AUTOMATED ORAL SYRINGE PACKAGING SYSTEM FOR HOSPITAL PHARMACIES

摘要

A fully-automated system suitable for use in a hospital setting for filling patient-specific liquid prescriptions to be administered by oral syringes on a just-in-time basis. The system enables hospital pharmacists to simplify and streamline their task, increasing the number of prescriptions that can be filled in a day, improving patient safety and care by minimizing medication errors and the consequences that ensue.

主权项

1. A system for automated filling of oral syringes with medicines from containers, said oral syringes being of various sizes and types all having a barrel, an annular flange encircling said barrel, a plunger slideably engaged in said barrel, and a flange at distal end of said plunger, the system comprising:
a programmable controller programmed with control software comprising computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for determining an oral syringe size to fill a prescription, for guided retrieval of a selected bulk medicine container to fill said prescription, for guiding retrieval of a selected oral syringe, and for controlling automatic filling of said oral syringe with medicine from said container, and an automated filling station in data communication with said programmable controller for automatically filling said selected oral syringe with medicine from said selected container of medicine, said automated filling and packaging station further comprising a plurality of arms for manipulating said syringe, said plurality of arms terminating in a forked end for engaging the syringe, and each arm being independently controlled and articulating along two axes to withdraw a plunger of said syringe to fill said syringe with medicine.