Disposable foldable medication card

A disposable medication package comprises a card (1) printed on one side and divided by fold lines (7,8,9 and 10) into panels (2,3,4,5, and 6). The panels (2 and 3) have windows (13, 15) which register with one another when the panel (2) is folded behind the panel 3. Likewise, the panels (5 and 6) have windows which register with one another when the panel (6) is folded behind the panel (5). The card has its unprinted side coated with a heat-sealable material. The two panels (2 and 6) have metal foils tacked to them and are provided on their surface with heat-sealable material. The package is made up by placing the card, printed side downwards, on a platen. Blister sheets (16, 21) are placed on the panels (3 and 5) so that their blisters protrude through the windows (13 and 15). Medication tablets are loaded into the blister cavities and the two panels (2 and 6) are then folded over the tops of the cavities so that the foils and blister sheets are sandwiched between the overlapping panels (2, 3 and 5,6). A hot platen is then pressed down on the assembly so that the heat-sealable materials fuses and adheres together the blister sheets, foils and panels. The package is then folded along the lines (8 and 9) to bring the blisters one panel (3) between the blisters of the other panel (5). A holder may be used to retain the package in its folded condition and to protect the rectangular zones of the foils exposed in the windows.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
THIS INVENTION relates to the administration of oral, solid dose 
medication, and is more specifically concerned with the design of a 
cheaply-constructed medication package capable of being assembled by a 
pharmacist and loaded in accordance with a doctor's prescription, the 
package ensuring that a patient receives his prescribed medication at the 
correct intervals of time. 
STATE OF THE ART 
Oral, solid dose medication in the form of tablets and capsules are 
commonly prescribed in bottles and blister packs. A label typed up by a 
pharmacist tells the patient how many tablets he should take and how 
often. Older patients often have poor memories and cannot always recall 
whether they have taken their medication at a particular time, or the 
number of possibly different tablets they should take at a particular 
time. They then either respond by taking, unnecessarily in many cases, a 
further dosage in the belief that they have missed one, or, fail to take a 
dosage at all in the mistaken belief that they already have. 
Manufacturers of pharmaceutical tablets have appreciated this problem and 
have responded by providing blister sheets containing individually 
removable tablets held in respective blisters. The blister sheets are 
sometimes clipped inside a foldable card on which information is printed 
as to when the tablets from the different packs are to be taken. Examples 
of blister sheets of various forms and some of which are associated with 
marking cards in a package, are to be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 364,623 
(Beidler); 3,324,995 (Sharp); 3,494,322 (Dubbles); 3,603,453, 3,659,706 
and 3,737,029 (all being in the name of Serrell); 4,340,140 (Fischer); 
3,621,992 (Osborne); and Canadian Patent No. 859,539 (Weir). 
The advantage obtained by packaging tablets individually on a blister sheet 
is that the number of unused tablets can be seen at a glance by the 
patient. The tablets also remain in a hygienic state until required for 
use. Finally, as each blister sheet contains identical tablets, there is 
no risk of tablets of different types being confused with one another in 
the same blister sheet. 
The above solution to the problem mentioned above makes no allowance for 
situations where elderly people are involved and require sometimes to take 
several tablets at different times. Many elderly people have short 
memories and are easily confused when confronted with a package containing 
a large number of blister sheets, some of which require the tablets to be 
taken at different intervals of time to others. For this and other 
reasons, it is the law in Australia for nursing homes for elderly people 
to have a qualified nursing sister responsible for administering 
medication to elderly people in the nursing home. This naturally increases 
the costs of running a nursing home for elderly people, and involves some 
loss of independence on their part. 
To help cope with this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,371 (Mark) proposes 
providing a package formed from two shaped sheets which are locked 
together and define between them an array of independently openable 
pockets each of which may contain one or more tablets. One of these sheets 
is made from a depressible transparent material and the other sheet 
provides a zone weakened by perforations behind each of the pockets. The 
patient uses the package by depressing the transparent sheet overlying one 
of the pockets so that the tablets within it are ejected through the 
weakened zone of the other sheet. 
The advantage of the Mark's proposal mentioned above, is that the package 
can be loaded in a hospital in accordance with a doctor's prescription, so 
as to provide in its pockets the total medication periodically required by 
a particular patient. The patient's name is identified on the package and 
the responsibility of filling the package with the correct medication is 
accepted by the hospital. All the patient is required to do is to take the 
contents of each particular pocket at a particular time. Unfortunately, as 
mentioned above, elderly patients often have short memories and the Mark's 
package does not tell the patient, from looking at the package, whether or 
not he has taken his medication at a particular time. As a result, he may 
take more than one dose of the medication at a particular time, or, fail 
to take his medication at all. 
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
An object of this invention is to provide a simply-constructed and 
disposable medication package which is capable of being easily loaded with 
tablets by a pharmacist in accordance with a doctor's prescription and of 
being then used by a patient in a way which allows him to see whether or 
not he has taken the medication prescribed for him at a particular time. 
THE INVENTION 
In accordance with a first aspect of this invention there is provided an 
assembly for enabling a pharmacist to make up a medication package, the 
assembly comprising a card provided with fold lines dividing it into two 
separated pairs of panels having matched windows which, in one pair of 
panels, are staggered with respect to the windows of the other pair of 
panels; one face of the card being printed and the other face being coated 
with a heat-sealable material; two, easily-ruptured foils attached 
respectively to the unprinted faces of a respective one of each of the two 
pairs of panels and covering their windows; heat-sealable material coating 
the exposed surfaces of the foils on their sides remote from the windows; 
and two transparent and manually-depressible blister sheets each formed 
with blisters arranged to protrude through respective windows of the 
unfoiled panels when the sheets are placed against them. 
To assemble the package of the first aspect of the invention, the 
pharmacist places a card with its printed face downwards, onto a platen 
shaped to accommodate the blisters. The two blister sheets are then placed 
on the exposed surfaces of the unfoiled panels so that their blisters 
protrude through their windows. Medication tablets, in accordance with a 
doctor's prescription, are placed into the cavities of the blisters. The 
two foiled panels are folded over the tops of the respective blister 
sheets so that the heat sealable coatings of the foils cover the backs of 
the blister sheets, and the windows of the two panels of each pair 
register with one another. 
A heat-sealing platen is then pressed down onto the upper face of the 
layered assemblage described, to heat and fuse the heat sealable coatings 
so that a unitary assembly results. When the card is removed from between 
the platens, it is folded along two of the fold lines to bring the 
blistered faces of the panels opposite one another and the blisters of one 
panel between the blisters of the other panel. This provides a compact, 
robust medication package in which the tablets are sealed and from which 
the tablets cannot be removed except by the patient ejecting the tablets 
through the foil backing of the blisters. 
The printing on the card references each blister to a particular time on a 
particular day. In this way an elderly person can see at a glance whether 
or not he has taken his prescribed medication by seeing whether there are 
still tablets in the corresponding blister. 
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a 
medication-dispensing package for use by a patient, comprising a card 
having at least four panels separated by fold lines and foldable over one 
another, the panels being apertured to provide windows and two of the 
panels, which face one another in the folded card, having protruding 
through their windows transparent and manually-depressible blisters 
forming parts of two, separate, flat blister sheets respectively lying 
between each pair of folded-over panels, the windows of each pair of 
panels registering with one another and being staggered with respect to 
the windows of the other panel pair, so that, when the card is correctly 
folded, all the blisters interdigitate in substantially the same plane; 
rupturable foils covering the cavities of the blister sheets and being 
sealed with each blister sheet between a pair of panels; the card being 
printed in such a way that, when the card is opened, the blisters are 
displayed to the patient in intersecting sets of lines, and one set of 
lines is marked with the days of the week, and the other set of lines is 
marked on the card with the times of the day at which the medication 
contained in the blisters is to be taken. 
PREFERRED FEATURES OF THE INVENTION 
Preferably the card is disposable. Its construction requires, basically, 
only two components; the foiled card, which can be made from stiff paper; 
and two, identical blister sheets. The rows of blisters may be straight 
rows, or they may be kinked or curved as a result of the staggered 
formation of the blisters on the two pairs of panels. 
A removable holder may be provided to hold the card in its folded condition 
between times of use, and may comprise a sleeve, a channel-shaped clip, or 
an elastic band. 
An advantage of the invention is that a pharmacist can provide the patient 
with a folded disposable card which fits easily into the pocket or a 
handbag, and from which the patient can see at a glance whether he has 
taken his medication at the correct time. The card can store a week's 
supply of medication, and, at the end of the week, can be thrown away and 
a new one obtained from the pharmacist. 
The blisters of the two sheets preferably are contiguous with one another 
when the card is folded, so that a compact relatively stiff package 
results. By using blisters of frusto-pyramidal shape with a rectangular 
base to the pyramid, the side walls of the blisters can be arranged to 
slide smoothly over one another during final folding movement of the card 
to the closed condition. 
In the preferred arrangement of card for carrying out the invention, the 
card has parallel fold lines dividing it into four windowed card panels 
and has the outer two card panels folded over the backs of the inner two 
panels respectively. These latter two panels have the blisters protruding 
through their windows which face one another when the card is folded. The 
foil backing to the blisters are exposed through the windows of the outer 
two panels of the card lying on the outside of the folded-up package, and 
the printing on the card faces the patient when he opens the package. 
In another arrangement for carrying out the invention the card is divided 
by parallel fold lines into four windowed panels. The outer two panels are 
similarly shaped, and are folded forwardly over the inner two panels. The 
blisters protrude through the windows of the outer two panels which lie 
inside the card when in its folded condition. The blisters are preferably 
again arranged to interfit to form a single layer in the folded card. 
INTRODUCTION TO THE DRAWINGS 
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples, 
with reference to the accompanying and largely diagrammatic drawings, in 
which:

DESCRIPTION OF FIRST EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows a paperboard card 1 divided into five panels 2 to 6 by four 
parallel fold lines 7 to 10. The panels 2 and 3 are apertured to provide 
two columns 12 of rectangular windows 13 which register with one another 
when the panel 2 is folded backwards over the panel 3 as shown in FIG. 3. 
The panels 5 and 6 are also apertured each to provide two columns 14 of 
rectangular windows 15 which register with one another when the panel 6 is 
folded backwards behind the panel 5. As shown, the horizontal center-lines 
of the windows 15 lie between and beneath the horizontal center-lines of 
the windows 13. 
FIG. 2 shows a blister packaging sheet 16 located between the 
folded-together panels 2 and 3 and a second blister packaging sheet 21 
located between the folded-together panels 5 and 6. 
The sheet 16 has fourteen, spaced, transparent and manually-depressible 
blisters 17 each of truncated pyramidal shape with a rectangular base to 
the pyramid. The blisters individually contain one or more tablets or 
capsules (not shown) of medication as prescribed by a doctor and inserted 
by a pharmacist into the blisters in accordance with a doctor's 
prescription. Each blister 17 protrudes through a respective one of the 
windows 13 of the panel 3. The blisters are formed by appropriately 
moulding a transparent sheet and their cavities are closed by respective 
zones of thin, easily-ruptured metal foil strips. The zones of the foil 
strips lying respectively behind the blisters are framed by the windows 13 
of the panel 2. 
In similar manner, the second blister packaging sheet 21, which is 
identical to the sheet 16, lies between the panel 5 and the 
rearwardly-folded panel 6 and has a rectangular array of blisters 22 
protruding respectively through the windows 15 of the panel 5. 
The package shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is assembled by a pharmacist as follows. 
He is supplied with the card 1 which is printed on one side only, as is 
shown diagramatically in FIG. 1. The unprinted side of the card is covered 
with a thin film of a heat-sealable material. The two outer panels 2 and 6 
of the card each have tacked to their unprinted surfaces respectively 
rectangular, easily-rupturable metal foils. Zones of each foil are 
respectively framed in the windows 13 and 15. 
The exposed surfaces of the foils, that is to say, the surfaces visible 
when looking at the unprinted side of the card, are also provided with 
films of heat-sealable material which may cover the whole surface of the 
foil or only those portions which are actually to be in contact with the 
two blister sheets. The pharmacist is also provided with two identical, 
flat blister sheets 16 and 21 each preformed with a set of rectangular 
blisters corresponding in position and shape to the windows 13 and 15 of 
the inner panels 3 and 5 of the card 1. 
The pharmacist is provided with a horizontal platen (not shown) provided 
with an array of recesses corresponding to the positions of the windows 13 
and 15 and with means for locating the sides and ends of the card when 
placed, printed side down, onto the platen. The foils on the two 
end-panels of the card are then uppermost. The blister sheets 16 are 
placed on the respective panels 3 and 5 so that their blisters protrude 
downwards through the windows 13 and 15 of the panels and into the 
recesses of the platen beneath the card. 
The pharmacist next loads the cavities of the blisters with the prescribed 
medication tablets. The two outer panels 12 and 14 are then folded over 
the backs of the associated panels 3 and 5 so that their foils engage the 
upper faces of the blister sheets. A flat platen (not shown) is placed on 
top of the panels 2 and 6 and pressed down and heated to fuse the 
heat-sealable material on the panels 2, 3, 5 and 6 and the foils, so that 
the assemblage of layers formed by the foil, blister sheet and the two 
panels becomes a unitary structure with the panels of each pair 
sandwiching a blister sheet and associated foil between them. 
The spacing between the fold lines 8 and 9 defining the narrow, 
rectangular, center panel 4 of the card is substantially equal to the 
height of the blisters. The shape and locations of the blisters allows 
those of the sheet 21 to fit snugly between and beneath those of the sheet 
16 when the two parts of the card are folded together as shown in FIG. 3. 
The resultant shallow, parallelepiped package is stiff and resistant to 
compression because of the close spacing of the blisters which are 
contiguous with one another and virtually lie in a single plane. A sheath 
holder 29, similar in shape to the slide holder of a matchbox, is provided 
to protect from damage the zones of the foil exposed in the windows 13 and 
15. 
As is apparent from FIG. 1, the printing on the card identifies the four 
columns of blisters with different times of day respectively, and the 
seven rows of blisters with different days of the week. Coloured banding 
identifies the four blisters corresponding to the different times of each 
day at which medication is to be taken. The coloured banding is kinked 
over the panel 4 of the card so that the eye of the patient can easily 
identify the blisters associated with a particular day. The vertical 
rectangular area to the right of the panel 5 as shown in FIG. 2, and the 
horizontal rectangular panel at the base of the panel, enable information 
such as the nature of the medication in the blisters and the name of the 
patient to be identified on the package. 
OPERATION OF FIRST EMBODIMENT 
To use the package described, the patient slides the folded card from the 
holder 29 and opens it to display the blisters as shown in FIG. 2. He can 
see immediately from the absence or presence of tablets in the blisters 
and the writing on the card at the ends of the blister lines, whether he 
has missed taking a medication at a prescribed time (which is indicated at 
the top of the columns,) or whether one is due. To take a medication, the 
patient simply applies thumb pressure to the front of the appropriate 
blister 17 to force its tablets out through the associated zone of the 
foil backing at the back. 
DESCRIPTION OF SECOND EMBODIMENT 
In the embodiment of FIG. 4, parts corresponding to those of FIG. 3 and 
already described, are similarly referenced, and the reference numbers are 
primed to avoid them having to be described again. By a visual comparison 
of FIGS. 3 and 4 it will be seen that the main difference between the two 
embodiments is that the card panels 2' and 6' of FIG. 4 are folded 
forwardly over one another, rather than rearwardly as shown in FIG. 3. The 
embodiment of FIG. 3 offers certain advantages, as compared with that of 
FIG. 4, in printing and loading the card. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the 
holder 29' comprises an open, sprung channel of transparent plastics, 
rather than a box-shaped metal sheath, and it is large enough to cover and 
protect the zones of foil exposed in the windows of the panels. 
DESCRIPTION OF THIRD EMBODIMENT 
In FIG. 5, corresponding parts to those already described with reference to 
earlier embodiments are similarly referenced but the references are double 
primed. They will not therefore be again described. In the embodiment of 
FIG. 5 the blisters 17" on the card panels 3" and 5" are turned through 90 
degrees with respect to those shown in the earlier-described embodiments. 
Although a longer and slimmer package results, the blisters to be opened 
each day now lie in a straight horizontal row, rather than a kinked one, 
and the four blisters of each row are so spaced from one another that they 
interfit snugly when the two panels 3" and 5" of the card illustrated, are 
folded towards one another. 
MODIFICATION 
In a variation of the embodiments described, the holder 29 is made of 
transparent material and markings are provided on it to enable the patient 
to see through the holder whether he has taken his medication at a 
prescribed time, without actually having to remove the folded card from 
the holder 29.