Piece of pharmacy furniture with control over drug order returns by means of a visual and acoustic signal

Abstract

The present invention relates to a piece of pharmacy furniture with control over drug order returns by means of a visual and acoustic signal, the piece of furniture being designed to store drugs and pharmaceutical products that have been ordered by patients until their collection, so that, failing this, said drugs and pharmaceutical products can be returned by the pharmacist after a maximum number of days available.

Description

[0001] DESCRIPTION

[0002] Pharmacy furniture equipped with medication return control via visual and acoustic signals.

[0003] OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The following invention, as expressed in the statement of this specification, refers to a display-type piece of furniture intended to contain medicines and pharmaceutical products that incorporates an audible and luminous alarm system in order to facilitate the management of the return of the aforementioned products ordered based on their entry date.

[0005] The field of application of the present invention falls within the sector of manufacturing furniture and accessories for use in pharmacies.

[0006] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is well known how important it is to control the storage of existing medications in a pharmacy, in terms of reference, conditions of sale, number of units, or expiration date.

[0008] More specifically, a product is often ordered from a pharmacy but not picked up by the patient. After a reasonable amount of time, it ends up being added to the pharmacy's rotation, knowing that in many cases it will end up expiring on the pharmacy shelf, resulting in financial losses.

[0009] Following Spanish recommendations on this matter, the Guidelines of November 5, 2013, on good distribution practices for medicinal products for human use, recommend in section "6.3.H) a maximum return period of 10 days for these products by pharmacies. In fact, although the text itself only recommends 10 days, the health inspection has adopted this criterion as mandatory. Continuing to identify the problem, once the aforementioned return period for the product has expired, it must be part of the pharmacy's stock. For a higher risk of expiration, these products sold on request are usually included within the ABCD classification as group D, which means a higher probability of being returned due to expiration, with the resulting depreciation.In conclusion, depending on the number of orders, this situation generates an increase in inventory, which results in losses due to depreciation of the medication when it is written off due to its expiration date being exceeded.

[0010] Considering the state of the art, there are software applications on the market developed by companies specializing in the sector, which also address the management of orders for more specific medications and / or pharmaceutical products.

[0011] More specifically, the state of the art as far as inventions are concerned, contains the following document identified by its publication number and title, respectively: MX2015016011A, “Management of reuse of returned medicines” which addresses methods for managing the return of a prepared medicine that include machine-readable systems and media, facilitating that a returned medicine can be reused to complete the request for another medicine.

[0012] Also, in some cases, the same pharmacy management programs include a module for managing orders, which, however, present the following limitations or drawbacks:

[0013] • They are not very conspicuous since they are a window that opens in front of the main program, so the owner does not know the status of the orders without performing an additional computer search.

[0014] • Vulnerable, since, in a customer-facing environment, the person closing the window often does so because they are already serving, and not because they are going to process the return of the order.

[0015] • Do not identify them, as the person who deactivates the pop-up remains anonymous, and the person responsible is not identified. They are susceptible to errors, as the system responds with the pop-up if the information was entered correctly when ordering. Otherwise, it will be treated as an error and no warning will be displayed.

[0016] In general, for these systems to work and not hinder workflow, they require complete registration and the full involvement of staff. Added to this is the disadvantage that they are not visual and do not allow for working in a physical, much safer environment.

[0017] In conclusion, the state of the art in this area does not contain specific adequate means to minimize the economic losses associated with orders for medicines or pharmaceutical products that have not been collected by the customer and have not been returned by the pharmacist in a timely manner, resulting in an economic loss for the relevant pharmacist, although in most cases this loss cannot be quantified.

[0018] Following what is done in other sectors of economic activity to solve related problems, in the hospitality industry, fast-food businesses linked to large multinationals in the sector use methods to discard prepared products that have exceeded an initially established serving time without actually doing so: for example, more than 10 minutes for the delivery of a freshly made hamburger.

[0019] However, the "Pharmacy furniture equipped with medication order return control via visual and acoustic signal" provides a device that facilitates the control and monitoring of medications and pharmaceutical products that have been ordered by patients without being collected and, consequently, must be returned by the pharmacist within a maximum of days, contributing to the state of the art in the field, the following advantages:

[0020] • The light and sound signal is easily manageable. When the return date arrives, the button associated with the shelf space will light up and remain lit until a staff member deactivates it. Additionally, it will also emit an acoustic signal that will stop after 30 seconds and repeat this cycle every 2 hours until it is deactivated.

[0021] • If order returns are not processed, the pharmacy owner will clearly see that the process has not been completed. Even after several days, the buttons that have not been deactivated will remain visible, although they can no longer be manipulated. In the latter case, deactivating the most recent button deactivates the previous ones.

[0022] • As it is a system independent of the management program commonly used in pharmacies, it will not hinder daily work, so violations due to interference are not justified.

[0023] • The possibility of error is minimized by returning only uncollected orders.

[0024] EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] By way of explanation of the invention, the “Pharmacy furniture provided with control of the return of medication orders by means of a visual and acoustic signal” is designed to store medications and pharmaceutical products that have been ordered by patients until they collect them, so that, otherwise, they can be returned by the pharmacist within a maximum number of days available, based on the combination of the following elements:

[0026] A. A shelving unit divided into compartments for storing medications grouped by date of entry, plus an additional area with a locking device for storing narcotics.

[0027] B. Status change button for each medication slot, which includes an RGB LED light in alternating colors of green and red, in order to use a green color to indicate that it is the free compartment where the medications of the day are to be introduced, and a red color as an indication that the day has arrived on which they are to be returned.

[0028] O. A buzzer to generate an audible alarm, of defined duration and intervals, and to be activated when a compartment light turns red, as an indication that the medicines it contains must be returned immediately.

[0029] D. Control circuit connected to the electrical network based on a very low voltage DC adapter device, a microcontroller, and a set of relays. E. Metal space per compartment to indicate products that, due to volume or special storage or preservation conditions, cannot be housed in the corresponding space.

[0030] F. Reminder magnet volume product.

[0031] G. Product reminder magnet on refrigerator.

[0032] H. Narcotic product reminder magnet.

[0033] DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] To complement the description being made and in order to help better understand the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of practical implementation thereof, a set of drawings is attached as an integral part of said description, in which the following has been represented for illustrative and non-limiting purposes:

[0035] Figure 1.- Main perspective view of “Pharmacy furniture equipped with medication return control via visual and acoustic signals” showing one of the compartments for placing medications with its button with the red light on, to indicate that it must be emptied and the medications it contains must be returned.

[0036] Figure 2.- Main perspective view of “Pharmacy furniture equipped with medication order return control by means of a visual and acoustic signal” showing one of the compartments for placing medications with its button with the green light on, to indicate that it is the compartment where the medications received throughout the day, which have been ordered by patients for collection at the pharmacy, must be introduced.

[0037] In the aforementioned figures the following constituent elements can be highlighted:

[0038] 1. Compartment for storing medications grouped by entry date.

[0039] 2. Movable partition between spaces. 3. Compartment with locking device for storing narcotics.

[0040] 4. Push button with RGB LED light in alternating colors of green, red or off.

[0041] 5. Metal space where you can place product labels that cannot be placed in the corresponding spaces.

[0042] 6. Magnet reminder volume product.

[0043] 7. Product reminder magnet on refrigerator.

[0044] 8. Narcotic product reminder magnet.

[0045] EXAMPLE OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATION

[0046] As preferred embodiments of “Furniture for pharmacies provided with control of return of medication orders by means of visual and acoustic signal”, in view of Figures 1-2, it can be used in a conventional pharmacy to manage the return of medications classified as Group D, for which it is necessary to manage a return in the event that it is not collected by the patient within a period of no more than 10 days.

[0047] Thus, in the aforementioned Figure, a wooden display-type piece of furniture is shown, provided with compartments (1) for the placement of medicines already ordered by patients, received at the pharmacy and grouped by days remaining for their possible return in the event that they are not collected by the patient. Such spaces at the same level have been separated by a mobile partition (2) between spaces in order to optimize storage spaces by making them of variable volume.

[0048] Additionally, it also contains a locked compartment (3) for the storage of narcotics and even an adjacent space for additional storage.

[0049] Continuing with the description, each compartment (1) will be used to store the medications corresponding to one day. For a better understanding, in the exemplary embodiment, it can be organized, taking as a reference the 10 consecutive days to manage returns using eight compartments (1), so that in the event that the pharmacy is not open on weekends, on Monday the medications contained in compartment (1) of Monday plus those of Saturday and Sunday can be removed. It is recommended to start the initial order at a time when the morning order has been received.

[0050] In this context, as shown in Figure 1, each day, and at the same time that the module was first switched on, one of the compartments (1) for placing medications activates its light signal when the red light of the corresponding button with RGB LED light (4) turns on and activates a conventional audible alarm buzzer, to indicate that it must be emptied as a prior step to the return of the medications it contains. For greater clarification, the rest of the compartments will have the light of their button with RGB LED light (4) deactivated, as an indication that they have not reached the day on which they must be removed.

[0051] The aforementioned light and sound signals, once activated, remain activated until deactivated. For example, the sound signal is activated by means of beeps synchronized with the flashing of the call sign for 30 seconds. After this time, the light signal remains on and the sound signal remains off. As long as the call sign is not deactivated, this cycle is repeated every two hours; that is, the flashing and beeping would be reactivated every two hours for a period of 30 seconds.

[0052] Finally, if the pharmacy is not open over the weekend, when it opens on Monday, its staff would find two compartments (1) marked for withdrawal, and even if Monday were a holiday, Tuesday would find three compartments (1) for withdrawal, and so on. Due to this situation, there are pharmacies that are open on weekends and others that are not, in the example implementation, the option has been to provide eight compartments (1).

[0053] Continuing with the operation, the professional who carries out the removal of the products corresponding to the compartment (1) that indicates it, after 12 noon as an example, presses the corresponding button with RGB LED type light (4), so that once emptied it deactivates the audible alarm buzzer and goes from the red light in Figure 1 to the green light in Figure 2 as an indication of the compartment (1) where the medicines generated during that day must be introduced.For even more clarification, the way to deactivate the light and sound signals, when there is more than one activated, in the case that, for example, a weekend passes in which the pharmacy has been closed, would be to carry out the change of state in the compartment (1) corresponding to the last day according to the date indicated in each compartment (1), so that automatically the compartments (1) of previous dates also change state in the same press, although only to the light off, instead of green.

[0054] Obviously, to ensure the described operation, a control circuit connected to the electrical network is used based on a 12 V direct current adapter device, a microcontroller and a set of relays, which must be previously parameterized adapting them to the needs and priorities of the person in charge of the pharmacy, such equipment that is not shown in the Figures 1-2 referred to, can be incorporated, together with the audible alarm buzzer, on the lower face of the horizontal panel that forms the envelope of the assembly just above the wheels.

[0055] In view of the problem of also integrating the control of orders that either do not fit in the compartments (1), or are thermolabile products to be kept in a refrigerated appliance or, finally, narcotics for which additional custody is required, a metal space (5) is provided for each compartment (1) where magnets of products that cannot be in the corresponding spaces can be placed. For this purpose, use is made, where appropriate, of a product reminder magnet of volume (6), a product reminder magnet in the refrigerator (7) and / or a narcotic medication reminder magnet (8), in order to remind the person making the withdrawal that they must also take some products stored in the warehouse, in the refrigerator and / or narcotic products according to dates on them that must also be returned.

[0056] Finally, in the event of a power outage, the device could be restarted once the power supply is restored by pressing the desired button immediately after restarting, within a ten-second interval. Alternatively, a UPS-type uninterruptible power supply could be included, eliminating the need to restart the system. It is not considered necessary to elaborate on this description so that any person skilled in the art can understand the scope of the invention and the advantages derived from it in its various applications, adapted to the needs of each pharmacy and its operation, and even to other types of sales activities with similar problems.

[0057] Likewise, the various materials used to manufacture the various elements described, as well as the designs, shapes, dimensions, and / or elements used for the purposes described, may be subject to variation provided this does not imply a change in the essence of the invention. The terms used in this specification are to be understood in a broad, non-limiting sense.

Claims

CLAIMS 1 Pharmacy cabinet equipped with medication order return control by means of a visual and acoustic signal, designed to store medications and pharmaceutical products ordered by patients until they are collected, so that, if not, they can be returned by the pharmacist within a maximum number of days available, characterized by containing the following elements: A. A shelving unit divided into compartments (1) designed for the placement of a set of medicines grouped by date of entry, plus an additional area with a closing device (3) for the storage of narcotics. B. Button (4) for changing the status for each medication compartment, which includes an RGB LED light in alternating colors of red to indicate the need for action and green to identify the available compartment corresponding to that day. O. A buzzer to generate an audible alarm, of defined duration and intervals, and to be activated when a compartment light turns red, as an indication that the medicines it contains must be returned immediately. D. Control circuit connected to the electrical network based on a very low voltage DC adapter device, a microcontroller and a set of relays. E. Metal space (5) per compartment (1) to indicate products that cannot be in the corresponding space. F. Reminder magnet volume product (6). G. Product reminder magnet on refrigerator (7). H. Narcotic product reminder magnet (8). 2.- Furniture for pharmacies provided with control of the return of medication orders by means of a visual and acoustic signal, according to claim 1, characterized by the configuration of its shelf-type furniture divided into compartments (1) that at the same level contains a mobile partition (2) separating adjacent spaces.

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