The present invention relates generally to a method for the selective removal of inventoried items.
This invention relates generally to devices and systems for controlled dispensing of medications, therapeutic agents, or other pharmaceutical items in a hospital environment, nursing home, or the like. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved security or locking system to be used in combination with existing medication dispenser stations and related methods of operation for providing simple but controlled access to any array of pharmaceutical, medical or therapeutic items concurrently with the generation and maintenance of an accurate, detailed access record. Exemplary systems currently available are Pyxis Remote Manager(trademark) and Medstation(copyright) both of which are manufactured by Pyxis Corporation and MedSelect(copyright) External Lock Modules manufactured by Diebold, Incorporated.
In a hospital environment or the like, a large number of pharmaceutical items such as medications, therapeutic agents, syringes, dressings, etc. are used in the course of individualized medical treatment provided to multiple patients. Such pharmaceutical items are normally stocked at a centralized location such as a hospital pharmacy, nursing stations, or the like for periodic distribution to patients. The distribution of pharmaceutical items is tailored to the specific needs of each nursing station, particularly with respect to the individual medical treatment requirements for patients assigned to each nursing station. For example, many medications are typically prescribed by physicians for administration to specific patients according to a particular time schedule. Other medications and pharmaceutical items are normally stocked at the nursing station for use on an as-needed basis.
At each nursing station, the pharmaceutical items are stored for access by nursing personnel in accordance with individual patient requirements. In this regard, many items are normally maintained in unlocked storage for easy and substantially unrestricted access, while other items such as narcotic medications are normally retained in locked storage to prevent unauthorized access and theft. For all pharmaceutical items, however, withdrawal of pharmaceutical items from inventory is accompanied by updating of the medication administration record (MAR) for the appropriate patient. In this regard, such record maintenance is an important function of nursing personnel to confirm the treatment regimen for each patient, to insure proper charging of patient accounts, and to permit accurate tracking of the pharmaceutical inventory. Unfortunately, due to the exigencies of a typical nursing environment, the medication records are often incomplete and/or inaccurate. As a result, the inventory of some or all of the pharmaceutical items is regularly checked, such as at the conclusion of each nursing shift, in an effort to reduce recording and/or treatment errors and further to minimize pilferage losses.
In recent years, a variety of devices and systems have been proposed in attempts to provide improved inventory control for pharmaceutical items in a hospital environment or the like. Many such devices have contemplated individual medication dispensers located at bedside in association with individual patients. However, the use of multiple bedside dispensers can be relatively costly and further requires regular manual attention to ensure proper loading and individualized programming for each patient. Other systems have envisioned centralized units at a nursing station or the like for maintaining different medications and related pharmaceutical items under locked storage. While such centralized units have provided improved safety and enhanced record keeping for narcotic substances, such units have unduly restricted access to many routine pharmaceutical items. Accordingly, prior centralized medication units have not met with commercial acceptance on any significant scale.
As stated above, there is presently available a wide variety of medication dispenser stations (Pyxis Remote Manager(trademark), Medstation(copyright), MedSelect(copyright) External Lock Modules and the like) for use at centralized location in a medical facility. However, one problem with these point-of-use systems is that because the entire system is hard wire (cable) connected, the dispenser station must be located relatively close, if not adjacent, to the refrigerator or drawer to which access is controlled. This limitation proves costly in a hospital environment where space is at a premium. Additionally, there exists the problem of requiring a dispenser station juxtaposed to each and every refrigerator or drawer to which controlled access is desired. Because the manufacturers of these dispenser stations generate income by either selling or leasing such stations, the user is burdened with increased costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,536, which is incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein, discloses a method of eliminating the hard wire connection between a dispenser station and a lock of an auxiliary location by using a wireless transmitter or an infra-red coupler. One problem with this method, though, is that it requires the direct coupling of the lock at the auxiliary location to a processor located at the dispensing station. Another problem is that the ""536 method requires the user to active manually an item sensor at the dispensing station to record accurately the removal of an inventoried item from the auxiliary location.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,502, which is also incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein, discloses a dispensing method for medical items whereby an existing auxiliary storage location, such as a refrigerator, is retrofitted with a lock module that controls access to the location""s contents. The lock module is unlocked via a signal sent from a display terminal or other computer that is directly coupled to the dispensing system. That is, like the ""536 method, the ""502 method requires a direct coupling between the auxiliary storage location and the central dispensing system. Additionally, the following United States Patents disclose central dispensing systems directly coupled to an auxiliary storage location and are incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,068,156; 6,039,467; 5,971,593; 5,912,818; 5,883,806, and 5,790,409. Each of the foregoing patents disclose a central dispensing system that selectively limits access to a directly coupled auxiliary storage location. Because of the direct coupling mechanism, existing dispensing systems cannot control access to locations to which they are not coupled. Naturally, coupling the location to the system results in an unwanted expense.
There exists, therefore, a significant need for an improved security system for controlling access to pharmaceutical, medical, surgical, therapeutic items and the like, wherein there is no need for the dispenser station to be directly coupled to a lock at an auxiliary location, thus allowing existing dispensing systems to remain in place.
The present invention is provided to solve these and other problems.
The present invention provides a method for selectively dispensing inventoried items. The first step of the method is providing a storage means adapted with a lock. The second step is providing a wireless unlocking means removably secured in the storage means. The wireless unlocking means is able to transmit an unlocking signal upon activation by a user.
The next step of the method is where the user is unlocking the lock in order to access the storage means and the wireless unlocking means. The wireless locking means is wirelessly coupled to a locking system located at a secondary storage location. That is, the lock at the secondary storage location can be lock and unlocked any number of times upon receipt of the unlocking signal. The secondary storage location houses at least one inventoried item. The method further provides for activating the wireless unlocking means to transmit the unlocking signal to the locking system, thereby unlocking the locking system and permitting the user to access the secondary storage location. The method finally provides for removing an inventoried item from the secondary storage location. If desired, the locking system at the secondary location or the lock at the storage means can be relocked and the method repeated.
Further aspects of the invention are disclosed in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment, the drawings and the claims.