Medical Dose Image Auto-Cropping for Remote Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional pharmacy management techniques face inefficiencies and errors in preparing medical doses due to reliance on physical labels, manual record-keeping, and lack of reliable consultation of FDA-approved protocols, leading to unprepared, lost, or duplicate doses, and increased administrative overhead.
Innovation Solution
A medical dose preparation management system that receives and manages dose orders digitally, captures and auto-crops medical dose preparation images to reduce storage size without compromising resolution, allowing for automated documentation and verification, thereby reducing human intervention and increasing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If physical labels are used to track medical dose orders, then the pharmacy can maintain a simple tracking system, but doses may become unprepared, lost, or duplicate and administrative overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical labels with digital copies stored in a database. Each dose order is represented by a digital record containing all necessary information, which can be accessed and tracked electronically. This eliminates the problems of lost or duplicate physical labels while maintaining tracking functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the mechanical system of physical label printing, handling, and attachment with an electronic information system. Digital records are created, stored, and accessed electronically, replacing the manual processes of printing physical labels and physically tracking doses through the pharmacy workflow.
2Reliability
If pharmacists physically observe materials in the clean room to verify doses, then verification can be performed, but it requires protective clothing and takes time and resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates digital images (copies) of the preparation area, materials, and processes using imaging devices. These images are transmitted to pharmacists who can verify doses remotely without entering the clean room. The digital copies provide sufficient visual information for verification while eliminating the need for protective clothing and reducing verification time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces digital imaging technology as an intermediary between the preparation area and the pharmacist. Instead of direct visual observation requiring physical presence, the imaging system acts as a mediator that captures and transmits visual information, allowing verification to occur remotely and efficiently.
3Measurement precision
If full-resolution medical dose preparation images are stored, then image quality is maintained, but storage space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by storing full-resolution images only when needed for verification or documentation, while using compressed or lower-resolution versions for routine tracking and display. The system selectively maintains high quality where necessary and reduces quality where full resolution is not critical, optimizing the balance between image quality and storage requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
Use of improved image acquisition for a medical dose preparation system. The medical dose preparation system may include a work station for capturing medical dose preparation images (e.g., to document preparation of a mediation dose). The medical dose preparation image may be captured by a video data stream processor capable of performing an auto cropping technique on a video data stream received from an image device. Accordingly, memory resources may be more efficiently employed while maintaining high quality medical dose preparation images.