Patent ID: 7668620

Claim:
Medication cabinet, comprising an enclosure that is adapted to be mounted on a wall of a patient room supported at an elevated position above a floor of the room, the enclosure having a back adapted to be affixed to said wall of the patient room, a front wall, a bottom wall, a left side wall and a right side wall, such that the bottom wall is held off the floor of the patient room; one or more computer-locked drawers in said enclosure, each drawer being adapted to hold medication for a respective patient in the room, the one or more drawers each having a proximal-distal axis extending along a lateral axis defined between said left and right side walls, and each said drawer including an elongated slide-out medications bin having an open top permitting access to contents of the bin only when the drawer is pulled out to an open position, and having a proximal end disposed, when said bin is in a closed position, at a predetermined one of said left and right side walls and a distal end situated within said enclosure; respective slide means supporting each said bin when the latter is in its open position and in its closed position, and permitting the bin to be pulled out laterally along its proximal-distal axis to an open position to allow access to the bin and permitting the bin to be pushed back in to its closed position; respective releasable latch means within said enclosure for releasably engaging a respective member on each said bin in its closed position to lock the drawer, and being movable between a locked position and an unlocked position in which the latch means releases said member; and for each said drawer a proximity sensor positioned at or near a distal portion of the associated drawer to detect if the drawer is pushed back in to its closed position and to indicate an opened/closed status of the associated drawer; and automatic access means permitting an authorized person to actuate the releasable latch means to its unlocked condition to permit access to said drawer and automatically returning said latch means to its locked position to secure the drawer bin when pushed in and returned to its closed position, wherein the access means is operative to actuate said latch means open only if each said proximity sensor detects that its respective drawer is in its closed position.