Abstract:
The present invention provides a box-card system for use with the distribution of medication, specifically orally disintegrating tablets (ODT&#39;s), to residents/patients of long term care facilities. A box-card allows ODT&#39;s to be stored and distributed from their original manufacturer packaging. The box-card is dimensioned to be coextensive in height and width to a standard medication punch card, commonly used to store and dispense traditional medication forms to residents/patients of long term care facilities. The box-card allows ODT&#39;s and other medications to be stored and dispensed from a medication drawer of a medication cart with standard punch cards, allowing the stored medications to be easily accessed and dispensed therefrom.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/574,259 filed 2004 May 25. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates generally to the field of pharmaceutical dispensing systems for long term care facilities. More specifically, the present invention relates to a box-card system for dispensing pharmaceuticals from a medication cart.  
         [0004]     2. Background of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     Most long term care facilities have a system of exchange with a pharmacy to provide medications to residents/patients of the facility. On a periodic basis, the pharmacy fills each prescription for each resident/patient in a process called a cycle exchange. In a cycle exchange, each individual prescription for a resident/patient is put in a separate punch card and placed in a medication cart drawer. The punch cards are uniform in shape and size, and configured for easy fit and access within a medication cart drawer. The punch cards, for example, may be capable of holding thirty-one doses of a particular medication, such that a resident/patient may take one dose each day for an entire month. A resident/patient needing a shorter time period of a medication would receive a standard punch card with only enough medication for the shorter time period packaged in the punch card.  
         [0006]     The punch cards are placed in a medication drawer in a medication cart and organized by patient pass format or by time pass format by the cycle exchange team, depending upon whether the nurses that dispense the medications prefer the punch cards to be ordered in accordance with the order of resident/patient rooms (room pass) or the time at which the medication must be delivered to a resident/patient (time pass).  
         [0007]     A medication cart may have a number of medication drawers. The medication drawers are fixed in dimension, designed to hold the standard punch card format, and limited in capacity. Therefore, medication carts are usually quite full, making space valuable, and ease of access to different parts of the medication cart critical to the efficiency of the nursing staff having the duty of dispensing medications to residents/patients.  
         [0008]     The medications that are packaged in punch cards are generally oral tab/capsule forms. Many pharmaceutical companies are switching away from providing the oral tab/capsule form medications and towards the orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) form. In some cases, the pharmaceutical manufacturer will price ODT&#39;s more favorably for the pharmacy and the resident/patient, encouraging the use of ODT&#39;s over traditional medication forms. Additionally, ODT&#39;s may be easier for some residents/patients to consume, and therefore preferable to the traditional oral medications. However, if the ODT cannot be dispensed by the pharmacy to the facility in a cost effective manner, the resident/patient and pharmacy cannot take advantage of the price savings.  
         [0009]     A problem with ODT&#39;s is that they must stay in their original manufacturer&#39;s unit dose packaging, an ODT blister pack, and are unable to be repackaged in the punch card format used in most long term care facilities. ODT&#39;s are fragile and will crumble in the repackaging process. In the heat seal process used to seal the punch cards, the ODT will melt and become unusable. They also may begin to dissolve or disintegrate when exposed to air. Even if ODT&#39;s were able to be packaged within a traditional punch card format, the ODT&#39;s could not be safely removed from the punch card. The reason for this is that medications are removed from the punch cards by forcing the medication through the foil coated paper backing. ODT&#39;s lack the strength of traditional medications, and would crumble when forced against the punch card backing, therefore making it impractical to use ODT&#39;s with traditional punch cards. ODT&#39;s, instead, are packaged by the manufacturer with a removable adhesive backing. For these reasons, a long term care facility may have to stay with the original oral tab/capsule form despite the many advantages of providing the ODT form to residents/patients.  
         [0010]     Because ODT blister packs are not dimensioned in accordance with the traditional punch card, they cannot be placed in the medication drawer with the punch cards. The manufacturers boxes and ODT blister packs take up too much space in the medication drawer of the medication cart. This makes for inefficient use of the medication drawer space. Another problem is that, due to the nonuniform size, ODT&#39;s may be missed during a resident/patient pass, or will cause problems to a nursing staff in accessing and dispensing medications from the medication drawer.  
         [0011]     Because of the advantages of providing ODT&#39;s to residents/patients of a facility, long term care facilities have attempted to solve the above problems. An approach used by long term care facilities to solve this problem, is to store the ODT&#39;s in a separate ancillary drawer on the medication cart. A problem with this approach is that the ODT&#39;s may be missed by a nursing staff that is used to dispensing medications from the medication cart drawer, and fails to access the ODT&#39;s in the ancillary drawer. Also, because the ODT is not located in the medication cart drawer, it may be missed for reorder with the providing pharmacy. This places a burden of time and efficiency on the nursing staff to make sure that the ODT is reordered. If the medication is missed or not ordered, the cost of special delivery or filling the order by a nearby pharmacy is a substantial yet avoidable expense.  
         [0012]     As more and more manufacturers switch to the ODT form of medication these problems will increasingly affect the costs and efficiencies of the operation of long term care facilities.  
         [0013]     In addition to the above described problems of distribution of ODT&#39;s to residents/patients of a long term care facility, their also exists an economic incentive to solve these problems. A resident/patient that does not complete a repackaged prescription cycle cannot be reimbursed by a pharmacy due to the repackaging of the medication. The pharmacy, however, may only be reimbursed by the manufacturer for unused medications that remain in the original package of the manufacturer. It would therefore be advantageous to create a system that allows for ODT&#39;s and other medications to be used in a medication drawer of a medication cart in their original manufacturer packaging, without taking up too much space, offers uniform accessibility within the medication drawer in accordance with the dimensions of a punch card, and that solves these and additional problems facing the system of providing efficient and effective care to residents/patients of long term care facilities.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     The present invention provides a box-card system for allowing a long term care facility to efficiently and effectively distribute and administer medication to its residents/patients.  
         [0015]     A top loading box-card is provided, defining a storage lumen for orally disintegrating tablets (ODT&#39;s) in their original manufacturer packaging. Once a predetermined number of ODT dosages are loaded into a box-card, the box-card may be stored in a medication drawer of a medication cart with the other medications to be delivered to residents/patients of the long term care facility. The box-card has a place provided on a front side for an individual prescription label containing information relating to the resident/patient for whom it is intended and a preprinted section on the back side for providing data and information relating to the medication such as the strength, expiration date, manufacturer, lot number, and other relevant medication related information.  
         [0016]     The front and back sides of the box-card are dimensionally coextensive to the length and height of a punch card. This allows the box-card to be easily stored and accessed by a nursing staff in charge of administering medications to residents/patients. This also prevents the many problems associated with the prior art, such as storing ODT&#39;s in a separate drawer of the medication cart, causing medication dosages to be missed. The present invention allows residents/patients, long term care facilities and pharmacies to take advantage of the many benefits provided by using ODT&#39;s. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]      FIG. 1  is a plan view of a punch card.  
         [0018]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of an orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) blister pack.  
         [0019]      FIG. 3  is a side view of a medication cart.  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of a box-card in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0021]      FIG. 5  is a rear perspective view of a box-card in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0022]      FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of the medication drawer shown in  FIG. 3 , in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0023]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of another embodiment of a box-card in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0024]      FIG. 1  shows a punch card  10  for use in dispensing medication at a long term care facility. Medication  12 , such as oral tablets and capsules are received by a pharmacy in bulk containers. The pharmacy fills the punch cards  10  with a predetermined number of medication doses and seals the medication  12  in the punch card  10  by heat sealing a backing  14  on the punch card  10 . The pharmacy will then provide an individual label  16  on a portion of the punch card  10 , disclosing the medication, dosage, patient name, and/or any other relevant data. A cycle exchange team will then insert the punch card  10  in a medication drawer  18  of a medication cart  20 , shown in  FIG. 3 , such that any number of punch cards  10  are uniformly arranged and accessible within the medication drawer  18 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 2  shows an original manufacturer&#39;s medication card, hereinafter ODT blister pack  22 , containing a plurality of orally disintegrating tablets, hereinafter ODT&#39;s  26 . The backing of the ODT blister pack  22  has a peel strip  24 , for easy removal of the backing when a dosage needs to be removed and taken by a resident/patient of the long term care facility.  
         [0026]      FIGS. 4 and 5  show a box-card  28  in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. The box-card  28  has a planar front wall  30  and back wall  41 . A pair of opposing sidewalls  32  extend between opposite upright sides  34  of the front wall  30  and back wall  41 , such that the front wall  30 , back wall  41  and sidewalls  32  define a lumen  36  having an upper end  38  and a lower end  40 . The lower end  40  of the lumen  36  is terminated by a bottom cover  42  to define a top loading box-card  28 .  
         [0027]     The top loading box-card  28  may be formed by folding a single cardboard blank, or other such suitable and foldable material capable of functioning in accordance with the present invention. The upper end  38  includes a cover  46  and a closure tab  48  for selectively securing the cover  46  in the closed position.  
         [0028]     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the front and back walls of the box-card  28  define a vertical dimension  51  and horizontal dimension  53 , each of which are dimensionally coextensive with the vertical and horizontal dimensions  50  and  52 , respectively, of the punch card  10 . The sidewalls  32  are dimensioned to provide a depth  54  to the box-card  28  capable of receiving ODT blister packs  22  such as that shown in  FIG. 2 . It is contemplated that a number of different shaped and sized ODT blister packs  22  may be provided by the various pharmaceutical manufacturers. For example, an ODT blister pack sleeve  22  from one manufacturer may contain 5 prepackaged ODT&#39;s, whereas another manufacturer may provide 6 prepackaged ODT&#39;s or 10, or any other such number of ODT&#39;s on a given card. Therefore, the sidewalls  32  are dimensioned to accommodate a variety of ODT blister packs without taking up excess space.  
         [0029]     An individual label space  56  is provided on the front side  30  of the box-card  28 , the individual label space  56  may include any information and data as indicated with respect to the individual label  16  of the punch card discussed with reference to  FIG. 1 . Whereas the outer surface of the box-card  28  may have a wax coating, the individual label space  56  will have a writable surface, and thus lack a wax coating. The individual label space  56  may include a preprinted area  55  to be filled out on the writable surface. Such preprinted area  55  may include wording, printing and spacing to indicate and allow for the transcription of prescription information, for example, the medication, strength, expiration date, manufacturer, lot number, and information relating to whom the medication and/or box-card was filled by and checked by. A user may then write the corresponding information directly onto the individual label space  56  in the corresponding preprinted area  55 . Alternatively, it is contemplated that the information contained in the individual label space may be preprinted on a separate label and adhered to the individual label space  56 .  
         [0030]      FIG. 5  shows a back wall  41  of the box-card  28 . The back wall  41  may contain a medication label space  57  for including additional medication information. The medication label space  57  may contain information relating to the resident/patient and may contain other medication related information. The medication label may be preprinted on separate label and adhered to the box-card  28  on the medication label space  57 .  
         [0031]     Additional and/or alternative information may be provided on other portions of the front side and/or back side of the box-card  28 . For example, a warning label, pharmacy contact information and the like may be pre-printed thereon.  
         [0032]     In use, the ODT blister packs  22  are loaded through the open top  38  of the box-card  28 , and the cover  46  is closed by folding and inserting the tab  48  within the lumen  36 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , the box-card  28  may then be placed in the medication drawer  18  of the medication cart  20 . The box-card  28  allows a uniform and accessible means for storing and dispensing ODT&#39;s from within a medication drawer  18 . The coextensive vertical dimensions  50 ,  51  and horizontal dimensions  52 ,  53  of the box-card  28  and punch card  10 , respectively, allow a nurse, for example, to easily store and access the ODT medication  26 . Also, the cycle exchange team is able to easily load the box-cards  28  into the same medication drawer  18  as the punch cards  10 , without risk of the ODT being missed on a medication pass, or in a cycle exchange, were the ODT stored in an ancillary drawer  58 , as shown in  FIG. 3 .  
         [0033]     It is further contemplated that any type of medication  12  may be loaded into the box-card and dispensed therefrom. The box-card  28  allows for medication to be stored in an original manufacturer packaging. Alternatively, medications that are not required to be in a pre-packaged format may simply be deposited into the box-card in predetermined numbers and accessed therefrom. The use of the box-card to store non-packaged medications would eliminate the time required to fill and seal a punch card.  
         [0034]     It is further contemplated that the box-card in accordance with the present invention can be used to contain creams, ointments, patches, eyedrops and any other such products that may be delivered to the resident/patient of a facility, so long as the product may be configured to fit within the dimensions of the box-card.  
         [0035]      FIG. 7  shows an alternative embodiment of of a top loading box-card  60  where like reference numerals represent like parts. The box-card  60  has a raised floor  62  within the lumen  36 . The raised floor  62  maintains the ODT blister pack  22  in an elevated position within the box-card lumen  36 . This allows a nurse to easily access the ODT blister packs  22  within the box-card  60  without having to completely remove and/or upturn the box-card  60 .  
         [0036]     A box-card in accordance with the various embodiments of the present invention may utilize any suitable material such as a cardboard material SBS board having a gauge ranging from about 014 to about 018, preferably a gauge of about 016.  
         [0037]     The height of the box-card, as determined by the height dimension  51  of the front, back and side walls, may be about eight and three-quarter inches (8¾″), or instead may be a height of about nine inches (9″). The height may otherwise be made within the range of about eight and three-quarter inches (8¾″) to about nine inches (9″). The width dimension  53  of the box-cards, as determined by the top and bottom sides of the front and back wall is about five and one-half inches (5½″). The depth dimension  54 , as determined by the top and bottom sides of the sidewalls  34 , is about one-half of an inch (½″). Slight variations in the dimensions will not affect the functionality of the box-cards so long as the box-cards are substantially uniform in size with respect to adjacent box-cards and/or punch cards.  
         [0038]     Although the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example, and is not to be taken by way of limitation of the spirit and scope of the present invention.