Packaging system for pharmaceutical dispenser and associated method

摘要

A packaging system and associated method for use with a pharmaceutical dispenser provides a turnkey solution for packaging pharmaceutical products such as solid medications and nutritional supplements to be taken orally in health care settings, including but not limited to long term care (LTC) and assisted living settings. An overall pharmacy system and methodology begins with bulk medications and supplements introduced into the work flow, individually packaged and assembled into medpass orders per patient and delivered to the LTC facility or other institution for patient consumption. The process begins by converting bulk medications and supplements to packaged unit doses and ultimately individually packaged medpass bags for each patient on a 24-hour schedule. The design of the overall system and its individual components allows for physical control of each unit dose package from start to finish without any unit dose package “free fall” in the system.

主权项

1. An accumulation module, comprising:
a base cabinet; an accumulation dial supported by the base cabinet and including a hopper, and the accumulation dial rotates to re-position the hopper; a picker assembly supported by the base cabinet and including pneumatically actuated pickers, and the picker assembly extends, from a home position above the hopper, outwardly to a position radially outside of the hopper to retrieve a package and returns to the home position to deposit the package into the hopper located at a first position; a first plunger that contacts the package to force the package, when the hopper is in a second position, through an open bottom of the hopper into a shell positioned below the accumulation dial to deliver the package to a travel pack module; a stabilizing plunger that extends upwardly through an open bottom of the accumulation dial to contact the package; a heat stake anvil that extends downwardly into the hopper to engage an uppermost surface of the subsequent package; and a heat stake iron that extends upwardly with the stabilizing plunger to heat stake the package and the subsequent package together against the anvil, wherein after the picker assembly deposits the package into the hopper, the picker assembly is configured to retrieve a subsequent package and deposit the subsequent package in the hopper.