Pharmaceutical Dispensing System with GUI Time Scale for Medication Scheduling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The administration of multiple medications can be confusing due to similarities in pills and varying administration frequencies, especially in hospitals and long-term care facilities, where it is difficult to manage the number of medications being administered.
Innovation Solution
A pharmaceutical dispensing system that uses graphical user interfaces to allow users to assign specific times of administration for medications, including options for meals or snacks, and packages medications into customized pouches with date and time labels, enabling patient-centric medication scheduling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If medications are packaged in individual pouches with specific administration times, then medication administration accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The medication packaging system divides medications into individual daily pouches, each containing specific doses for particular administration times. This segmentation allows precise tracking and administration of multiple medications with different schedules, directly improving medication administration accuracy while managing complexity through modular organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-packages medications into dated and timed pouches in advance, allowing patients and administrators to see ahead what medications need to be taken and when. This preliminary organization reduces daily decision-making complexity and ensures accurate administration by having everything prepared beforehand.
2Ease of operation
If a comprehensive GUI with time scale and meal options is provided, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The GUI incorporates a visual time scale dimension that displays the full day horizontally, allowing users to drag and drop medications onto specific time points. This dimensional visualization transforms complex scheduling into an intuitive spatial arrangement, improving ease of operation while the underlying system manages the computational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The graphical user interface acts as an intermediary layer between the user and the complex medication scheduling system. It provides intuitive controls for selecting meal times and administration schedules, translating user actions into structured data that the backend system processes, thereby simplifying user interaction despite system complexity.
3Reliability
If medications are assigned to specific meals or snack periods, then patient compliance is improved, but loss of time for configuration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows configuration of standard meal times (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks) in advance as template options. When assigning medications, users can quickly select from these pre-defined meal periods rather than configuring each time slot individually, reducing configuration time while maintaining the benefit of meal-associated medication scheduling for improved compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically associates medications with selected meal times and uses this information to organize pouches and generate administration schedules without requiring manual intervention for each detail. This self-organizing capability reduces the time users spend on configuration while ensuring medications are properly linked to meal periods for better patient compliance.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer program products for assigning times of administration to patient medications are described. A GUI is displayed within a display associated with a pharmaceutical dispensing system. The GUI includes a one day time scale for assigning a time of administration for the medication. One or more daily times of administration for the medication are assigned in response to user input via the one day time scale. A dose of the medication is packaged in each of a respective plurality of pouches according to the assigned daily times of administration via the pharmaceutical dispensing system. The one day time scale may include a time line representative of a twenty-four hour period and one or more time indicators that are positionable by a user. The one day time scale may include a plurality of food consumption times, each selectable by a user for assigning a time of administration.