Medication support system

Abstract

To provide a medication support system with which instantaneous determination of whether medication is appropriate is hardly likely to be difficult due to a communication situation.SOLUTION: Medication information is read with a reading unit of a portable terminal 200 at a medication site. The medication information read is subjected to collation with collation information with regard to whether a medication content is appropriate, according to either remote collation processing or local collation processing. In the collation, either the remote collation processing or the local collation processing is selectively implemented. In remote collation processing, the medication information is transmitted from the portable terminal 200 to a server 100, and collation with collation information is conducted in the server 100. In local collation processing, collation information received by the portable terminal 200 in beforehand from the server 100 and the medication information are collated in the portable terminal 200.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medication support system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, at sites such as hospitals and nursing homes where patients and facility users take medicine, assistance with the administration of the medicine is provided. The medication content check system of Patent Document 1 relates to a system that supports the assistance of medication at such sites. This system determines whether the medication content to the patient is correct by comparing the medication content acquired from the speech of the patient and medical staff with medication instructions to the patient. In this system, a wearable terminal carried by the medical staff and a medication content check device communicate over a communication network. The medication content check device performs the above comparison based on information transmitted from the wearable terminal over the communication network. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-144749 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] If the determination of whether or not medication is appropriate at the site is made by a remote device connected to the on-site device via a communication network, as in Patent Document 1, there is a risk that real-time determination will be difficult due to communication failures, etc.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a medication support system in which it is possible to quickly determine whether or not medication is appropriate, without being hindered by communication conditions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A medication support system according to the present invention is a medication support system including a terminal device having a reading unit that reads medication information, which is information related to medication, at the site of medication, and a first computer that can communicate with the terminal device, wherein the first computer includes a first storage unit and a first control unit that store matching information used to match the medication information to determine whether the medication content is appropriate, the terminal device includes a second storage unit, an output unit, and a second control unit, the first control unit executes a process of transmitting the matching information stored in the first storage unit to the terminal device, the second control unit executes a process of receiving the matching information from the first computer and storing it in the second storage unit, and a remote matching process by the first control unit and the second control unit and a local matching process by the second control unit are executed. the remote verification process includes a process in which the second control unit transmits the medication information read by the reading unit when taking the medication to the first computer, a process in which the first control unit receives the medication information from the terminal device, collates the medication information with the verification information stored in the first storage unit, and transmits the verification result to the terminal device, and a process in which the second control unit receives the verification result from the first computer and causes the output unit to output the verification result; and the local verification process includes a process in which the second control unit receives the verification information from the first computer, collates the medication information read by the reading unit with the verification information received from the first computer, and causes the output unit to output the verification result.

[0007] According to the medication support system of the present invention, a remote matching process in which the first computer matches medication information transmitted from the terminal device with matching information, and a local matching process in which the medication information is matched with matching information previously received from the first computer are selectively executed. Therefore, when remote matching is difficult due to deterioration of communication conditions, etc., immediate matching is possible by selecting the local matching process. Therefore, it is easy to immediately determine whether medication is appropriate.

[0008] In the present invention, it is preferable that the second control unit further executes a process of checking a communication status with the first computer, and selectively executes the remote verification process and the local verification process according to a result of the process of checking the communication status, whereby the remote verification process and the local verification process are automatically switched over according to the result of the communication status check.

[0009] In the present invention, it is preferable that the second control unit, in the process of checking the communication status, continues to attempt communication with the first computer until the communication is possible, and determines whether or not the elapsed time since the start of the communication attempt has exceeded a first reference value while the communication is not possible. This makes it possible to check the communication status by a simple method of determining whether or not the elapsed time since the start of the communication attempt has become long.

[0010] In the present invention, it is preferable that the second control unit, in the process of checking the communication status, continues to communicate the necessary data with the first computer and further determines whether or not the elapsed time from the start of data reception exceeds a second reference value while the data communication is not completed. This makes it possible to check the communication status with a simple method of determining whether or not the elapsed time from the start of communication of the necessary data has become long.

[0011] In addition, in the present invention, it is preferable that the system includes a plurality of the terminal devices and a second computer capable of communicating with each of the terminal devices, and the second computer includes a third storage unit that stores the first reference value commonly applied to the plurality of terminal devices, and a third control unit that transmits the first reference value stored in the third storage unit to the plurality of terminal devices. This allows for centralized management of the settings of the first reference value for checking communication conditions for the plurality of terminal devices.

[0012] In addition, in the present invention, it is preferable that the system includes a plurality of the terminal devices and a second computer capable of communicating with each of the terminal devices, and the second computer includes a third storage unit that stores the second reference value commonly applied to the plurality of terminal devices, and a third control unit that transmits the second reference value stored in the third storage unit to the plurality of terminal devices. This allows the settings of the second reference value for checking the communication status to be centrally managed for the plurality of terminal devices.

[0013] In the present invention, it is preferable to selectively take a hybrid mode in which the remote verification process and the local verification process are selectively executed according to the result of the process of checking the communication status, a remote mode in which the remote verification process is executed or neither the remote verification process nor the local verification process is executed according to the result of the process of checking the communication status, and the second control unit outputs a message indicating the occurrence of a communication error to the output unit, and a local mode in which the process of checking the communication status is not executed and the local verification process is executed. According to this, it is possible to switch between a hybrid mode in which both the remote verification process and the local verification process are automatically switched, a remote mode in which processing is exclusively performed remotely, and a local mode in which processing is exclusively performed locally. This allows flexible setting according to the communication status and management system of the facility.

[0014] In the present invention, it is preferable that the terminal device further includes an input unit that accepts user input regarding the result of taking the medicine, and the result of taking the medicine indicated by the user input accepted by the input unit is transmitted from the terminal device to the first computer or temporarily stored in the second storage unit and then transmitted to the first computer in accordance with the result of the process of checking the communication status in the hybrid mode, or the result of taking the medicine indicated by the user input accepted by the input unit is transmitted from the terminal device to the first computer or temporarily stored in the second storage unit and then transmitted to the first computer in accordance with the result of the process of checking the communication status in the remote mode, or the second control unit outputs a message indicating the occurrence of a communication error to the output unit in accordance with the result of the process of checking the communication status in the local mode, and the result of taking the medicine indicated by the user input accepted by the input unit is transmitted from the terminal device to the first computer in accordance with the result of the process of checking the communication status in the local mode, and temporarily stored in the second storage unit and then transmitted from the terminal device to the first computer. According to this, the result of taking the medicine input to the terminal device after taking the medicine is appropriately transmitted to the first computer by a transmission method corresponding to each mode. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a medication support system according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a server in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the mobile terminal of FIG. [Figure 4] 4 is a diagram showing an example of a comparison result displayed on a touch panel display of the mobile terminal of FIG. 3. [Diagram 5] 4 is an example of a GUI image displayed on a touch panel display of the mobile terminal of FIG. 3. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a setting PC shown in FIG. [Figure 7] 10 is another example of a GUI image displayed on the touch panel display of the mobile terminal of FIG. 3. [Figure 8] 10 is yet another example of a GUI image displayed on the touch panel display of the mobile terminal of FIG. 3. [Figure 9]2 is a flowchart showing the flow of a series of processes executed by the medication support system of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] A medication support system 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Fig. 1. The medication support system 1 is a system that supports medication by users such as patients and facility users in hospitals, nursing facilities, etc. When taking medication, assistants consisting of staff of the hospital, nursing facility, etc. assist the users in taking the medication.

[0017] As shown in Fig. 1, the medication support system 1 has a server 100, a mobile terminal 200, and a setting PC 300, which are connected to each other via a communication network N consisting of the Internet or the like. Each of these devices has hardware such as a storage unit composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The storage unit stores program data and the like to be executed by the CPU. The CPU, which is hardware, executes various processes in each device according to the program data and other data, which are software stored in the storage unit.

[0018] The server 100 (corresponding to the first computer of the present invention) has a server storage unit 110 and a control unit 120, as shown in FIG. 2. The server storage unit 110 (corresponding to the first storage unit of the present invention) stores matching information, matching results, and result information. The matching information is information used for pre-matching whether the contents of the medication are appropriate. The contents of the medication are, specifically, that a specific medication recipient takes a specific drug in a specific time period, that a specific assistant is assisting, and the like. In order to match whether the contents of such medication are appropriate before the medication is taken, the matching information in this embodiment includes, for example, association information that associates a specific time period, a specific medication recipient ID, and a specific medication ID, and an assistant ID list. The matching result is information indicating the result of matching the medication information with the matching information, as described later. The result information is information consisting of the history of the medication results transmitted from the mobile terminal 200.

[0019] The control unit 120 (corresponding to the first control unit of the present invention) compares the medication information transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 with the comparison information as described below, and transmits to the mobile terminal 200 a comparison result indicating whether the medication content indicated by the medication information is appropriate. The control unit 120 also transmits the comparison information to the mobile terminal 200 in response to a request from the mobile terminal 200. The control unit 120 also adds the medication results transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 to the result information in the server storage unit 110. Furthermore, the control unit 120 transmits the result information to the mobile terminal 200 or the setting PC 300 in response to a request from the mobile terminal 200 or the setting PC 300. This makes it possible to view the result information on the mobile terminal 200 or the setting PC 300.

[0020] The mobile terminal 200 (corresponding to the terminal device of the present invention) is a terminal carried and used by each assistant. Usually, multiple staff members are engaged in assistant duties, so that multiple mobile terminals 200 exist in the medication support system 1. As shown in FIG. 3, each mobile terminal 200 has a reading unit 210, a touch panel display 220, a communication unit 230, a local storage unit 240, and a control unit 250. The reading unit 210 reads a two-dimensional barcode and acquires medication information indicated by the two-dimensional barcode. In this embodiment, two-dimensional barcodes indicating respective medication information are recorded on the wearer and assistant's clothing (such as name tags) and on the drug packaging (corresponding to the recording medium of the present invention). The medication information of the medication recipient is the medication recipient ID. The medication information of the assistant is the assistant ID. The medication information of the drug is the drug ID.

[0021] Touch panel display 220 (corresponding to the output unit and input unit of the present invention) displays characters, images, etc. on a screen. When a finger or the like touches the screen, touch panel display 220 detects the contact position and outputs the detection result to control unit 250. This allows touch panel display 220 to accept various user inputs.

[0022] The communication unit 230 performs various data communications through the communication network N using a short-range wireless communication standard such as wireless LAN. The communication by the communication unit 230 consists of three steps: establishing communication with the communication network N, establishing a connection with a communication destination device such as the server 100, and data communication.

[0023] Local memory unit 240 (corresponding to the second memory unit of the present invention) stores an application, matching information, matching results, medication results, setting information, and mode information. Mode information will be described later. The application is a program that causes mobile terminal 200 to function so as to perform processing related to matching information, matching results, and medication results, which will be described later, by control unit 250. Setting information indicates a connection timeout period and a communication timeout period. Setting information is updated based on values ​​transmitted from setting PC 300, as will be described later. The times indicated by the setting information are used in the communication status confirmation process by control unit 250, as will be described below.

[0024] The control unit 250 (corresponding to a second control unit of the present invention) checks the communication status of the communication unit 230 when performing various communications with the server 100. The communication status is checked for each of the above three stages in the communication of the communication unit 230.

[0025] The first stage communication status relates to whether communication through the communication network N is properly ensured. For example, if the radio wave conditions are poor and a signal cannot be received from a communication device in the communication network N in the first place, it is determined that the first stage of communication has failed. If communication through the communication network N is properly ensured, it is determined that the first stage of communication has succeeded.

[0026] The communication status of the second stage relates to whether communication with the communication destination device through the communication network N has been started correctly and data communication is possible at any time. Specifically, if communication with the communication destination device is attempted by the communication unit 230, but the time elapsed since the start of the communication attempt exceeds the connection timeout time (corresponding to the first reference value of the present invention) without communication being started, it is determined that the second stage of communication has failed. If communication with the communication destination device is started before the time elapsed since the start of the communication attempt exceeds the connection timeout time, it is determined that the second stage of communication has been successful.

[0027] The communication status of the third stage relates to whether or not the communication of necessary data with the communication destination device can be completed. Specifically, if the communication unit 230 starts communication with the communication destination device and starts communication of necessary data, but the data communication is not completed and the elapsed time from the start of the data communication exceeds the communication timeout time (corresponding to the second reference value of the present invention), it is determined that the third stage of communication has failed. If the data communication is completed before the elapsed time from the start of the data communication exceeds the communication timeout time, it is determined that the third stage of communication has succeeded.

[0028] After checking the communication status in the first and second stages, the control unit 250 receives the matching information from the server 100 and stores it in the local storage unit 240. The matching information is received at two types of timing: a specific timing and a user-specified timing. The former is, for example, a timing immediately after an app is started in the mobile terminal 200. The latter is a timing according to an instruction by a user input via the touch panel display 220. At these timings, the control unit 250 requests the server 100 for the matching information. The matching information transmitted from the server 100 in response to this is stored in the local storage unit 240.

[0029] The control unit 250 acquires the medication information from the result of reading the two-dimensional barcode by the reading unit 210. The medication information is collated with the verification information by the server 100 or the control unit 250. This collation process includes a remote collation process and a local collation process.

[0030] In the remote verification process, after the communication statuses in the first and second stages are confirmed, the medication information is transmitted from the control unit 250 to the server 100, and the server 100 verifies the medication information against the verification information in the server storage unit 110. The result of the verification by the server 100 is stored in the server storage unit 110 and transmitted to the mobile terminal 200.

[0031] The local matching process is a process in which matching information previously stored in the local storage unit 240 is matched with the medication information by the control unit 250. The matching result by the control unit 250 is stored in the local storage unit 240. The local matching process may be executed when it is determined that communication has failed by checking the communication status, or may be executed without checking the communication status, that is, regardless of the communication status.

[0032] In both the remote verification process and the local verification process, after the process, the control unit 250 displays the verification result on the touch panel display 220. Fig. 4 is an example of the display, in which the verification result is displayed by a "○" symbol or an "×" symbol. An "○" is displayed when the verification result indicates that the medication content is appropriate. An "×" is displayed when the verification result indicates that the medication content is inappropriate.

[0033] Based on the collation result displayed on the touch panel display 220, the medication is executed or stopped. The result is input to the mobile terminal 200 by the user's input through a graphical user interface (GUI) image shown in FIG. 5 displayed on the touch panel display 220. The control unit 250 transmits the input medication result, that is, whether the medication was executed or stopped, to the server 100. There are two methods for transmitting the medication result to the server 100. The first method is to transmit the medication result to the server 100 immediately when it is determined that communication is established by checking the communication status in the first and second stages (hereinafter, referred to as direct transmission). The second method is to store the medication result in the local storage unit 240 once, and then transmit the medication result to the server 100 at a timing when communication with the server 100 is possible (hereinafter, referred to as indirect transmission). The latter method may be executed in response to a communication failure determined by checking the communication status, or may be executed without checking the communication status, that is, regardless of the communication status.

[0034] In this embodiment, three modes can be selected that differ in the verification process and the method of transmitting the medication results in the mobile terminal 200. One of them, the hybrid mode, is a mode in which the verification process and the method of transmitting the medication results are selected according to the result of checking the communication status. The remote mode is a mode in which the remote verification process and the direct transmission of the medication results are selected when the result of checking the communication status is good. The local mode is a mode in which the local verification process and the indirect transmission of the medication results are selected without checking the communication status. The details of the processing in these modes will be described later. The control unit 250 selects one of the hybrid mode, the remote mode, and the local mode based on the mode information stored in the local storage unit 240, and executes the processing according to the selected mode. The mode information is updated based on the value transmitted from the setting PC 300 as described later.

[0035] The setting PC 300 (corresponding to the second computer of the present invention) is a computer used by a person in charge of supervising the work of assistants. As shown in Fig. 6, the setting PC 300 has an input / output unit 310, a PC storage unit 320, and a control unit 330. The input / output unit 310 includes input devices such as a mouse and a keyboard, and an output device such as a display. The mouse and keyboard are capable of accepting various types of user input. The display displays characters, images, etc. on a screen.

[0036] The PC storage unit 320 (corresponding to the third storage unit of the present invention) stores setting information and mode information commonly used by a plurality of mobile terminals 200. The control unit 330 accepts input of the connection and communication timeout times indicated by the setting information by a user input through the input / output unit 310. For example, the control unit 330 displays a GUI image shown in FIG. 7 on the display of the input / output unit 310. This GUI image includes input boxes for the connection timeout time and communication timeout time of the general communication setting and input boxes for the connection timeout time and communication timeout time of the matching communication setting. The general communication setting is used when checking the communication status when receiving matching information from the server 100 or sending the medication result to the server 100. The matching communication setting is used when checking the communication status when performing the remote matching process and the local matching process. It is assumed that the amount of data transmitted and received in the communication to which the general communication setting is applied may be larger than the amount of data transmitted and received in the communication to which the matching communication setting is applied. In addition, since the latter setting is applied when performing medication, it is required to reduce the time required to check the communication status. For this reason, it is expected that the time in the former setting will be set to be longer than the time in the latter setting.

[0037] The user inputs values ​​into each input box using a mouse or keyboard. The control unit 330 (corresponding to the third control unit of the present invention) stores the values ​​input by the user in the PC storage unit 320 and transmits them to each mobile terminal 200. As described above, these values ​​are used in each mobile terminal 200 to update the setting information stored in the local storage unit 240.

[0038] Furthermore, the control unit 330 accepts input of a mode indicated by the mode information by a user input via the input / output unit 310. For example, the control unit 330 causes the display of the input / output unit 310 to display a GUI image shown in FIG. 8. This GUI image has check boxes for exclusively selecting a mode from among the hybrid mode, the remote mode, and the local mode. The user selects a mode by checking one of the check boxes using a mouse or a keyboard. The control unit 330 stores the mode selected by the user input as mode information in the PC storage unit 320 and transmits it to each mobile terminal 200. As described above, the transmitted mode is used to update the mode information stored in the local storage unit 240 in each mobile terminal 200.

[0039] Hereinafter, a series of processing steps for supporting medication in the hybrid mode by the medication support system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0040] First, an application is started in the mobile terminal 200 (S1). Next, the mobile terminal 200 checks the communication status in three stages and receives verification information from the server 100 (S2). In the communication status check in S2, the connection timeout period and the communication timeout period in the general communication settings are used. If it is determined that communication has failed in any of the first to third stages of the communication status check (S2, No), the verification information previously received from the server 100 is used in the subsequent processing of the mobile terminal 200 (S3 and S5 onward). If it is determined that all of the first to third stages of the communication status check have been successful (S2, Yes), the verification information stored in the local storage unit 240 of the mobile terminal 200 is updated to the verification information newly received from the server 100 (S4).

[0041] Next, prior to the medication information verification process, the mobile terminal 200 checks the communication status of the first stage (S5). If the first stage communication status check is successful (S5, successful), the reading unit 210 reads the two-dimensional barcode, i.e., the medication information (S6). Next, the mobile terminal 200 checks the communication status of the second and third stages and transmits the medication information to the server 100 (S7 and S8). In S7, the connection timeout time of the verification communication setting is used, and in S8, the communication timeout time of the verification communication setting is used. If the second and third stages of the communication status check are successful (both S7 and S8 are successful), the server 100 performs verification of the medication information and the verification information (S9). The processes of S5 to S9 correspond to the remote verification process described above. The verification result in S9 is stored in the server storage unit 110 (S10). Next, the medication result is input (S11). Next, the communication status of the first to third stages is checked, and the medication result entered in S11 is sent to the server 100 (S12). In checking the communication status in S12, the connection timeout time and communication timeout time of the general communication settings are used. If it is determined that all of the communication status checks of the first to third stages are successful (S12, Yes), the medication result sent from the mobile terminal 200 to the server 100 is stored in the server storage unit 120 (S13). Then, the series of processes is completed.

[0042] On the other hand, if it is determined in the process of S5 that the first stage of checking the communication status has failed (S5, failure), the reading unit 210 reads the two-dimensional barcode, i.e., the medication information (S14), and the mobile terminal 200 checks the medication information against the verification information (S15). The verification result in S15 is stored in the local storage unit 240 (S16). Next, the medication result is input (S17). The medication result is temporarily stored in the local storage unit 240 (S18). Next, the medication result is transmitted to the server 100 (S19). This transmission may be automatically performed by the mobile terminal 200 when it is determined that the communication status has improved by checking the communication status, or may be performed when an explicit instruction is given to transmit the medication result to the server 100 by a user input via the touch panel display 220. After that, S13 is executed, and the series of processes is completed. The series of processes of S5, S14, and S15 correspond to the above-mentioned local verification process.

[0043] If the communication status check fails in S7 and S8 (S7 or S8 fails), the process from S15 onwards is executed. If it is determined in the process of S12 that the communication status check fails in any of the first to third stages (S12, No), the process from S18 onwards is executed.

[0044] 9 except for S2 to S4, S14, and S15 to S19, that is, S1 and S5 to S13 are executed in the order of S1 → S5 → S6 → ... → S12 → S13. During this series of processes, if confirmation of the communication status fails in any of S5, S7, S8, and S12, an error message indicating communication failure is displayed on touch panel display 220 of mobile terminal 200, and the process is interrupted until the communication status improves. When the communication status improves and confirmation of the communication status is successful, the next process is executed.

[0045] In the local mode, the processes of S1 to S4, S14 to S19, and S13 shown in FIG. 9 are executed in the order of S1→S2→...→S4→S14→S15→...→S19→S13.

[0046] According to the medication support system 1 of the present embodiment described above, a remote matching process in which the server 100 matches medication information sent from the mobile terminal 200 with matching information, and a local matching process in which the mobile terminal 200 matches medication information with matching information previously received from the server 100, are selectively executed. In the present embodiment, in the hybrid mode, switching between the remote matching process and the local matching process is automatically performed according to the results of checking the communication status. Therefore, when the remote matching process is difficult due to deterioration of the communication status, etc., immediate matching by the local matching process is possible. Therefore, it is easy to immediately determine whether or not medication is appropriate.

[0047] In this embodiment, when communication with the server 100 occurs, the mobile terminal 200 checks the communication status in three stages. In particular, in the second stage, the communication status is checked by a simple method of determining whether or not the time elapsed since the start of the communication attempt has become long. In addition, in the third stage, the communication status is checked by a simple method of determining whether or not the time elapsed since the start of communication of necessary data such as collation information and medication results has become long.

[0048] In this embodiment, the setting information and the mode information are set in the setting PC 300, and the setting contents are reflected in the multiple mobile terminals 200 at once. Therefore, the setting information and the mode information are managed centrally across the multiple mobile terminals 200. By setting the mode information, it is possible to switch between a hybrid mode in which both the remote verification process and the local verification process are automatically switched, a remote mode in which the process is exclusively performed remotely, and a local mode in which the process is exclusively performed locally. Therefore, flexible setting according to the communication situation and the management system of the facility is possible. In addition, the medication result inputted to the mobile terminal 200 after the medication is taken is appropriately transmitted to the first computer by a transmission method corresponding to each of the hybrid mode, the remote mode, and the local mode.

[0049] In this embodiment, the result of matching between the medication information and the matching information is stored in the server storage unit 110 or the local storage unit 240. Therefore, even if the medication result has not been input after matching (for example, the app is terminated in the mobile terminal 200 before the medication result is input, the medication result is not input due to a mistake, or the medication result is not sent from the mobile terminal 200 to the server 100 due to poor communication), the matching result remains as a record in the server 100. As a result, for example, after a remote matching process is performed by a certain mobile terminal 200, when a remote matching process related to the same medication is performed by another mobile terminal 200, it is possible to cause the server 100 to output an error indicating that the medication has been taken twice, according to the matching result stored in the server storage unit 110.

[0050] <Modification> The above is a description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the means for solving the problems.

[0051] For example, in the above embodiment, in the hybrid mode, the local verification process and the remote verification process are automatically selected according to the result of checking the communication status. Alternatively or in addition to this, a mode in which the local verification process and the remote verification process are switched by a user instruction may be adopted. For example, the remote verification process and the local verification process may be switched according to a user input via the touch panel display 220 of the mobile terminal 200.

[0052] In the above-described embodiment, the reading unit 210 of the mobile terminal 200 reads the medication information by reading a two-dimensional barcode. Alternatively or in addition to this, the medication information may be read by other methods such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition) reading, biometric authentication, and voice recognition. For example, OCR reading can read the medication information printed on the medication packaging. Furthermore, biometric authentication can be used to personally authenticate the person taking the medication and the assistant.

[0053] In the remote mode according to the above embodiment, if the confirmation of the communication status fails in either S7 or S8, an error message indicating the communication failure is displayed and the process is suspended until the communication status improves. Alternatively, after the error message is displayed, the result of reading the two-dimensional barcode in S6 may be temporarily stored in the local storage unit 240, the medication is taken without the verification process being performed, and the medication results in S10 are input and the input contents are stored in the local storage unit 240. Then, after the communication status is restored, the result of reading the two-dimensional barcode and the medication results stored in the local storage unit 240 may be transmitted to the server 100, and the server 100 may perform the verification process afterwards based on the transmitted information. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1. Medication support system 100 Servers 110 Server memory unit 120 Control section 200 Mobile Devices 210 Reading unit 220 Touch Panel Display 240 Local Storage 250 Control section 300 Setting PC 320 PC storage section 330 Control Unit

Claims

1. A medication support system including a terminal device having a reading unit that reads medication information, which is information related to medication, at a site of medication, and a first computer that can communicate with the terminal device, The first computer, The device includes a first storage unit and a first control unit that store matching information used for matching with the medication information regarding whether the medication content is appropriate or not, the terminal device includes a second storage unit, an output unit, and a second control unit, the first control unit executes a process of transmitting the matching information stored in the first storage unit to the terminal device; the second control unit executes a process of receiving the matching information from the first computer and storing it in the second storage unit; Either a remote verification process by the first control unit and the second control unit or a local verification process by the second control unit is selectively executed; The remote verification process comprises: A process in which the second control unit transmits the medication information read by the reading unit when taking the medication to the first computer; A process in which the first control unit receives the medication information from the terminal device, compares the medication information with the matching information stored in the first storage unit, and transmits the matching result to the terminal device; The second control unit receives the matching result from the first computer and causes the output unit to output the matching result, The local verification process includes: A medication support system characterized in that the second control unit includes a process of receiving the matching information from the first computer, matching the medication information read by the reading unit with the matching information received from the first computer, and outputting the matching result to the output unit.

2. The second control unit further executes a process of checking a communication status with the first computer, The medication support system according to claim 1, wherein the remote verification process and the local verification process are selectively executed depending on a confirmation result of the process of confirming the communication status.

3. The medication support system described in claim 2, characterized in that, in the process of checking the communication status, the second control unit continues to attempt communication with the first computer until communication becomes possible, and determines whether the elapsed time since the start of the communication attempt has exceeded a first reference value while communication is not possible.

4. The medication support system described in claim 3, characterized in that, in the process of checking the communication status, the second control unit continues to communicate necessary data through communication with the first computer, and further determines whether the elapsed time since starting to receive data has exceeded a second reference value while the data communication is not completed.

5. a plurality of the terminal devices and a second computer capable of communicating with each of the terminal devices, The second computer, a third storage unit configured to store the first reference value that is commonly applied to the plurality of terminal devices; The medication support system according to claim 3, further comprising a third control unit that transmits the first reference value stored in the third memory unit to the plurality of terminal devices.

6. a plurality of the terminal devices and a second computer capable of communicating with each of the terminal devices, The second computer, a third storage unit configured to store the second reference value that is commonly applied to the plurality of terminal devices; The medication support system according to claim 4, further comprising a third control unit that transmits the second reference value stored in the third memory unit to the plurality of terminal devices.

7. a hybrid mode in which the remote verification process and the local verification process are selectively executed depending on a result of the process of checking the communication status; a remote mode in which, depending on a result of the process of confirming the communication status, the remote verification process is executed, or neither the remote verification process nor the local verification process is executed, and the second control unit outputs a message indicating the occurrence of a communication error to the output unit; The medication support system according to claim 2, characterized in that a local mode is selectively adopted in which the process of checking the communication status is not executed and the local collation process is executed.

8. The terminal device further includes an input unit that accepts user input regarding a result of taking the medication, The result of taking the medicine indicated by the user input received by the input unit is In the hybrid mode, depending on a result of the process of checking the communication status, the terminal device transmits the information to the first computer, or the information is temporarily stored in the second storage unit and then transmitted to the first computer, In the remote mode, depending on a result of the process of confirming the communication status, a message is sent from the terminal device to the first computer, or the second control unit outputs a message indicating the occurrence of a communication error to the output unit, The medication support system described in claim 7, characterized in that in the local mode, the process of confirming the communication status is not executed, and the information is temporarily stored in the second memory unit and then transmitted from the terminal device to the first computer.

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