Medicament carriers and methods of using same

Abstract

A blister pack may include a first layer, a second layer and a third layer. The first layer may include a hole. The second layer may include an indentation substantially aligned through the hole when the first and second layers are aligned and a second area surrounding the indentation. The third layer, which is in contact with the second layer, may include a third area that is substantially aligned with the second area when the second and third layers are aligned. The indentation may contain a medicament. The blister pack may include adhesives that secure the second layer to the first layer and the third layer. The second and third areas may be scored, cut and / or perforated. When sufficient force is applied to the third area, a blister, including the second and third areas, may be displaced containing the medicament.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This patent application claims priority to, and incorporates by reference in its entirety, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 013,010 entitled “Universal Medication Carrier” and filed Dec. 15, 2004, which claims priority to, and incorporates by reference in its entirety, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 565,220 filed Apr. 24, 2004.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERAL SPONSORED RESEARCH [0002] NOT APPLICABLE JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT [0003] NOT APPLICABLE INCOPRORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL ON DISC [0004] NOT APPLICABLE BACKGROUND [0005] 1. Technical Field [0006] The disclosed embodiments generally relate to the fields of medicament storage and dispensing. [0007] 2. Description of the Related Art [0008] In conventional medicament dispensing systems, prescriptions are typically filled in either thirty-day or sixty-day allotments. With such systems, there is no accurate way to inventory medicaments, to audit patient compliance with a p...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0054] The blister pack may also serve as a medication management and compliance tool by ensuring accurate delivery of both custom packaged and commercially available sealed unit dose and unit-of-issue therapeutic products to a patient. The blister pack may foster compliance with a prescribed treatment regimen by, for example, ensuring that the patient remains within recommended therapeutic levels. If the health of a patient changes or a dosing change is required, a healthcare practitioner may adjust the prescribed dosage in real-time without the need for a new prescription. The healthcare practitioner may achieve this by reviewing the stored inventory record of medicaments within the patient's blister pack and directing the patient to take a different medication or dosage having a higher or lower strength, as appropriate.

[0058] Conventional medication dispensing systems dispense medicaments in a lot. In other words, such systems do not separately encode each pill or dose. As such, the doses are not traceable. In an embodiment, individual blisters may be labeled to denote the medicament contained therein. Thus, delivery and administration of medicaments may occur on a unit dosage basis in which each dose is inventoried with its own electronically coded identifier. This may enable a healthcare practitioner to accurately monitor patient compliance with a prescribed treatment regimen from a remote location.

[0008] In conventional medicament dispensing systems, prescriptions are typically filled in either thirty-day or sixty-day allotments. With such systems, there is no accurate way to inventory medicaments, to audit patient compliance with a pharmacist's or physician's instructions, and / or to audit administration of the medicament. This is due in part because medicaments are dispensed in a lot, and not every pill or dose is separately bar coded and / or otherwise traceable.

[0054] The blister pack may also serve as a medication management and compliance tool by ensuring accurate delivery of both custom packaged and commercially available sealed unit dose and unit-of-issue therapeutic products to a patient. The blister pack may foster compliance with a prescribed treatment regimen by, for example, ensuring that the patient remains within recommended therapeutic levels. If the health of a patient changes or a dosing change is required, a healthcare practitioner may adjust the prescribed dosage in real-time without the need for a new prescription. The healthcare practitioner may achieve this by reviewing the stored inventory record of medicaments within the patient's blister pack and directing the patient to take a different medication or dosage having a higher or lower strength, as appropriate.

Problems solved by technology

With such systems, there is no accurate way to inventory medicaments, to audit patient compliance with a pharmacist's or physician's instructions, and / or to audit administration of the medicament.

Although these devices decrease the likelihood of errors in the administration of medication in a health care facility by preventing the unit doses from being removed from the blister portion of the blister pack until the foil backing is ruptured, the subject devices suffer from a number of limitations.

Primarily, the devices are not intended for holding a plurality of different medications and / or varying dosages prescribed as part of a complex treatment regimen.

As such, the existing blister pack holders are limited in their ability to provide the flexible dosage administration that is required for situations where the patient's regimen is the subject of frequent dosage adjustments or the patient is prescribed more than one medication to be administered at varying times over the course of a day or over the course of several weeks or months.

Moreover, conventional devices are not suited for use by a patient in a home, assisted living facility, or other setting remote from the support of health care professionals.

However, they fail to provide a mechanism by which the administration of a prescribed medication or dosage can be remotely adjusted in real-time, in response to an unexpected change in a patient's health condition.

A delay of several hours to several days can often result before a patient is enabled to administer a new dosage or medicament.

This is particularly disadvantageous for mobility-impaired patients and is a major source of drug non-compliance.

Frequently, the patient's condition deteriorates because the patient is unable to continue his course of treatment.

An additional shortcoming of conventional medication holders is that they are relatively complicated, requiring manufacture and assembly of various moveable parts.

A still further shortcoming of conventional containers and storage devices is that they do not provide a practical means of quickly inventorying the exact amount of medication remaining in a prescription, and the amount of medication consumed by a patient.

Images