Used narcotic or controlled substance container return and tracking for automated medicated dispensing machines

• Main Authors: Zhao, Dan, Wu, Tiansun, Dake, Martin William, Yue, Jun
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.02.2020
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROLLING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONTECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING ORPROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA; INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTEDFOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ORELEMENTS; PHYSICS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

A system includes a database that stores information associated with a medication located in a base station. The information includes an indication of whether a container of the medication was returned to the base station subsequent to the medication being administered. A control module communicates with the base station, determines when the medication is retrieved from the base station, determines whether the container of the medication is returned to the base station, and updates the information stored in the database when the container of the medication is returned to the base station.