Apparatus, device and method for prescribing, administering and monitoring a treatment regimen for a patient

Abstract

A treatment Device is provided which enables a Doctor / Pharmacist to provide patient specific instructions in a textual format to a patient. The instructions are converted by a speech synthesizer provided in the Device into an audibly perceptible format. When configured as a hand-held unit, the Device may store a plurality of medications. Upon activation or automatically, instructions saved in the device are communicated to a patient / user via various audible, visual and / or tactile indicators. The instructions are provided to the device via a Platform which enables Doctors and Pharmacists input instructions into the Platform, which, via a Platform interface, are saved into a storage device provided in the Device. In an additional embodiment, a removable medication dispensing cartridge is provided which facilitates the controlled and automatic dispensing of a medication to a patient based upon a treatment schedule. Patient compliance information with a treatment schedule may be provided by the Device.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 142,310 filed on May 8, 2002 and entitled “Apparatus, Device and Method For Prescribing, Administering and Monitoring a Treatment Regimen For a Patient”, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 290,271 filed on May 11, 2001 by Craig Shillingburg and entitled “Process and System for Prescribing, Administering, Administering and Monitoring a Treatment Regimen for a Patient”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The technical field in which various embodiments of the present invention are described relates generally to the field of medical treatment compliance programs and more specifically to the field of systems and methodologies for determining and monitoring treatment regimens for patients. Additionally, the technical field includes systems and...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017]One embodiment of the present invention provides a system and process which facilitates the provisioning of specific and individualized instructions to a patient (or care provider thereof for a treatment regimen. Additionally, the system provides for the verification that the treatment regimen is safe and desirable for the patient, based upon the patient's medical history and other information, while providing Doctors and Pharmacists with patient compliance information which may be used to modify and design the patient's current and future treatment regimen. Further, in this embodiment, a software program and / or a hardware device may be jointly or separately utilized to prescribe, verify, dispense and / or monitor compliance by a patient with a treatment regimen which may include prescription medications.

[0019]Further, in this embodiment, the Platform may be configured with an interface which enables the Doctors / Pharmacists to program the system-integrated Device with a customizable treatment regimen. The treatment regimen may include, for example, verbalized instructions for a wide variety of patients and medical conditions over an extended treatment period. The Platform also may include interfaces which enable Doctors and Pharmacists to communicate over secure communication links. Such communications may include confidential patient information that should only be shared amongst authorized users. Examples of communications links over which information may be communicated and exchanged between Doctors, Pharmacists and others include e-mail messages, facsimile, instant messages or other communications link which utilize secure network connections or secure information (e.g., encrypted information) over non-secure network connections. Further, such information may be entered and transmitted via the Platform utilizing a menu-driven format that accepts typed, touch screen, stylist (for example, on a Palm® or similar Personal Data Assistant (PDA)), spoken or other modes for entering and / or transmitting information. This embodiment may also utilize customized or standardized input screens by which Doctors and Pharmacists may input communications or other information. Such input screens desirably are easy to use and utilize creative time saving actions, links, input fields and the like.

Problems solved by technology

In group settings, such as long-term care facilities, hospitals and nursing homes, additional compliance problems are caused by dosage errors, accurate and timely distribution of medications, and adherence to the particular regimen instructions.

These occur because shortages of qualified nurses or caregivers are faced with an ever larger group of patients and an increasing count of corresponding medications and treatment regimens.

Further, with the aging of the baby boom and the shortage of caregivers, it is anticipated that efforts to monitor the compliance of patients with treatment regimens will become ever more problematic.

However, doctors and nurse practitioners often provide samples to patients which are not dispensed through a pharmacy.

As is well known in the art, patients often misconstrue the instructions communicated by a Doctor because the patient is in pain during the visit, gets confused by the technical explanations, have comprehension difficulties, can not remember the precise instructions, are unable to read the Doctor's handwriting, and / or for various other reasons.

In such circumstances, medication and / or treatment regimens may not be readily available to the patient at the preferred treatment time(s).

Additionally, those assisting a patient in taking medications (for example, a son or daughter of an elderly person) are often not present when the Doctor communicates the treatment instructions and thus may not be fully informed of the recommended treatment regimen.

Further complicating the prescribing, administering and monitoring of treatment regimens for a patient is the fact that Doctors and Pharmacists often utilize inefficient and ineffective communication methods.

The reasons often cited for this lack of a common electronic transfer systems include the lack of a unified software platform, equipment compatibility, and costly subscriptions fees.

Consequently, Doctors and Pharmacists often are not fully appraised of a patient's condition.

This is a timely and expensive process that can become overwhelming given the increasing patient load commonly being seen and cared for by today's Doctors.

It is also commonly appreciated in the medical community that medications can be extremely dangerous if taken improperly.

Due to the limited space on a Container, these instructions are typically very brief or abbreviated.

Since patients often require the assistance of others to take their medications, the Container and associated packaging materials are often ineffective in properly and routinely notifying a patient or their caregiver about a treatment regimen.

Further, such Containers commonly do not provide a reliable mechanism for monitoring compliance by the patient with a treatment regimen.

While such devices are generally effective at providing audible notification signals, such devices do not provide the before mentioned and desired features and functions and generally have many shortcomings.

For example, such devices usually do not properly address the problem of instructing a patient on how to take their medications.

Nor do such devices enable Doctors and / or Pharmacists to program the device with customized instructions and related warnings which are automatically converted into verbalized speech (when necessary) for communication to the client.

As such, commonly available devices hinder the accommodation of changing medications and treatment regimens.

These devices also do not provide a system and process which verifies whether a treatment regimen (which may include activities such as diet and exercise in addition to medications) is appropriate for a patient and do not monitor the compliance by the patient with such a regimen.

Another problem with current devices is the fact that third-party assistance is often necessary to open a prescription container or organize a patient's medications for a particular day, week or month, especially if a physical or mental impairment exists.

This process can be costly, inaccurate and time-consuming depending on the competency of the patient's caregiver.

These caps can be extremely difficult to open for the elderly and those with arthritis and coordination impairments.

In moments of crisis, the problem is compounded by the tension and anxiety experienced by the patient.

In addition, none of the caps supplied by the Pharmacist can monitor the opening or closing of the container to determine if the patient is in compliance with the prescribed treatment regimen.

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