing medications or other medical elements includes several groupings, i.e. vaults, of storage members, each vault containing approximately 100 individual cartridges, which each contain packages of unit-of-use doses of a given medication or other medical supply, such as syringes. Each storage member includes an ejector which ejects selected medications/supplies to a supply trough. The packages in the trough are moved to a central collator, which dispenses them to a bin receptacle which has been moved underneath the collator and which is typically identified with a particular patient. Information concerning medications/supplies for a particular patient is stored in a system database and used to determine the particular medications/supplies dispensed into a given bin. Bar coding is used to maintain control over the bins, and the medications, forming a closed information/control system. Particular medications and/or supplies which are not available in the automatic dispensing system are supplied from a supplemental medications cart which has been previously stocked with the correct additional medications by virtue of information from a control computer. The filled bins are transferred to a medication cart which can only be accessed as a result of a command signal after a particular patient and his/her associated bin have been matched. A nurse, having access to the correct bin and sector thereof, removes the medications from the cart and administers them to the patient.

Automated pharmaceutical management and dispensing system

The ejection mechanism includes an elongated housing for storing medication packages of uniform configuration. An eject member moves between two positions, including a first, rest position and a second, eject position. An actuator moves the eject member between its two positions. A clamping member which forms part of one wall of the housing near the lower end thereof is spring biased so as to clamp the medication packages in place, except for the lowermost package, during the time that the lowermost package is begin ejected from the housing assembly. A cam member portion of the clamping member interacts physically with the eject member in such a manner that as the eject member moves from its rest position to its eject position, the clamping member is allowed to move inwardly, clamping those packages above the lowermost package. When the eject member is in its rest position, the clamping member is held away from the packages, permitting them to move downwardly in the housing assembly.

Medication package ejection mechanism

The system includes a medication-receiving assembly which collects medications automatically dispensed from storage assemblies therefor and a transport assembly for moving the collected medications to a loading assembly, wherein the loading assembly is arranged and positioned so that the medications move by gravity action from an upper end thereof, past a pair of opposing, angled deflectors which are individually controllable and which guide the medications into selected portions of a medication bin in a medication cart, which accommodates medications for a large number of patients, such as all the patients on a hospital ward. Supplemental medications not present in the storage assemblies can be provided with a hand-loaded supplemental doses assembly. The medication cart may then be moved directly to the ward and the bedside of the individual patients in turn.

Medication-handling system for use in loading medication carts

An automated medication-dispensing cart includes a closed cart housing and a plurality of medication-containing bins which extend for substantially the length of the cart and which are supported within the cart housing. The support structure includes two spaced sets of sprockets positioned at both ends of the cart and endless chains which extend around the sprockets, with one of the sprockets being motor-driven. The bins are connected at opposing ends thereof to the spaced chains. The movement of the bins is controlled such that the bins can be stopped at a preselected position within the cart, in the vicinity of the top front edge of the cart. A plurality of doors is located in the top of the cart, such that when one or more of the doors is opened, a preselected portion of the bin in the preselected position and the medications therein are exposed.

Growing community of inventors

Bothell, WA, United States of America

Ronald H Wilson