JP2835913B2 - Medicine bag printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save the labor of a medicine writing work by constituting the printer so that medicine bags processed by plural sets of printers are carried to a medicine bag taking-out position by a carrying means, and the surface and the reverse side of each medicine bag are put in order in a specific direction. CONSTITUTION:This medicine bag printer controlled by a computer in a pharmacist's office, based on data related to a prescription outputted from each medical examination department in a hospital is constituted by mounting plural sets of printers P (P1-Pn) in which a buffer of some capacity is contained, on a shelf of a printer containing case 2. In each printer P, medicine bags Y1-Yn of each different size are supplied to a paper supply part 1. Also, to a paper discharge part 3 of each printer P, each initial end of carrying paths H1-Hn for constituting a carrying device H is connected, and the medicine bags to which printing is finished pass through a chute 5 and are joined by a common horizontal converyor 7, respectively, and thereafter, pass through a vertical conveyor 8 and are fed to a medicine bag taking-out part 4, and accumulated with its print picture put down.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medicine bag printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a pharmacy of a hospital, a medicine prepared according to a prescription prescribed by each doctor is stored in a medicine bag, and the medicine is administered to a patient. And, in the medicine bag, necessary items such as patient name, usage, etc.
It was completed by handwriting by a pharmacist.

[0003]

However, in many hospitals, including large hospitals, there is an extremely long waiting time between the completion of medical treatment in a consultation room and the reception of medication due to a shortage of labor and various other causes. There is a problem that is long. In particular, recently, the number of types of medication has increased, and the size of the medicine bag has also increased, and it has been troublesome to write the patient name, usage, and the like in the medicine bag, so that the waiting time has been further increased.

[0004] In addition, there is another problem that the burden on the pharmacist is increased due to the handwriting work on the medicine bag, which hinders the dispensing work which is the original work of the pharmacist.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a medicine bag printing apparatus which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, saves labor for writing medicine bags, and allows a pharmacist to be free from a handwriting work for medicine bags. It is.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of printers and means for transporting medicine bags processed by each printer to a medicine bag removal position. The front and back of the medicine bag are aligned in a certain direction.

[0007]

According to the present invention, by employing the above-mentioned means, the work of writing a medicine bag can be saved, the pharmacist can be freed from the handwriting work of the medicine bag, and it is convenient to handle the medicine bag taken out.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a medicine bag printing apparatus A according to the present invention, wherein T1 to Tn are terminal computers arranged in each medical department, and Ch is a host computer arranged in a computer room. , Cp are computers arranged in the pharmacy, C is a controller, and P1 to Pn are printers, which are configured around a host computer Ch. That is, terminal computers T1 to Tn are connected to one of the host computers Ch, and a plurality of printers P1 to Pn are connected to the other via the pharmacy computer CP and the controller C.
m is a communication modem.

[0009] The data of medical treatments and prescriptions input from the terminal computers T1 to Tn of each medical department are transferred to the host computer Ch and processed. The host computer Ch is a general-purpose computer, and performs a plurality of tasks such as paperwork based on the above data. Hereinafter, the description will be limited to the printing of medicine bags.

[0010] Among the various data input to the host computer Ch, data relating to the prescription is output to the computer Cp of the pharmacy. Receiving the data, the computer Cp of the pharmacy displays the contents of the prescription on its display and outputs the data to the controller C. The controller C has the following functions.

A function of determining the size and the number of medicine bags required for each patient based on prescription data input from the host computer Ch.

A function of selecting a printer in which a medicine bag of the above-mentioned size is supplied to a paper feeding unit from a plurality of printers P1 to Pn, and outputting print data such as a patient name and usage to the printer.

When a medicine bag of the same size is supplied to two or more printers, a function of operating from the printer with the larger number of unprinted medicine bags remaining in the paper feeding unit.

If two or more printers of the same size are supplied to two or more printers and one patient requires two or more drug bags of the same size, these printers are simultaneously activated.

A register for storing prescriptions for only 300 patients is built in the controller C.
By first-in first-out of the input data, the number of prescriptions input from the host computer Ch can be reduced by the printer P1.
Function to buffer traffic congestion caused by exceeding the processing capacity of Pn.

When a plurality of medicine bags are required for dispensing one patient, a function for simultaneously operating the printers supplied with these medicine bags.

A function for notifying troubles such as out of medicine bags, jamming and breakdown.

The contents of the prescription are determined and selected by the controller C having such a function, and the print data is output to the corresponding printers P1 to Pn.

Each of the printers P1 to Pn is a general printer having a buffer having a small capacity, and various types of printers such as a dot impact printer, a thermal transfer printer, and a laser printer can be used.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the printers P1 to Pn
Are placed on the shelf of the printer storage case 2, and medicine bags Y 1 to Yn of different sizes are supplied to the paper feeding unit 1 of each of the printers P 1 to Pn. Printers P1 to Pn from which printed medicine bags y1 to yn are discharged
In the paper discharge unit 3, transport paths H <b> 1 to H
n are connected to each other, and the respective transport paths H1 to Hn merge on the way, and the terminal ends thereof reach a medicine bag take-out section 4 provided at a predetermined height on one side of the printer storage case 2.

The paper discharge unit 3 of each of the printers P1 to Pn
As shown in FIG. 3, there is a printed medicine bag y1 between the transfer path H1 and the chute 5 at the start end of each of the transport paths H1 to Hn connected to this.
A paper feed roller 6 that rotates in the discharge direction to assist the discharge of .about.yn is provided. In the figure, 20 is a platen, 2
1 is a print head.

At the lower end of each chute 5, a horizontal conveyor 7 and a vertical conveyor 8 for transporting the printed medicine bags y1 to yn to the medicine bag take-out section 4 are connected.
Since the printed medicine bags y1 to yn are discharged with the printed surface facing upward from the paper discharge units 3 to Pn, the printed medicine bags y1 to yn are accumulated in the medicine bag removal unit 4 with the printed surface facing down. Will be.

The medicine bag take-out section 4 can be folded and stored upward via a hinge 9, 10 is a front door of the printer storage case 2, 11 is a storage shelf for storing spare medicine bags and the like, Reference numeral 12 denotes a door of the storage shelf 11, and reference numeral 13 denotes a caster for movement.

FIG. 4 shows a modified example of the printer storage case, in which a plurality of printers P1 to Pn stored in a shelf of the printer storage case 2 'facing forward are discharged with their print surfaces facing upward. Printed medicine bags y1 to yn are
The print surface is stacked on the medicine bag take-out section 4 provided at the lower front part of the printer storage case 2 '.

The unprinted medicine bags Y1 to Yn used in such printers P1 to Pn are formed of a medicine bag Y formed by bonding three sides of two sheets of substantially rectangular paper and forming a bag with one side open. Common notation items such as hospital names and general precautions are printed on the front and back surfaces in advance, and the date, patient name, usage, and other special items are printed in the blanks by the printers P1 to Pn. , Which are supplied to the patient with the medicine stored therein.

Next, the operation of the medicine bag printing apparatus A configured as described above will be described. First, in a medical department where a patient is examined, prescription data input to the terminal computers T1 to Tn is input to the controller C via the host computer Ch in the computer room.

The controller C, which has received the data of the prescription, determines the size and the number of medicine bags required for one patient by the above-mentioned function, and from the printers P1 to Pn arranged in the pharmacy, the medicine bags of the above-mentioned size. Is supplied to the paper supply unit, and print data such as the patient name and usage is output to the printer, and each printer P
1 to Pn are stored in the buffer, and the medicine bags to be supplied to the patient are printed all at once.

In addition, when medicine bags of the same size are supplied to two or more printers, the frequency of the medicine bag supply can be reduced by operating the printer having the larger number of unprinted medicine bags. Furthermore, when two or more medicine bags of the same size are required for the same patient, these printers can be operated at the same time to reduce the time required for printing medicine bags per patient.

When the number of prescriptions exceeding the processing capacity of the printers P1 to Pn is input from each medical department, the data of the prescriptions is temporarily stored in a register built in the controller C, and the first-in first-out data is stored. Can be buffered.

During the printing of the medicine bag, the medicine bag runs out,
When a trouble such as a jamming or a failure occurs, this fact can be notified.

The printed medicine bags y1 to yn printed in this way are sent from the paper discharge unit 3 of each of the printers P1 to Pn to the respective chutes 5 by the rotation of the paper feed rollers 6 at the start ends h1 to hn of the respective transport paths. It is conveyed reliably, is conveyed from each chute 5 via the horizontal conveyor 7 and the vertical conveyor 8 to the medicine bag take-out unit 4, and is stacked with the print surface down.

According to the above-mentioned operation, printed medicine bags y1 to yn on which data such as a patient name, usage, etc. are printed are collectively collected for each patient in the medicine bag take-out section 4, so that the medicine bags are stored in the medicine bags. The operation of storing a medicine and the operation of supplying a patient can be performed collectively for each patient, so that the above operation can be performed more efficiently and errors can be prevented.

In the medicine bag take-out section 4, the printed medicine bags y1 to yn are stacked with the printed surface down, so that even if the printed medicine bags y1 to yn for several patients are taken out at once, the printed medicine bags y1 to yn are printed. When the surface is turned up, the printed medicine bags y1 to yn of the patient who have been printed first face up, which is convenient for storing and supplying medicines in the order of printing.

In addition, at least one of the printers P1 to Pn can be printed with a label for a liquid medication bottle or any other appropriate use, thereby saving labor in writing the label.

The feeding timing of the printed medicine bags y1 to yn in the paper discharge unit 3 of the printers P1 to Pn and the controller C are controlled by the controller C so that the printed medicine bags y1 to yn are arranged in the order described in the prescription. By printing the medicine bags in the order of the prescriptions input to the host computer, the medicine bags can be accumulated in the order in which the prescriptions are received, and the medicine can be administered in the order in which the patients are received.

As described above, the handwriting work of the medicine bags, the work of taking out the medicine bags from the printer, and the work of collecting the medicine bags are labor-saving, and the dispensing of one patient can be performed efficiently in a lump. This shortens the time required for the patient to wait for medication, and also reduces the burden on the pharmacist, so that the pharmacist can concentrate on the original dispensing work.

When two or more kinds of medicines using the same usage and the same size of medicine bag are described in one prescription, the number of medicine bags used is printed by printing on one medicine bag of the above size. Can also be saved.

Further, at least one of the printers P1 to Pn can print a patient's prescription, so that the user can check the prescription contents without having to look at the display of the pharmacy computer Cp. In addition, the pharmacist carries the prescription and the printed medicine bags y1 to yn and dispenses them while looking at them, so that a plurality of pharmacists are in charge of one patient each and dispensing of a plurality of patients. It can be performed simultaneously and in parallel, and a plurality of pharmacists can be in charge of different dispensing areas, respectively, and can simultaneously perform dispensing in multiple areas of one patient, thereby improving the efficiency of dispensing work. In addition, it is possible to check the medication for the patient according to the prescription.

In this case, the operation state of the printers P1 to Pn such as troubles such as out of medicine bags, jamming and breakdown, traffic jams, etc. can be displayed on the computer Cp of the pharmacy.

When a trouble occurs in a part of the medicine bag printing apparatus A, each printer is directly controlled by the host computer Ch so as to maintain at least the function of prescription printing unless the host computer Ch goes down. You can also do so.

Further, a tablet packing machine, a powder medicine packing machine and other various medicine packing machines are connected to the medicine bag printing apparatus A, and these are controlled by the controller C or the computer Cp of the pharmacy, and the contents described in the prescription are described. It is also possible to operate a tablet packing machine, a powder packing machine and the like.

[0042]

The present invention is configured as described above.
Labor savings can be saved, which frees the pharmacist from handwriting medicine bags,
A plurality of types of medicine bags can be used.In addition, since the front and back of each medicine bag are arranged in a fixed direction at the medicine bag unloading position, the medicine bag has excellent effects such as being convenient for handling the taken medicine bag. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the printer storage case.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a paper feed roller.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a modified example of the printer storage case.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C: controller Ch: host computer H: transport device P1 to Pn: printer T1 to Tn: terminal computer Y1 to Yn: drug bag y1 to yn: printed drug bag

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
Means for determining the size of the required medicine bag,
The medicine bag of the above-mentioned size was supplied from the printer of
Means for selecting and operating one or a plurality of devices, and means for transporting the medicine bags processed by each printer to the medicine bag removal position, so that the front and back of each medicine bag are aligned in a certain direction at the medicine bag removal position. A medicine bag printing device, characterized in that: