Means For Recording Medicinal Dosages

Abstract

A means for keeping a record of the times at which medicinal dosages are taken in which indicia to record such dosage are arranged in columns and rows opposite the times at which the dosages are to be taken.

Parent Case Text

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 63,179 filed Aug. 12, 1970, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,620.

Description

This invention relates to means for keeping a record of medicinal dosages by a person who requires the periodic taking or application of medictions.

In the treatment of many ailments a patient is often required to self administer medication at prescribed times during a day and generally over a period of time. Since many medications, especially the powerful drugs that are used nowadays, require an accurate administration of the prescribed dosage it is extremely important that the patient keep an accurate record of the doeses taken so that overingestion of the prescription does not occur. Also, it is important that dosages not be omitted. The problem of maintaining a proper application or ingestion of the prescribed dosage of medicines is particularly acute with older people who might have a tendency to forget if and when a previous dose of medicine has been taken. This problem is aggravated when the patient requires taking more than one prescription medicine on a daily basis.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for keeping a record of medicinal dosages taken.

In carrying out the invention, there is provided a record member having rectangular marginal areas at right angles to each other in one of which the times at which a dosage is to be taken can be inscribed and in the other of which a day record can be inscribed and a group of markers arranged coordinately with the time and day inscriptions. The markers are arranged to be removed to indicate that a medicine dose has been taken at the time and day set opposite the particular marker removed.

Features and advantages of the invention may be gained from the foregoing and from the description of a preferred embodiment which follows.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a label embodying the invention; and

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the label of FIG. 1.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 1 which shows an elementary embodiment of the invention in the form of a label that may be placed on a pill bottle or medicine box to help the person taking the medicine to keep a record of the dosages taken.

The label 10 is provided with a top marginal area 11 in which abbreviations 12 for the days of the week may be inscribed as shown. Marginal area 11 may be left blank so as to be filled in by the patient but it will be preferable if the day abbreviations are preprinted since as will be seen the label will be preprinted with other indicia.

A left marginal area 13 is provided on the label but it will preferably be left blank so that the patient can inscribed the times at which the medicine dosages are to be taken. This is left to the patient to do since the times at which the medicine is to be taken can vary with the medicine. In the illustration it is assumed that four dosages are to be taken at the hours of eight, twelve, four, and eight and consequently the appropriate numerals 14 are written into the marginal area. Of course, the medicine may require being taken only three times a day, say at the hours of eight, two, and eight, in which case only the three numerals need be written in margin 12. On the other hand, the medicine may have to be taken around the clock in which case a larger label having provision for six or eight daily dosages could be provided. However, a label for four daily dosages has been shown as illustrative of the concept.

Coordinately arranged with the pre-printed day abbreviations a plurality of indicia 15 are pre-printed. These indicia may take any form or shape but in the drawing they are shown as X's. There will be one indicia mark for each dosage time each day. Since the illustration assumes four dosages per day, label 10 is shown with twenty eight indicia marks 15. Each mark 15 is initially covered with a tab 16 having an adhesive backing so that the tab may be removably attached to label 10. Tab 16 is shown in the form of a disk, but it is obvious that it could be any shape so long as it is individually and readily removable.

When the article is in use it will be placed on the bottle or box containing the medicine consumption of which is to be recorded. For this purpose the back of label 10 may be provided with an adhesive coating. The times at which a dosage is to be taken will be written into marginal area 13. Now, when a dose of the medicine is taken, the tab 16 for that time and that day will be peeled off the label to expose the underlying indicia 15 and thus record that the particular dose was taken. In the drawing, as illustrated, the label indicates that the eight, twelve and four 0'clock dosages on Monday have been taken but that the eight pm o'clock dose has not yet been taken. If there were only three dosages to be taken per day, no time inscription would be entered opposite the fourth or bottom row of tabs 16 and the tabs in that row would not be removed in use.

Having thus described my invention it is clear that many different embodiments could be envisioned without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that the foregoing description and the drawing be interpreted as illustrative rather than in a limiting sense.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An article of manufacture for keeping a record of medicinal dosages comprising: a label having an adhesive backing to enable said label to be attached to a medicine container, an indicia area wherein a plurality of preprinted indicia are provided in an orthogonal array and arranged in intersecting columns and rows, each of said indicia representing that a medicinal dose has been taken, a first marginal area of sufficient width to accomodate preprinted symbols representing the days of the week, each of said symbols being in alignment with a column of said indicia, a second marginal area of sufficient width to accomodate numerals representing the hours of a day at which a medicinal dose is to be taken, each of said numerals to be entered in alignment with a row of indicia, and a plurality of individually removable tabs adhesively secured to said indicia area of the label with each tab covering an indicia, whereby a tab serves as a reminder that a medicine dose has not been taken on the day and hour represented by the symbols aligned with the tab, and the indicia made visible when a tab is removed indicates that a medicine dose has been taken on the day and hour represented by the symbols aligned with that indicia.