Patent ID: 9675769
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61M

Claim:
1. An automated medical system for controlling medication dispensed to a ventilator circuit that extends between a mechanical ventilator and a patient, comprising: a gas conduit having axially opposing first and second ends, each end being in-line with and adapted to attach to spaced apart segments of tubing of the ventilator circuit to form part of the ventilation circuit; at least one pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) canister held orthogonal to the gas conduit with a dispensing end of the pMDI canister held proximate the gas conduit in fluid communication with the ventilator circuit via the gas conduit; an actuator in communication with the at least one pMDI canister to press against the at least one pMDI canister to release medication from the dispensing end to the gas conduit then into the tubing of the ventilator circuit; a housing holding the gas conduit, the at least one pMDI canister and the actuator; a control unit residing away from the housing and attached to the housing by a cable, the control unit comprising an operator interface configured to allow an operator to adjust dosage and schedule medication dispensing for each of the at least one pMDI canister and to actuate the actuator to dispense medication from each of the at least one pMDI canister to the ventilator circuit at a defined dosage, delivery time and/or frequency, wherein the control unit monitors air pathway flow in the ventilator circuit and is configured to time actuation of the actuator so that medication from the at least one pMDI canister is released from the at least one pMDI canister only during an inspiratory/inhale cycle with gas flow toward the patient; and a display held by the control unit for displaying parameters including number of doses remaining for each of the at least one pMDI canister.