Patent ID: 8220503

Claim:
An automated medication preparation system having a plurality of stations comprising: a drug cabinet containing a plurality of drug vials each containing a respective medication and having identifying information associated therewith that relates to the contained medication, wherein a specific drug vial is retrieved from the drug cabinet in accordance with a request based on information inputted into the system; an identifying station for identifying the specific drug vial retrieved from the drug cabinet as being a multi-use injectable medication vial containing a multi-use medication based on information inputted into the system; a database in which a vial that has been identified as being a multi-use injectable medication vial is marked; a medication preparation station where a dosage of medication is prepared in a just-in-time manner using an identified drug vial; a holding station for storing multi-use injectable medication vials, the contents of which have been previously accessed for preparing the dosage of medication at the medication preparation station and that have been cataloged according to prescribed criteria to permit later use in preparing another dosage of medication at the medication preparation station; and an automated transfer device for transferring the vial that has been identified and marked as being a multi-use injectable medication vial from one station to the holding station, wherein the automated transfer device receives and holds more than one vial and moves the vials in a controlled manner from one station to another station; wherein two or more vials can be acted upon at the same time in different stations.