Patent ID: 8818824

Claim:
An inventory management system for managing information regarding medical items dispensed in conjunction with medical treatment of a patient at a medical facility, wherein the medical items are disposed on or in a storage structure in a physical inventory space in the medical facility, the inventory management system comprising: a first computer associated with the medical facility; one or more inventory sensors in communication with the first computer, the one or more inventory sensors for sensing removal of one or more medical items from the storage structure to be dispensed to the patient, and for generating item usage information indicative of an identity and quantity of the one or more medical items removed; an input device in communication with the first computer, the input device for entering patient information that identifies the patient to which the one or more medical items are dispensed; and one or more inventory applications in communication with the first computer, the one or more inventory applications including: computer-executable instructions which, when executed, receive the item usage information from the one or more inventory sensors, receive the patient information from the input device, and generate a record associating the one or more medical items identified by the usage information with the patient identified by the patient information; computer-executable instructions which, when executed, determine whether the patient information has been entered; and computer-executable instructions which, when executed, generate a reminder message to remind appropriate personnel associated with the medical facility to input the patient information if it has not already been entered.