Patent ID: 8849449

Claim:
A method for dispensing a drug at an automated dispensary comprising: (a) presenting, at the automated dispensary a script for a drug prescribed to a user, the script having a plurality of data elements describing the drug and the user, the data elements including human readable data elements and, optionally, machine readable data elements; (b) operating the automated dispensary to scan the data elements; (c) reading the scanned data elements to obtain user and drug data; (d) retrieving, using the drug data: a graphical representation of a shape of a pill containing the drug prescribed to the user; a graphical representation of a shape of a package containing a plurality of the pills; and validation data for the drug prescribed to the user; (e) performing a validation process based on a comparison of: the validation data for the drug prescribed to the user; and information about a drug in the automated dispensary to be dispensed to the user; (f) authorizing the dispensing of the drug in the automated dispensary based on a successful result of the validation process; and (g) conditional on the authorizing: printing a report that includes: a result of the comparison of: the validation data for the drug prescribed to the user; and the information about the drug in the automated dispensary to be dispensed to the user; the graphical representation of a shape of a pill containing the drug prescribed to the user; the graphical representation of a shape of a package containing a plurality of the pills; and instructions to the user to compare: the graphical representation of a shape of a pill containing the drug prescribed to the user to the actual shape of a pill in the automated dispensary that is dispensed; the graphical representation of a shape of a package containing a plurality of the pills to the actual shape of a package in the automated dispensary that is pending to be dispensed; and dispensing from the automated dispensary: the package in the automated dispensary that is pending to be dispensed; and the printed report.