초록 ▼

A technique for providing automated direction and guidance to nurses to assist in the task of dispensing medication to patients. Information on all patients is stored in a stationary base computer. Information pertinent to the medication dispensing task is transferred from the base computer to a por

A technique for providing automated direction and guidance to nurses to assist in the task of dispensing medication to patients. Information on all patients is stored in a stationary base computer. Information pertinent to the medication dispensing task is transferred from the base computer to a portable, hand-held computer adapted to be carried by the nurse during rounds. One portable computer contains information for only those patients assigned to one nurse. As the nurse approaches a patient, the portable computer is activated to display the name of each medication to be dispensed to that patient along with dose, route, and comments. The nurse enters into the portable computer whether the medication was dispensed or not. It can, thus, be determined whether any medication remains to be dispensed, and why it has not yet been administered. At the completion of rounds, data is transferred from the portable computer to the base computer to update the information stored in the base computer.

대표청구항 ▼

A method for dispensing medication comprising the steps of: storing, for each patient, patient information such as the name of the patient which is relevant to the dispensing of medication; storing, for each patient, medication information which is directly required for the dispensing of medication

A method for dispensing medication comprising the steps of: storing, for each patient, patient information such as the name of the patient which is relevant to the dispensing of medication; storing, for each patient, medication information which is directly required for the dispensing of medication including a plurality of prescribed drugs and corresponding respective dosages, frequency for administering each of the plurality of prescribed drugs, time period and dates during which a prescription order for each drug is valid, and conditions relevant to dispensation of a particular medication to a particular patient under particular circumstances; said patient information and said medication information for a plurality of patients being stored into a memory of a stationary base computer; retrieving from said memory at least some of said patient information and said medication information for, respectively, designated ones of said pluralilty of patients; transferring said retrieved patient information and said retrieved medication information to a portable computer adapted to be carried by as nurse assigned the task of dispensing medication to said designated patients; inputting the data and time of a medication dispensing rounds; identifying patients from among the designated patients and the prescribed drugs scheduled to be dispensed thereto during said rounds by processing with the portable computer the retrieved patient and medication information transferred to the portable computer through selection of information based at least on the time of said rounds along with the frequency, time period and date medication information; and for each of the identified patients, in sequence, displaying the processed information to said nurse in the form of only that medication information required by the nurse to identify the drugs scheduled to be dispensed during said rounds and the corresponding relevant conditions; whereby, for said rounds, the nurse is sequentially apprised of all patients assigned to said nurse, all medications scheduled for dispensing to each of the assigned patients, and all the conditions relevant to the respective dispensation of each medication to each patient under particular circumstances.