AU2012268798A1 - Medication reminder system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a drug administration system and method including receiving, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer, retrieving further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier, generating a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug, and the further information from the data store relating to the drug, and transmitting the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug.

Description

1 MEDICATION REMINDER SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a drug administration system and method. In particular, although not exclusively, the invention relates to reminders for drug administration. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION [0002] During the last few decades, large leaps in medical knowledge have taken place, which have resulted in diseases being treatable that were not in the past. New drugs have been developed, and in many parts of the world treatment is available to all or a large proportion of the population. [0003] Outside of a hospital environment, the administration of drugs becomes the responsibility of the patient or a carer. This may lead to a reduced quality of treatment, as confusion may arise with respect to what drug should be taken when, and under what circumstances. This is especially the case if a large number of drugs are administered, and/or if the circumstances under which the drugs are to be administered varies. [0004] Commonly, alarm clocks are used to remind a patient or carer to administer a drug. While this may be suitable where a single medicine is taken regularly, alarm clocks do not address the problem of incorrectly administering the drug, or the administration of many drugs with different intervals. [0005] Similar problems exist in the area of veterinary medicine. Not only are a large number of illnesses and diseases in animals now treatable, but there is also a large number of preventative treatments, such as vaccines. [0006] Additionally, the area of veterinary medicine has additional issues in that animals may not show the same symptoms as humans, and are unable to communicate with their owners. [0007] Various other solutions have been proposed which attempt to address the 2 aforementioned problems, but most suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies including: - most prior solutions relate to "monitoring" of a patient rather than providing a reminder system for medication; - lack of capability in providing future reminders for things such as review consults and future operation/surgerical/procedures; - the obligations that known systems place on the patient (client) for the system to work, such as the requirement to send back confirmation that a medication has been taken/administered; - the lack of quick links to information such as the particulars of the prescribed drugs and known side effects; - the general inability for known systems to integrate directly with medical software used by clinics, hospitals, veterinary clinics, etc; - in the case of veterinary systems, the lack of particular knowledge of veterinary drugs which can be complex and may be species and/or breed specific; and - the lack of capability of known software to determine if a drug is permissible to be administered to a specific person, species or breed. There is therefore a need for an improved drug management system and it is an object of the present invention to provide consumers with improvements or an alternative as compared with the above described prior art. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] According to a first aspect, a drug reminder method is provided including receiving, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer, retrieving further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier, generating a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug, and 3 the further information from the data store relating to the drug, and transmitting the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug. [0009] Preferably, the drug reminder method further includes retrieving, from the data store, at least one of a dosage, a dose frequency and a treatment duration based upon the drug identifier, presenting, on a data interface, the at least one of a dosage, a dose frequency and a treatment duration. [0010] Alternatively or additionally, the drug reminder method further includes receiving, on a data interface, information relating to an illness, retrieving, from the data store, a drug identifier corresponding to the illness, and presenting, on a data interface, the drug identifier. [0011] Preferably, the reminder includes at least one of: information relating to the drug, and information relating to an illness or disease that is treated by the drug. [0012] Preferably, the drug information includes one of side effects, warnings, tips or advice, or chemical and/or physiological effects of the drug. [0013] According to an embodiment, the patient is a human. Alternatively, the patient may be an animal. [0014] The reminder may be sent via Simple Message Service (SMS). Alternatively, the reminder may be sent via instant messaging, or email. [0015] Preferably, the method further includes generating a script based upon the drug information. [0016] According to a second aspect, a drug reminder system is provided including a server including a processor and a memory, the memory including computer readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the system to receive, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer, retrieve further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier, generate a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug, and the further information from the 4 data store relating to the drug, and transmit the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug. [0017] According to a third aspect, an apparatus is provided including a processor, a memory, including computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor causes the apparatus to perform operations including receiving, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer, retrieving further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier, generating a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug; and the further information from the data store relating to the drug; and transmitting the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0018] To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect, preferred embodiments of the invention are described below by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [0019] FIG. 1 illustrates a drug reminder system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [0020] FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface of the drug reminder system of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention; [0021] FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface of the drug reminder system of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and [0022] FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates a server of the system of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0023] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that minor deviations from the layout of components as illustrated in the drawings will not detract from the proper functioning of 5 the disclosed embodiments of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS [0024] Embodiments of the present invention comprise drug administration systems and methods. Elements of the invention are illustrated in concise outline form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary to the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to clutter the disclosure with excessive detail that will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the present description. [0025] In this patent specification, adjectives such as first and second, are used solely to define one element or method step from another element or method step without necessarily requiring a specific sequence that is described by the adjectives. Words such as "comprises" or "includes" are not used to define an exclusive set of elements or method steps. Rather, such words merely define a minimum set of elements or method steps included in a particular embodiment of the present invention. [0026] According to one aspect, the invention resides in a drug reminder method including: receiving, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer; retrieving further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier; generating a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug, and the further information from the data store relating to the drug; and transmitting the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug. [0027] Advantages of some embodiments of the present invention include an improved drug reminder system and method where use of the system and method will result in higher compliance with dosing instructions. [0028] The embodiments described herein relate to drug reminder systems and methods for a veterinary practice. As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, the methods and systems may be easily adapted to suit doctors and drug 6 administration to humans. [0029] Similarly, the embodiments described herein relate to disease treatment. As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the art, the embodiments need not relate to diseases only, but instead could relate to injury, preventative medicine, diet, or any other reason for visiting a veterinarian or doctor. [0030] FIG. 1 illustrates a drug reminder system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0031] The drug reminder system 100 includes a server 105, in communication with a user terminal 110, for administering drug reminders, and a mobile device 115 for communicating drug reminder information to patients or carers. [0032] The server 105 is operatively coupled to a database 120, thedatabase 120 including drug information such as side effects of drugs. Additionally, the database includes information associated with each drug including typical dosage frequency, typical dosage, and typical length of treatment. The database further includes patient specific drugs and information associated with the administering of drugs to, for example in the case of veterinary medicine, specific breeds and species. [0033] The user terminal 110 is provided as an interface to generate reminders, and is used by a patient, carer, veterinarian or any other relevant person such as an assistant to a veterinarian. The interface to the user terminal 110 is described in further details in FIG. 2. [0034] The mobile terminal 115 includes an interface to receive reminders, such as the third generation partnership program (3GPP), Simple Message Service (SMS), but in certain embodiments may include 3GPP Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), email, telephone or instant messaging. The reminders are then presented to the user to assist in the use of the medicine. [0035] According to certain embodiments, the mobile terminal 115 and the server 105 include a protocol that may be used to verify the reception of a message. The protocol may include an acknowledgement message from the mobile terminal 115, or may be generated from a transport level protocol such as SMS acknowledgements.

7 [0036] FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface 200 of the drug reminder system 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The user interface 200 is provided by the server 105 to the user terminal 110, to enable a user such as a veterinarian to generate reminders for a client. In the following example, the user is a veterinarian administering a veterinary medicine to an animal in their care, but it's to be understood that the present invention is not limited to use in the administration of veterinary medicine. [0037] The veterinarian starts by selecting a type of the animal in a select animal type menu 205. Examples of animal types include cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and reptiles. As will be readily understood by a person skilled in the area, the animal type may include further details of the animal type, such as dog or cat breeds. [0038] The veterinarian then enters the animal's weight in the enter animal weight field 210, the animal's age in the enter animal age field 215, and the animal's disease in the select animal disease menu 220. The selected animal disease menu 220 is advantageously updated according to at least the animal type, and may include most common diseases for an animal type, or to remove the disease types not applicable to the animal type. It is to be understood that the user interface is not limited to these fields and that further entry fields can be included in the user interface to support additional embodiments of the invention. [0039] The select animal type menu 205 and the select animal disease menu 220 may comprise drop down menus as is known in the art. [0040] Based upon the animal type, weight, age and disease as entered by the veterinarian, a drug, dosage, dosage frequency and duration of treatment is retrieved from the database 120 and displayed in drug field 225, dosage field 230, dosage frequency field 235 and duration of treatment field 240 respectively. The drug, dosage, dosage frequency and duration of treatment may include the most common treatments for the disease. These values may be modified according to user preferences, or be updated dynamically based upon previous choices. The veterinarian may then modify these fields according to the needs of the animal. [0041] The software is capable of determining if the drug is appropriate to be used 8 with the chosen species or breed. If the drug is not considered appropriate, a warning message is displayed to the user. [0042] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the dosage of the drug may be varied during the treatment period. Drugs such as corticosteroids may need a tapering dose, and this may be selected by the veterinarian. [0043] According to an alternative embodiment, the drug field 225 is not automatically retrieved from the database 120. Instead, the drug information is entered by the vet, and the associated dosage, dosage frequency, and duration of treatment fields are then populated accordingly. The drug field 225 may comprise a drop down menu, possibly including a hierarchical categorization of drugs to simply the selection process. The hierarchical categorization may include drug categories, illness categories, or any other suitable categorization of drugs. Alternatively, a textual search may be used to find and select an appropriate drug. Alternatively, a predictive text capability may also be associated with manual entry which allows the user to input the first few letters of the drug name into the drug field 225. Several options are then provided so the user may select the correct drug without needing to manually type the entirety of the drug name. [0044] The drugs are advantageously categorised into subtypes and/or function, such as antibiotics, anaesthetics, anti inflammatory drugs, or sedatives. [0045] An animal name and a contact phone number are then entered into animal name field 245 and contact phone field 250 respectively. These fields are used in the generation of reminders, and the contact phone number is the number to which reminders are sent. [0046] Finally, the veterinarian selects if tips relating to the drug, drug information and/or disease information shall be sent together with the reminder by selecting a tips check box 255, a drug information check box 260 and a disease information check box 265 respectively. Details of the types of information provided is illustrated further in FIG. 3. [0047] The reminders may then be generated by selecting the generate reminders button 270. The reminders are then stored on the server 105, and sent to the client 9 according to the information provided by the veterinarian. [0048] If not dispensing the drug, the veterinarian may choose to generate a script for the drug by selecting the generate script button 275. A script may then be printed, or alternatively sent digitally to a pharmacy. [0049] According to an alternative embodiment, the interface can be used for the generation of reminders to check the progress of the animal after surgery or a treatment procedure. The veterinarian inputs the required reminder text into the interface, for example, for the client to examine the animal's stitches and advises them to contact the veterinarian if there are any problems. Further tips can also be provided to indicate to the client the anticipated progress of the recovery and what signs to watch out for, for example, red and inflamed stitches, loss of appetite, sickness, etc that would indicate to the client circumstances in which they should contact the veterinarian. [0050] This reminder text could also be generated by standard user preferences based on the type of surgery or treatment and populated accordingly through use of a drop down menu. The reminders can be scheduled to be generated a certain number of times at a certain frequency, for example, every few days, spanning the recovery period. [0051] The information entered into the interface 200 is saved and stored either on the server 105 or database 120 and can be retrieved by the user at a later date. This ensures that a record is kept of the medication prescribed to the animal and all of the associated details, allowing the user to access that information easily should further medication need to be provided to the client at a later date without requiring re-entry of the details into the interface. All past medications, treatments and prescriptions may also be stored on the database for future reference by the veterinarian, with any issues or side effects from past medications noted for assistance in future diagnosis and drug dispensing. [0052] The interface 200 may be a web interface, such as a Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) page, or a specific application that has been installed onto the user terminal 110 [0053] FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface 300 of the drug reminder system 100, 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The user interface 300 is provided by the server 105 to the mobile terminal 115. [0054] The user interface 300 includes details of a reminder to administer a drug, according to details provided by the vet in the user interface 200 of FIG. 2. [0055] The user interface 300 includes details of the drug to be administered 305 and dosage information 310. The user interface 300 further includes tips 315, such as how to easily administer the drug, a link to further information regarding the drug 320 and a link to further information regarding the disease 325. The tip may include advice specific to the animal type, such as coating the tablet in peanut butter or mincemeat for dogs, or crushing the tablet into milk for cats. The link to further information on the drug 320 may include a link to the relevant drug manufacturer's web-site, and may be used in the event that the client would prefer more detail about the drug. This may include known side effects and/or substances or foods that should or shouldn't be mixed with the medication, such as milk or fatty food. [0056] In the case of the user interface 300 being internet-enabled, such as a smartphone, tablet or computer, the link can take the form of a hyperlink which the client can select and the relevant website is automatically loaded within the interface. [0057] The user interface further includes a confirm button 330, which may be used by the client to confirm receipt of and/or compliance with the reminder. This eliminates the need for the client to send a confirmation SMS back to the veterinarian. [0058] According to certain embodiments of the present invention, side effects of the drug or warnings relating to the drug are provided in the reminder. This is especially important for dangerous drugs. These warnings can also be specific to the patient, for example the species or breed of animal which requires the medication and provide suggested actions. [0059] The reminder may include a logo of the veterinary clinic and/or contact details of the veterinary clinic. This may help a client quickly contact the veterinary clinic in case of a question, for example. [0060] In the case of MMS or email, for example, the reminder can include a picture 11 of the drug or a short video on tips for administering the drug,. Additionally, the reminder may include a three dimensional image or images, delivered over any suitable protocol including SMS, MMS, or email, for example. This reminder could include an embedded video or otherwise a link to a video presentation with a demonstration of the preferred administration technique of the treatment or medication. This is particularly helpful to the client who may be apprehensive or unsure about the correct manner in which to administer the medication and provide a visual example for them to follow. In particular, if there were difficulties in administering the medication, the video presentation may alleviate any concerns based on the reaction by the animal or any particular discomfort displayed by the animal. The video presentation would help the client understand that such reactions may be completely normal and not give rise to concern. [0061] According to certain embodiments of the present invention, the system 100 raises a warning if the receipt of and/or compliance with the reminder is not confirmed. A warning message may be sent to the veterinarian, who may then contact the client. [0062] The client will continue to receive reminders from the veterinarian via the interface for the treatment period. According to a certain embodiment, the client may receive a final reminder indicating that the treatment has been completed and further reminders received for potential future medication requirements beyond any immediate prescriptions. Recurring reminders for this purpose can also be inputted at the time of entry of the initial information into the user terminal or alternatively at any time thereafter. These recurring reminders regarding future medication requirements, follow up appointments, consultations, procedures or reviews would then be generated at the appropriate time and sent to the client without any further specific user involvement at the veterinary clinic. These recurring reminders can be established to be sent at any time in the future, even months or years if necessary, eliminating the need for that information to be kept manually by the veterinary clinic or the client. [0063] Recurring reminders can also be used for general veterinary practices such as yearly check-up consultations reminding the client to contact the clinic and make an appointment. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, reminders can include suggested appointment times based on preferences which have been previously 12 entered into the user terminal 200. The client can then select an appointment time and click 'confirm' which sends the confirmation back to the veterinary clinic to be recorded in the clinic diary. [0064] FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates a server 105, according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0065] The server 105 includes a central processor 402, a system memory 404 and a system bus 406 that couples various system components, including coupling the system memory 404 to the central processor 402. [0066] The system bus 406 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The structure of system memory 404 is well known to those skilled in the art and may include a basic input/output system (BIOS) stored in a read only memory (ROM) and one or more program modules such as operating systems, application programs and program data stored in random access memory (RAM). [0067] The server 105 may also include a variety of interface units and drives for reading and writing data. In particular, the server 105 includes a hard disk interface 408 and a removable memory interface 410, respectively coupling a hard disk drive 412 and a removable memory drive 414 to the system bus 406. Examples of removable memory drives 414 include magnetic disk drives and optical disk drives. The drives and their associated computer-readable media, such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) 416 provide non-volatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 400. A single hard disk drive 412 and a single removable memory drive 414 are shown for illustration purposes only and with the understanding that the server 105 may include several similar drives. Furthermore, the server 105 may include drives for interfacing with other types of computer readable media. [0068] The server 105 may include additional interfaces for connecting devices to the system bus 406. FIG. 4 shows a universal serial bus (USB) interface 418 which may be used to couple a device to the system bus 406. For example, an IEEE 1394 13 interface 420 may be used to couple additional devices to the server 105. [0069] The server 105 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers or other devices, such as a server, a router, a network personal computer, a peer device or other common network node, a wireless telephone or wireless personal digital assistant. The sever 105 includes a network interface 422 that couples the system bus 406 to a local area network (LAN) 424. Networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks and home computer systems. [0070] A wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, can also be accessed by the server 105, for example via a modem unit connected to a serial port interface 426 or via the LAN 424. [0071] It will be appreciated that the network connections shown and described are exemplary and other ways of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols, such as TCP/IP, Frame Relay, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, is presumed, and the server 105 can be operated in a client-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pages from a web-based server. Furthermore, any of various conventional web browsers can be used to display and manipulate data on web pages. [0072] The operation of the server 105 can be controlled by a variety of different program modules. Examples of program modules are routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The present invention may also be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCS, minicomputers, mainframe computers, personal digital assistants and the like. Furthermore, the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. [0073] The server 105 includes a web interface through which a plurality of 14 components is made available. The components are advantageously HTML components, and are used to receive and transmit data via the data interfaces. [0074] The software of the present invention has the capability of being integrated or streamlined with the current software and programmes used by veterinary clinics, hospitals and the like. [0075] In summary, benefits of some embodiments of the present invention include an ability to provide an improved drug reminder system and method. Use of the system and method will result in higher compliance with dosing instructions. The invention is particularly suited when a drug is to be administered rarely, or with a varying dosing schedule. Examples include worming treatments or vaccinations that may be monthly, quarterly or yearly, for example. Procedures that have complex dosing schedules include cartrophen or convenia injections, which need to be administered at certain intervals such as once weekly for 4 weeks then once every 3rd month ongoing, then to return again to once weekly for 4 weeks when winter commences. Additionally, certain drugs need to be given at "Pulse Therapy Intervals", for example antibiotics that are given morning and night on Saturday and Sundays for 12 consecutive weeks. The present invention aids in compliance with drug administration and therefore results in improved treatment. [0076] The above description of various embodiments of the present invention is provided for purposes of description to one of ordinary skill in the related art. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to a single disclosed embodiment. As mentioned above, numerous alternatives and variations to the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the above teaching. Accordingly, while some alternative embodiments have been discussed specifically, other embodiments will be apparent or relatively easily developed by those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this patent specification is intended to embrace all alternatives, modifications and variations of the present invention that have been discussed herein, and other embodiments that fall within the spirit and scope of the above described invention. [0077] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any suggestion that the prior art forms part of the 15 common general knowledge in Australia.

Claims (20)

1. A computer-implemented drug reminder method including: receiving, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer; retrieving further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier; generating a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug, and the further information from the data store relating to the drug; and transmitting the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug.

2. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to claim 1 wherein the method further includes: retrieving, from the data store, at least one of a dosage, a dose frequency or a treatment duration based upon the drug identifier, presenting, on a data interface, the at least one of a dosage, a dose frequency or a treatment duration.

3. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the method further includes: receiving, on the data interface, information relating to an illness, retrieving, from the data store, a drug identifier corresponding to the illness, and presenting, on a data interface, the drug identifier. 17

4. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the drug information includes information relating to any one or more of side effects, warnings, tips or advice, or chemical and/or physiological effects of the drug.

5. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the method further includes: cross-referencing the drug information against species and breed specific information with appropriate warnings generated if there is a discrepancy.

6. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the reminder may be sent via Simple Message Service (SMS), instant messaging, or email.

7. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the method further includes: generating a script based upon the drug information.

8. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the method further includes: generating and establishing recurring reminders issued at predetermined intervals.

9. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein further information can be input into the data interface and stored in the data store for future reference. 18

10. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the reminder includes a link to a website.

11. A computer-implemented drug reminder method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the reminder includes an instructive video.

12. A computer-based drug reminder system including: a server including a processor and a memory, the memory including computer readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the system to: receive, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer; retrieve further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier; generate a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug, and the further information from the data store relating to the drug; and transmit the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug.

13. A drug reminder system according to claim 12 wherein the system further includes: retrieving, from the data store, at least one of a dosage, a dose frequency and a treatment duration based upon the drug identifier, presenting, on a data interface, the at least one of a dosage, a dose frequency and a treatment duration.

14. A drug reminder system according to either claim 11 or claim 12 wherein the system further includes: 19 receiving, on the data interface, information relating to an illness, retrieving, from the data store, a drug identifier corresponding to the illness, and presenting, on a data interface, the drug identifier.

15. A drug reminder system according to any one of claims 11 to 14 wherein the drug information includes one of side effects, warnings, tips or advice, or chemical and/or physiological effects of the drug.

16. A drug reminder system according to any one of claims 11 to 15 wherein the method further includes: cross-referencing of the drug information against species and breed specific information with appropriate warnings generated if there is a discrepancy.

17. A drug reminder system according to any one of claims 11 to 16 wherein the system further includes: generating a script based upon the drug information.

18. A drug reminder system according to any one of claims 11 to 17 wherein the system further includes: generating and establishing recurring reminders issued at predetermined intervals.

19. An apparatus including: a processor; a memory, including computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor causes the apparatus to perform operations including: 20 receiving, on a data interface, information relating to a drug and a patient, wherein the information relating to the drug includes at least an identifier of the drug, a dosage frequency of the drug, and the information relating to the patient includes at least contact information of the patient or patients carer; retrieving further information, from a data store, associated with the drug identifier; generating a plurality of reminders, wherein the reminders include at least part of the information relating to the drug; and the further information from the data store relating to the drug; and transmitting the plurality of reminders according to the dosage frequency of the drug.

20. A computer-implemented method according to claim 1, or a system according to claim 12, or an apparatus according to claim 19, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying figures.