Smart Vial Adapter for Automated Medication Dispensing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current medication dispensing systems are burdensome and prone to human error, particularly in managing multiple patients and medications, as they lack efficient dose capture, condition monitoring, and information reporting capabilities, making it challenging to ensure proper drug administration and storage conditions.
Innovation Solution
A medication dispensing system equipped with a smart vial adapter that performs dose capture, condition monitoring, and information reporting functions, including measuring dose, temperature, and motion, and automatically prepares syringes according to specific parameters, reducing labor and increasing accuracy through automation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual medication administration is used, then healthcare personnel can directly administer medications, but it is burdensome, laborious and prone to human error
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service automation where the medication dispensing system autonomously performs dose capture, condition monitoring, and information reporting without requiring healthcare personnel to manually record or track medication parameters. The smart vial adapter automatically measures dose, temperature, and motion, eliminating the need for manual monitoring and reducing human error while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical operations with automated electronic systems. Sensors and processors substitute for human hands and eyes in monitoring medication parameters, while electronic communication replaces manual record-keeping. This substitution reduces the burdensome manual workload while improving medication administration accuracy through consistent, error-free automated measurement and reporting
2Loss of information
If healthcare personnel manually record dose-related information, then dose information can be captured, but there is significant overhead associated with capturing this information
Solution Approach 1:
The smart vial adapter performs self-service dose capture by automatically measuring the dose drawn from the vial using integrated sensors. This eliminates the need for healthcare personnel to manually record dose information, capturing all dose-related data automatically without requiring staff time for transcription or documentation, thus eliminating both information loss and time loss
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback through sensors that automatically detect and record dose measurements, temperature, and motion parameters. This real-time feedback mechanism ensures complete information capture without manual intervention, eliminating the overhead of manual recording while maintaining comprehensive dose information tracking
3Measurement precision
If manual monitoring of drug temperature and mixing is performed, then these parameters can be tracked, but it is difficult to measure and record certain parameters that can affect the safety and efficacy of the drug
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces difficult manual measurement tasks with electronic sensors integrated into the smart vial adapter. Temperature sensors, motion sensors, and dose measurement sensors automatically and precisely track drug parameters that are difficult to measure manually. This substitution achieves high measurement precision for temperature and mixing parameters without requiring complex manual monitoring procedures
Solution Approach 2:
The smart vial adapter serves multiple functions simultaneously: dose measurement, temperature monitoring, motion detection, and information reporting. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate monitoring devices and manual procedures into a single integrated system, achieving comprehensive parameter tracking without proportionally increasing device complexity
4Adaptability or versatility
If healthcare personnel manage multiple patients and medications manually, then all medication needs can be addressed, but the system is burdensome and laborious
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service automated management of multiple patients and medications through the turntable with multiple vials and syringes, each tracked by the processor. The system autonomously manages medication preparation and tracking for multiple patients without requiring proportional increases in manual labor, reducing operational burden while maintaining adaptability to handle various medications and injection schedules
Solution Approach 2:
The medication dispensing system is designed with universal capability to handle multiple patients, various medications, and different injection schedules through its multi-vial turntable and automated control system. This multi-functionality allows a single system to manage diverse medication needs without requiring separate manual tracking for each patient, significantly reducing the operational burden on healthcare personnel
Data Source
AI summary
A medication dispensing system configured to prepare a plurality of syringes for medication delivery, the system comprising a turntable carrying a plurality of medication vials, each medication vial being engaged to a smart vial adapter, a translation stage carrying a plurality of syringes, a base having a plurality of arms configured to interact with the plurality of syringes, and a processor that is programmed to rotate the turntable, axially move the translation stage and operate the plurality of arms such that a selected syringe of the plurality of syringes engages a selected medication vial of the plurality of medication vials to draw medicament.