GB2458126A

GB2458126A - A vessel having gradations relating to specific measurements

Info

Publication number: GB2458126A
Application number: GB0804028A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patrick Davies; Asrar Rashid
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-03-04
Filing date: 2008-03-04
Publication date: 2009-09-09
Also published as: GB0804028D0

Abstract

A vessel 1 such as a syringe or pipette has gradations 6 on the barrel 2 relating to specific measurements. The measurements may be related to the actual amount of drug contained in the volume of liquid in the vessel 1. The gradations 6 may be indicative of the dose of the drug or drug concentration 4, not the volume. The vessel 1 may be labelled with a specific drug 3 of a specified concentration. The barrel 2 of the vessel 1 may be colour-coded to match the colour of a vial from which a drug is taken. The vessel 1 may have two scales 6 one having a zero point at a nozzle end and the other scale having a zero point at a plunger 5 end of the barrel. The markings on the barrel 2 may be indicative of a characteristic of a patient such as weight or age. Also claimed is a method of administering a drug by using the afore described vessel and a kit incorporating the vessel.

Description

Drug dosing Gradated Vessel

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vessel br the administration of a drug such as a syringe or pipette that has gradations (i.e. a scale) that facilitate the measurement of a pre-defined amount of drug. e.g. which can be in liquid form, according to the dosage of the required drug such as grams (g), milligrams (mg), micrograms (rncg) or nanograms (ng). The aim of this invention is to save time and to minimise the chance of error when administering drugs to patients of differing physical characteristics such as weight, body surface area or height. Saving time is especially important in the acute or emergency care scenario.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Medical or veterinary teams treat sick patients. Such patients have variable physical characteristics according to weight or volume or surface area. The provision of effective treatment or resuscitation during the first hour of treatment is vital in determining a successful outcome for the patient, human or non-human. During this hour (and at any point during a treatment regime), drugs can be administered.

Drugs need to be drawn up into syringes in an exact way according to exact physical characteristics, with the necessary safety checks being undertaken to avoid incorrect drug dosing or to prevent incorrect drug administration.

Further, certain drugs and formulations are used relatively infrequently and there is the propensity for drug errors as a result of incorrect formulation or dilution. This has resulted in patients being administered major drug overdoses: which at high doses are potentially harmful leading to serious morbidity and mortality. Likewise, there is a chance of administering therapeutically inactive underdoses.

In order to save time. manufacturers have produced standard doses of drugs for adult patients which allow for instantaneous delivery of medication. However in animals and children there is significant dose variation and standardised syringes cannot be made for all possible patients. Moreover, standard drug doses assumes that patients are typically the same but with the increasing obesity crisis in the Western World, this is no longer true.

Also certain drugs are unstable and are therefore stored in vials with some drugs being refrigerated so that they must be drawn up as and when required. Consequently drug and patient characteristics can impinge on manufacturerS s ability to have pre-filled syringes available to the clinical team.

Further, some drugs are used very infrequently by the user and there is particularly a propensity to drug errors. It would be desirable to alleviate the issues associated with inefficiencies in providing acute and emergency care.

The prior art suggests the use of weight gradations for the administration of oral medication for animals. However, the inventors have now realised that gradations 2.

showing the dosage of drug to be can be used in the administration of drugs.

especially solutions of drugs intravenously, intramuscularly. intradermally, or subdermally or when given orally.

Prior art (US 6764469 B2) has utiliseci the idea of using a variable colour coded indicator to allow the operator to give a predetermined amount of drug according to a specific colour range. In contrast, the present invention annotates the actual physical characteristics of the patient on the vessel. This is more beneficial as this allows the operator to determine the amount of drug that should be administered. The prior art colour coding makes certain assumptions about the physique of the end-user such as the relationship of height with weight (Brosciow scale), which is prone to error, especially given that certain groups of patients are prone to vary significantly in their personal attributes from the mean; either being obese or lean.

The present inventors have surprisingly found that by using a vessel adapted to administer a drug to a patient, e.g. a syringe, which has gradations, i.e. a scale, which corresponds to the dosage of the drug, such a vessel has several advantages over prior art vessels as it provides an increased level of efficiency and safety for drawing up drugs, e.g. for intravenous, intramuscular, intradermal, oral or subdermal use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, viewed from one aspect the invention provides a vessel suitable for the administration of a drug to a human or non-human patient, e.g. intravenously, intramuscularly, subcutaneously, buccally, sub-lingually, orally or transdermally, having gradations marked thereon relating to a dosage of drug, e.g. grams, mg, mcg, nanogrammes wherein said gradations show a user how much drug to administer.

Viewed from another aspect the invention provides a vessel as hereinbefore defined comprising a drug.

Viewed from another aspect there is provided a method of administering a drug to a patient comprising: (i) obtaining a vessel as hereinbefore defined (ii) drawing into said vessel an amount (volume) of drug which corresponds to the value of a specific dosage of drug (iii) administering said amount of drug to said patient.

As used herein, the tenn dnig" is intended to cover any substance which a user might want to administer to a patient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG 1 is a schematic cross section of the main embodiment of the invention FIG 2 is a schematic cross section of a pipette system with gradations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Traditionally the process of drug administration requires the user to calculate the drug dosage that is required and to administer the same. For oral drugs this can he relatively straightforward with the user being given a whole or multiple of tablets.

However, the situation becomes more complex when the patient to which the drug is administered, be it human or non-human, differs significantly in terms of a particular physical characteristic, such as height, body surface area or in particular. weight. in this situation, for the administration of the correct dose of drug, a calculation is usually required which takes into consideration the physical characteristics of the patient.

Once the weight of the patient is established, the operator administering a drug musL calculate. according to the patient's weight, the required dosage and this must then be drawn up from an appropriate vial. However after a certain weight the drug amount to he administered remains static.

Traditionally this methodology may delay the administration of a drug to the patient.

This delay can be detrimental to the optimal treatment of patients, especially those who are acutely unwell. There is also the possibility of an incorrect calculation being made at this stage, especially under the pressure of an emergency.

The present invention offers a solution to this problem by provision of a vessel suitable for the administration of a drug to a patient, for example a syringe or a pipette that has gradated markings thereon. The vessel allows the drug preparer to suction a required aliquot of drug into a syringe in a quick and efficient manner. The gradation system on the vessel focuses on the amount of drug contained in the solution, instead of the actual volume drawn up. Drawing up a volume corresponding to the shown relevant drug dosing characteristic would correspond to the correct dose of that drug.

The vessel is designed to take out one step in the pathway to drug administration.

Specifically the step related to converting the physical characteristics to a definite dosage.

The use of pre-determined calculated syringes will entail a saving in cost for the operator in terms of time, financial cost, and minimising the risk of incorrect dosage calculations and incorrect type of drug administered.

The patient to whom the drug is administered man be human or non-human although preferably the patient is human. Embodiments of the invention are particularly useful if the patient is a child, elderly (e.g. at 65, preferably at least 70) or obese (e.g. with a body mass index of at least 30).

The physical characteristic of the patient to which the scale on the vessel relates can vary widely. Any characteristic that can be correlated to a drug dosage is possible although preferably that characteristic is physical characteristic such as height, body surface area or in particular, weight. The. characteristic may also be a combination of these characteristics, e.g. body mass index.

Thus, a vessel of the invention may have a scale which corresponds to the dosage of drug according to grams, mg. meg, or nanogrammes of drug. It

It will be appreciated that the gradations on the vessel may differ depending on the type of drug which they contain, with different drugs having different drug dosing regimens. It is possible therefore that the vessel states for which drug it is to he used either on the vessel itself or on any packaging/instructions thereof. Preferably this is marked on the vessel itself to ensure that mistakes made by the clinical team are less likely. However, there is a limited amount of variation in possible concentrations of drugs in solutions. Thereibre a range of syringes corresponding to the common concentrations of drug formulations would be available, where the user would choose the syringe dependant on the concentration of the vial which they were using at that time.

Where drugs are administered in different concentrations it will again be desirable. to indicate to the user for what concentration of drug the vessel is to he used. Again.

preferably this is marked on the vessel itself to ensure that no mistakes can be made by the clinical team.

It will be appreciated that the vessel of the invention could, in theory. be of any size or shape but preferably, the vessel is a conventional syringe or pipette. especially a syringe. Vessels of the invention will generally have a plunger at one end thereof and a nozzle at the other end thereof. The thickness of the barrel of such a vessel can of course vary as is well known in the art. Barrel thickness is used to vary the amount of material which the syringe will cany.

Whilst the vessel of the invention can be used to deliver drug in any form, e.g. liquid, semi-solid or solid form, ideally the drug will be in the form of a liquid. Such a liquid will usually be a solution or emulsion of the drug along with one or more conventional pharmaceutical excipients. Formulation of drugs in a form suitable for administration by the vessel of the invention, be it intravenously, intramuscularly, subcutaneously, buccally, sub-lingually, orally or transdermally is well known to the skilled man.

In conventional use, the gradations on the vessel are used to measure specific aliquots of drug according to physical characteristics of the patient. This aliquot can be taken from any convenient source, e.g. a vial of the drug in appropriate concentration.

In one embodiment of the invention, rather than the user drawing into the vessel an amount of drug corresponding to the physical characteristic of the patient, the vessel of the invention can already contain a predetermined amount of drug sealed ready for use. The user need administer to the patient just the amount of drug required based on the scale on the vessel and, of course, the physical characteristic of the patient.

in this embodiment, the gradations on the vessel may read from zero at the plunger end to the maximum possible for that vessel at the nozzle end. In this way the user is not required to make a calculation befbre administration and just administers the amount of drug which corresponds to the physical characteristic of the patient.

in another embodiment, a vessel of the invention may have two scales, one oriented for convenient viewing when putting an amount of drug into the vessel, the other oriented for convenient viewing when administering an amount of drug to a patient i.e. where the zero point of one scale is located at the nozzle end of the vessel and the zero point of the other scale is located at the plunger end of the vessel.

In yet another embodiment, a vessel of the invention may he prelilled with a solute (normally 0.9% sodium chloride solution, water, or a dextrose solution). which can be mixed with a powder form of a drug. The vessel would then have gradations thereupon corresponding to the concentration of the drug in solution.

Specific vessels of the invention could be colour coded, e.g. to specify which drug it is to cany. The vials from which the drug is drawn from could also be colour coded to match that of the vessel. In particular, the barrel of a syringe could he of a specified colour which can match the colour of the vial from which a certain medication will be drawn to minimize drug errors. Differing drugs can therefore having differing colour syringes.

The vessel of the invention can have an electronic suction system to enable the operator to suction a required aliquot of drug or could have a conventional manual plunger.

The vessel of the invention can be provided as a kit that contains, inter alia, specified drugs and/or specified implements depending on the specific disease process or situation that can require treatment.

Viewed from another aspect therefore the invention provides a kit comprising a vessel as hereinbefore described and a drug.

Infusion pumps can he programmed to accept the vessels of the invention.

Figure I shows an embodiment of the invention. A syringe (I) is displayed with a drug name (optional) (3), drug concentration (4), and a scale (6) printed clearly on the barrel (2). The gradations on this example syringe are given in milligrams (7). When a volume of fluid equalling the dose required has been drawn up into the syringe, this equals the correct dose for the patient.

The user would, after examining the prescription written in the health care notes, or after calculating this themselves, draw up a volume corresponding to the dose as shown on the syringe barrel. The gradations on the syringe have been predetermined to be exactly at the volume which would give the correct dose.

The user would then administer to the patient the appropriate dose of drug.

In another embodiment of the invention Figure 2 a gradation inset that represents the dose (13) is placed on to a vessel that has the function of a pipette (11). The topmost part of the pipette (11) has a bulb (12) which the user can use to aspirate aliquots of solution from the pipette entry point (8) into the body of the pipette. The pipette can have the function to measure specific types of drugs such which can be represented on the pipette 9 according to specific dilutions of drug (10). Alternatively generic pipette can be designed to be used to measure any aliquot of drug according to specific dosage amounts of drug, such as milligram, micrograms or nanogram of drug.

Claims

Claims I. A vessel suitable for the administration of a drug to a human or non-human patient, having gradations marked thereon relating to the dosage of the required drug.
2. A vessel as claimed in claim 1 wherein said gradations are specific for a particular drug.
3. A vessel as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said drug is in the form of at least one a liquid.
4. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the vessel has the name of the drug with which it should be used marked thereon.
5. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the vessel has the concentration of the drug with which it should be used marked thereon.
6. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the vessel and/or a barrel thereof is colour coded to match the colour of a vial from which the drug with which it is to be used is taken.
7. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim having a suction system to enable the operator to suction a required aliquot of drug.
8. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim which contains a predetermined amount of drug.
9. A vessel as claimed in claim 8 having a nozzle and a plunger wherein said the gradations on said vessel start at a plunger end of the vessel.
10. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim having more than one scale indicative of different physical characteristics of the patient.
I I. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim, having two scales where the zero point of one scale is located at the nozzle end of the vessel and the zero point of the other scale is located at the plunger end of the vessel
12. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim being a syringe or pipette.
13. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim, can be used to measure specific aliquots of any drug according to a given dosage amount in grams, milligrams, micrograms or nanograms.
14. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim can be labelled for the use of specific types of drug; with said labelling containing specific names of drugs or can be of a certain colour or colours or may contain a certain label or mark that identifies the vessel by the user for a certain drug or family of drugs.
15. A vessel as claimed in any preceding claim being adapted to allow administration of said drug intravenously, intramuscularly, subcutaneously, buccally. sub-lingually or transdermally, or orally.
16. A kit comprising a vessel as claimed in any preceding claim and a specified drug for said vessel.
17. A vessel substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
18. A method of administering a drug to a patient comprising: obtaining a vessel as hereinbefore deflned drawing into said vessel an amount of drug which corresponds to the value of a physical characteristic of said patient administering said amount of drug to said patient.