U.S. patent application number 10/918179 was filed with the patent office on 2005-12-01 for box-card system.
Invention is credited to Engelke, Anthony Paul.
Application Number | 20050263429 10/918179 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35424008 |
Filed Date | 2005-12-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050263429 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Engelke, Anthony Paul |
December 1, 2005 |
Box-card system
Abstract
The present invention provides a box-card system for use with
the distribution of medication, specifically orally disintegrating
tablets (ODT's), to residents/patients of long term care
facilities. A box-card allows ODT's to be stored and distributed
from their original manufacturer packaging. The box-card is
dimensioned to be coextensive in height and width to a standard
medication punch card, commonly used to store and dispense
traditional medication forms to residents/patients of long term
care facilities. The box-card allows ODT's and other medications to
be stored and dispensed from a medication drawer of a medication
cart with standard punch cards, allowing the stored medications to
be easily accessed and dispensed therefrom.
Inventors: |
Engelke, Anthony Paul;
(Newport, PA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HAUGEN LAW FIRM
SUITE 1130 - TCF TOWER
121 SOUTH EIGHTH STREET
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402
|
Family ID: |
35424008 |
Appl. No.: |
10/918179 |
Filed: |
August 13, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60574259 |
May 25, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
206/528 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61J 7/0069 20130101;
A61G 12/001 20130101; A61J 1/03 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
206/528 |
International
Class: |
B65D 083/04 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A medication box comprising: a top loading box configured to be
receivable and accessible within a routine medication drawer of a
medication cart, said top loading box having an individual label
space on a first side.
2. The medication box in accordance with claim 1 wherein said
individual label space includes a preprinted area and a writable
surface.
3. The medication box in accordance with claim 2 wherein said
medication box includes a medication label space on a second
side.
4. The medication box in accordance with claim 3 wherein said top
loading box has a height of about eight and three-quarter inches
and a width of about five and one-half inches and a depth of about
one-half inch.
5. The medication box in accordance with claim 4 wherein said top
loading box is comprised of an SBS board having a gauge ranging
from about 014 to about 018.
6. The medication box in accordance with claim 3 wherein said top
loading box has a height of about nine inches and a width of about
five and one-half inches and a depth of about one-half inch.
7. The medication box in accordance with claim 6 further comprising
a raised floor within a lumen of said top loading box.
8. A system for distributing medication, said system comprising: a
medication cart having a routine medication drawer for storing and
transporting medication therein; at least one box-card, positioned
within said routine medication drawer, said box-card having an
individual label space on an outer portion thereof.
9. The system for distributing medication in accordance with claim
8 wherein said individual label space includes preprinted
information and a writeable surface.
10. The system for distributing medication in accordance with claim
9 further comprising an orally disintegrating tablet blister pack
contained within said box-card.
11. The system for distributing medication in accordance with claim
10 further comprising a raised floor within said box-card.
12. The system for distributing medication in accordance with claim
8 further comprising at least one medication punch card positioned
within said routine medication drawer.
13. The system for distributing medication in accordance with claim
12 wherein said box-card has a height dimension and a width
dimension, each coextensive with a corresponding height and a
corresponding width of said medication punch card.
14. The system for distributing medication in accordance with claim
13 wherein said box-card comprises an SBS board having a gauge
ranging from about 014 to about 018.
15. A method for distributing medication comprising the steps of:
a) depositing medication into a box b) individually labeling said
box c) depositing said box in a routine medication drawer of a
medication cart.
16. The method for distributing medication in accordance with claim
15 wherein said medication is maintained in a blister pack.
17. The method for distributing medication in accordance with claim
16 wherein said box has a height dimension and a width dimension
coextensive with a corresponding height and a corresponding width
of a punch card positioned within said routine medication
drawer.
18. The method for distributing medication in accordance with claim
15, further comprising the step of delivering said medication cart
to a resident/patient of a long term care facility.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional
Patent Application Ser. No. 60/574,259 filed 2004 May 25.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates generally to the field of
pharmaceutical dispensing systems for long term care facilities.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a box-card
system for dispensing pharmaceuticals from a medication cart.
[0004] 2. Background of the Prior Art
[0005] Most long term care facilities have a system of exchange
with a pharmacy to provide medications to residents/patients of the
facility. On a periodic basis, the pharmacy fills each prescription
for each resident/patient in a process called a cycle exchange. In
a cycle exchange, each individual prescription for a
resident/patient is put in a separate punch card and placed in a
medication cart drawer. The punch cards are uniform in shape and
size, and configured for easy fit and access within a medication
cart drawer. The punch cards, for example, may be capable of
holding thirty-one doses of a particular medication, such that a
resident/patient may take one dose each day for an entire month. A
resident/patient needing a shorter time period of a medication
would receive a standard punch card with only enough medication for
the shorter time period packaged in the punch card.
[0006] The punch cards are placed in a medication drawer in a
medication cart and organized by patient pass format or by time
pass format by the cycle exchange team, depending upon whether the
nurses that dispense the medications prefer the punch cards to be
ordered in accordance with the order of resident/patient rooms
(room pass) or the time at which the medication must be delivered
to a resident/patient (time pass).
[0007] A medication cart may have a number of medication drawers.
The medication drawers are fixed in dimension, designed to hold the
standard punch card format, and limited in capacity. Therefore,
medication carts are usually quite full, making space valuable, and
ease of access to different parts of the medication cart critical
to the efficiency of the nursing staff having the duty of
dispensing medications to residents/patients.
[0008] The medications that are packaged in punch cards are
generally oral tab/capsule forms. Many pharmaceutical companies are
switching away from providing the oral tab/capsule form medications
and towards the orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) form. In some
cases, the pharmaceutical manufacturer will price ODT's more
favorably for the pharmacy and the resident/patient, encouraging
the use of ODT's over traditional medication forms. Additionally,
ODT's may be easier for some residents/patients to consume, and
therefore preferable to the traditional oral medications. However,
if the ODT cannot be dispensed by the pharmacy to the facility in a
cost effective manner, the resident/patient and pharmacy cannot
take advantage of the price savings.
[0009] A problem with ODT's is that they must stay in their
original manufacturer's unit dose packaging, an ODT blister pack,
and are unable to be repackaged in the punch card format used in
most long term care facilities. ODT's are fragile and will crumble
in the repackaging process. In the heat seal process used to seal
the punch cards, the ODT will melt and become unusable. They also
may begin to dissolve or disintegrate when exposed to air. Even if
ODT's were able to be packaged within a traditional punch card
format, the ODT's could not be safely removed from the punch card.
The reason for this is that medications are removed from the punch
cards by forcing the medication through the foil coated paper
backing. ODT's lack the strength of traditional medications, and
would crumble when forced against the punch card backing, therefore
making it impractical to use ODT's with traditional punch cards.
ODT's, instead, are packaged by the manufacturer with a removable
adhesive backing. For these reasons, a long term care facility may
have to stay with the original oral tab/capsule form despite the
many advantages of providing the ODT form to
residents/patients.
[0010] Because ODT blister packs are not dimensioned in accordance
with the traditional punch card, they cannot be placed in the
medication drawer with the punch cards. The manufacturers boxes and
ODT blister packs take up too much space in the medication drawer
of the medication cart. This makes for inefficient use of the
medication drawer space. Another problem is that, due to the
nonuniform size, ODT's may be missed during a resident/patient
pass, or will cause problems to a nursing staff in accessing and
dispensing medications from the medication drawer.
[0011] Because of the advantages of providing ODT's to
residents/patients of a facility, long term care facilities have
attempted to solve the above problems. An approach used by long
term care facilities to solve this problem, is to store the ODT's
in a separate ancillary drawer on the medication cart. A problem
with this approach is that the ODT's may be missed by a nursing
staff that is used to dispensing medications from the medication
cart drawer, and fails to access the ODT's in the ancillary drawer.
Also, because the ODT is not located in the medication cart drawer,
it may be missed for reorder with the providing pharmacy. This
places a burden of time and efficiency on the nursing staff to make
sure that the ODT is reordered. If the medication is missed or not
ordered, the cost of special delivery or filling the order by a
nearby pharmacy is a substantial yet avoidable expense.
[0012] As more and more manufacturers switch to the ODT form of
medication these problems will increasingly affect the costs and
efficiencies of the operation of long term care facilities.
[0013] In addition to the above described problems of distribution
of ODT's to residents/patients of a long term care facility, their
also exists an economic incentive to solve these problems. A
resident/patient that does not complete a repackaged prescription
cycle cannot be reimbursed by a pharmacy due to the repackaging of
the medication. The pharmacy, however, may only be reimbursed by
the manufacturer for unused medications that remain in the original
package of the manufacturer. It would therefore be advantageous to
create a system that allows for ODT's and other medications to be
used in a medication drawer of a medication cart in their original
manufacturer packaging, without taking up too much space, offers
uniform accessibility within the medication drawer in accordance
with the dimensions of a punch card, and that solves these and
additional problems facing the system of providing efficient and
effective care to residents/patients of long term care
facilities.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] The present invention provides a box-card system for
allowing a long term care facility to efficiently and effectively
distribute and administer medication to its residents/patients.
[0015] A top loading box-card is provided, defining a storage lumen
for orally disintegrating tablets (ODT's) in their original
manufacturer packaging. Once a predetermined number of ODT dosages
are loaded into a box-card, the box-card may be stored in a
medication drawer of a medication cart with the other medications
to be delivered to residents/patients of the long term care
facility. The box-card has a place provided on a front side for an
individual prescription label containing information relating to
the resident/patient for whom it is intended and a preprinted
section on the back side for providing data and information
relating to the medication such as the strength, expiration date,
manufacturer, lot number, and other relevant medication related
information.
[0016] The front and back sides of the box-card are dimensionally
coextensive to the length and height of a punch card. This allows
the box-card to be easily stored and accessed by a nursing staff in
charge of administering medications to residents/patients. This
also prevents the many problems associated with the prior art, such
as storing ODT's in a separate drawer of the medication cart,
causing medication dosages to be missed. The present invention
allows residents/patients, long term care facilities and pharmacies
to take advantage of the many benefits provided by using ODT's.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a punch card.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a plan view of an orally disintegrating tablet
(ODT) blister pack.
[0019] FIG. 3 is a side view of a medication cart.
[0020] FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a box-card in
accordance with the present invention.
[0021] FIG. 5 is a rear perspective view of a box-card in
accordance with the present invention.
[0022] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the medication
drawer shown in FIG. 3, in accordance with the present
invention.
[0023] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a
box-card in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0024] FIG. 1 shows a punch card 10 for use in dispensing
medication at a long term care facility. Medication 12, such as
oral tablets and capsules are received by a pharmacy in bulk
containers. The pharmacy fills the punch cards 10 with a
predetermined number of medication doses and seals the medication
12 in the punch card 10 by heat sealing a backing 14 on the punch
card 10. The pharmacy will then provide an individual label 16 on a
portion of the punch card 10, disclosing the medication, dosage,
patient name, and/or any other relevant data. A cycle exchange team
will then insert the punch card 10 in a medication drawer 18 of a
medication cart 20, shown in FIG. 3, such that any number of punch
cards 10 are uniformly arranged and accessible within the
medication drawer 18.
[0025] FIG. 2 shows an original manufacturer's medication card,
hereinafter ODT blister pack 22, containing a plurality of orally
disintegrating tablets, hereinafter ODT's 26. The backing of the
ODT blister pack 22 has a peel strip 24, for easy removal of the
backing when a dosage needs to be removed and taken by a
resident/patient of the long term care facility.
[0026] FIGS. 4 and 5 show a box-card 28 in accordance with a first
embodiment of the present invention. The box-card 28 has a planar
front wall 30 and back wall 41. A pair of opposing sidewalls 32
extend between opposite upright sides 34 of the front wall 30 and
back wall 41, such that the front wall 30, back wall 41 and
sidewalls 32 define a lumen 36 having an upper end 38 and a lower
end 40. The lower end 40 of the lumen 36 is terminated by a bottom
cover 42 to define a top loading box-card 28.
[0027] The top loading box-card 28 may be formed by folding a
single cardboard blank, or other such suitable and foldable
material capable of functioning in accordance with the present
invention. The upper end 38 includes a cover 46 and a closure tab
48 for selectively securing the cover 46 in the closed
position.
[0028] As shown in FIG. 6, the front and back walls of the box-card
28 define a vertical dimension 51 and horizontal dimension 53, each
of which are dimensionally coextensive with the vertical and
horizontal dimensions 50 and 52, respectively, of the punch card
10. The sidewalls 32 are dimensioned to provide a depth 54 to the
box-card 28 capable of receiving ODT blister packs 22 such as that
shown in FIG. 2. It is contemplated that a number of different
shaped and sized ODT blister packs 22 may be provided by the
various pharmaceutical manufacturers. For example, an ODT blister
pack sleeve 22 from one manufacturer may contain 5 prepackaged
ODT's, whereas another manufacturer may provide 6 prepackaged ODT's
or 10, or any other such number of ODT's on a given card.
Therefore, the sidewalls 32 are dimensioned to accommodate a
variety of ODT blister packs without taking up excess space.
[0029] An individual label space 56 is provided on the front side
30 of the box-card 28, the individual label space 56 may include
any information and data as indicated with respect to the
individual label 16 of the punch card discussed with reference to
FIG. 1. Whereas the outer surface of the box-card 28 may have a wax
coating, the individual label space 56 will have a writable
surface, and thus lack a wax coating. The individual label space 56
may include a preprinted area 55 to be filled out on the writable
surface. Such preprinted area 55 may include wording, printing and
spacing to indicate and allow for the transcription of prescription
information, for example, the medication, strength, expiration
date, manufacturer, lot number, and information relating to whom
the medication and/or box-card was filled by and checked by. A user
may then write the corresponding information directly onto the
individual label space 56 in the corresponding preprinted area 55.
Alternatively, it is contemplated that the information contained in
the individual label space may be preprinted on a separate label
and adhered to the individual label space 56.
[0030] FIG. 5 shows a back wall 41 of the box-card 28. The back
wall 41 may contain a medication label space 57 for including
additional medication information. The medication label space 57
may contain information relating to the resident/patient and may
contain other medication related information. The medication label
may be preprinted on separate label and adhered to the box-card 28
on the medication label space 57.
[0031] Additional and/or alternative information may be provided on
other portions of the front side and/or back side of the box-card
28. For example, a warning label, pharmacy contact information and
the like may be pre-printed thereon.
[0032] In use, the ODT blister packs 22 are loaded through the open
top 38 of the box-card 28, and the cover 46 is closed by folding
and inserting the tab 48 within the lumen 36. As shown in FIG. 6,
the box-card 28 may then be placed in the medication drawer 18 of
the medication cart 20. The box-card 28 allows a uniform and
accessible means for storing and dispensing ODT's from within a
medication drawer 18. The coextensive vertical dimensions 50, 51
and horizontal dimensions 52, 53 of the box-card 28 and punch card
10, respectively, allow a nurse, for example, to easily store and
access the ODT medication 26. Also, the cycle exchange team is able
to easily load the box-cards 28 into the same medication drawer 18
as the punch cards 10, without risk of the ODT being missed on a
medication pass, or in a cycle exchange, were the ODT stored in an
ancillary drawer 58, as shown in FIG. 3.
[0033] It is further contemplated that any type of medication 12
may be loaded into the box-card and dispensed therefrom. The
box-card 28 allows for medication to be stored in an original
manufacturer packaging. Alternatively, medications that are not
required to be in a pre-packaged format may simply be deposited
into the box-card in predetermined numbers and accessed therefrom.
The use of the box-card to store non-packaged medications would
eliminate the time required to fill and seal a punch card.
[0034] It is further contemplated that the box-card in accordance
with the present invention can be used to contain creams,
ointments, patches, eyedrops and any other such products that may
be delivered to the resident/patient of a facility, so long as the
product may be configured to fit within the dimensions of the
box-card.
[0035] FIG. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of of a top loading
box-card 60 where like reference numerals represent like parts. The
box-card 60 has a raised floor 62 within the lumen 36. The raised
floor 62 maintains the ODT blister pack 22 in an elevated position
within the box-card lumen 36. This allows a nurse to easily access
the ODT blister packs 22 within the box-card 60 without having to
completely remove and/or upturn the box-card 60.
[0036] A box-card in accordance with the various embodiments of the
present invention may utilize any suitable material such as a
cardboard material SBS board having a gauge ranging from about 014
to about 018, preferably a gauge of about 016.
[0037] The height of the box-card, as determined by the height
dimension 51 of the front, back and side walls, may be about eight
and three-quarter inches (83/4"), or instead may be a height of
about nine inches (9"). The height may otherwise be made within the
range of about eight and three-quarter inches (83/4") to about nine
inches (9"). The width dimension 53 of the box-cards, as determined
by the top and bottom sides of the front and back wall is about
five and one-half inches (51/2"). The depth dimension 54, as
determined by the top and bottom sides of the sidewalls 34, is
about one-half of an inch (1/2"). Slight variations in the
dimensions will not affect the functionality of the box-cards so
long as the box-cards are substantially uniform in size with
respect to adjacent box-cards and/or punch cards.
[0038] Although the invention has been described and illustrated in
detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of
illustration and example, and is not to be taken by way of
limitation of the spirit and scope of the present invention.
* * * * *