JP7112653B2 - Medication management device, medication management system and computer program - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a medication administration device in which medications are arranged one dose at a time. The present invention also relates to a medication administration system using a medication administration device and a computer program for operating the medication administration device.

Elderly patients and patients whose symptoms have passed the acute stage are often treated at home. In addition, patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia who do not require emergency care are often treated at home. Patients recuperating at home need to take medication based on self-management.
For example, if a doctor's prescription is to take drugs A and B in the morning, drug B in the afternoon, and double the morning dose of drugs A and C after dinner, the patient decides for themselves. It is necessary to take out a prescribed amount of medicine of a prescribed kind from a medicine box or the like at a prescribed time and take it.
However, as a practical matter, there are cases where the type or amount of medicine to be taken is wrong, or the medicine is forgotten to be taken. Conversely, the drug may be taken repeatedly. In particular, in the case of elderly people with multiple diseases, multiple drugs were used, which was remarkable.
In addition, it is difficult for elderly people and patients with low energy to sort medicines or take out the prescribed amount of medicine from a medicine cabinet, etc., and they may not be able to take medicine accurately. be.

In addition, in nursing care facilities for the elderly, caregivers will assist in managing medication administration. big. That is, in a care facility, a caregiver takes out a prescribed amount of medicine of a prescribed kind at a prescribed time from a medicine cabinet or the like and hands the medicine to the patient. was desired.

A measure related to this problem is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-200011. The medication management device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has four rows of pockets for storing medications, and LED lights are provided on the left and right sides of each pocket.
In the medication management device disclosed in Patent Document 1, there are character displays of "morning,""noon,""night," and "before going to bed" along the horizontal axis.
In the medication administration device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when it is time to take medication, the left and right LED lights of the pocket containing the medication to be taken light up to alert the patient.
When the medicine is taken out of the pocket, the LED light turns off and the data is transmitted to the server and recorded in the database.

JP 2017-12469 A

According to the medication management device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, it is possible to inform the patient of the time to take the medication and prevent forgetting to take the medication.
However, patients have different lifestyles and habits, and there are cases in which the conventional medication management devices cannot cope with them, or they are inconvenient to use.

An object of the present invention is to develop an easy-to-use medication management device that can match the patient's lifestyle and habits.

As an actual patient's behavior, there are cases where he/she goes out and meets people, or eats outside with a friend or the like.
Conventional medication management devices are based on the premise that the patient is at home or in a facility, and cannot be used when the patient is out of the office.
The first mode deals with the case of going out or the like.

In a first aspect, a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, and a drug having a dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage portion is held in the drug storage portion, and the arrival of the dosing time is notified by light and/or sound. In a medication management device having a time arrival notification means for notifying that the time to take medicine can be operated in advance mode, if a medicine that has not reached the time to take medicine is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the advance mode, the medicine This medication management device is characterized in that part or all of the timing notification means does not function even when the medication time arrives.

For example, when going out to eat, it may be necessary to take medicine after the meal.
In such a case, before going out, the medicine to be taken after meals is taken out from the medicine container, put in a bag or the like, and taken out. That is, the drug is extracted from the drug container before the dosing time arrives. According to the conventional medication management device, the light of the corresponding portion is turned on even though the medication has already been taken out. Therefore, there are cases where the answering machine feels uncomfortable.
On the other hand, in the medication administration device of this aspect, when the medicine that has not reached the dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipatory mode, even if the dosing time of the medicine comes, the timing notification means Some or all do not work. Therefore, it does not give discomfort to the answering machine.

In the pre-emption mode, it is desirable that a pre-emption instruction indicating the medicine storage unit holding the medicine to be taken next before reaching the dosing time is performed.

Examples of prefetch instructions include light and sound.
In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane, and the drug storage section holds the drug at the dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage section, and the arrival of the dosing time is notified by light and/or sound. In the medication administration device having a timing notification means, the medicine containing portion is a pocket provided with an opening serving as an opening for taking in and out of the medicine, a light-emitting member is provided at a position corresponding to each medicine containing portion, and operation is performed in advance mode. is possible, and if a drug that has not reached its dosing time is taken out from the drug container during the operation of the anticipatory mode, part or all of the timing notification means will function even if the dosing time of the drug has come. In the pre-taking mode, a pre-taking instruction is issued to cause the light-emitting member corresponding to the drug container holding the drug to be taken next before the time to take the drug is reached. is.

When the medicine is taken out from the medicine containing part while the pre-taking mode is functioning, it is desirable that a pre-taking instruction indicating the medicine containing part in which the medicine to be taken next is held is given.

In anticipation mode, it is desirable to indicate when the next dose should be taken.

By knowing when the next dose should be taken, it is possible to determine whether the drug should be taken or left at home or the like.
Means for indicating the time may be, for example, voice or screen display.
The display and notification of when to take the next dose may be performed automatically. Also, the time to take the drug may be displayed or notified by the user performing some operation.

When the medicine is taken out from the medicine container while the pre-take mode is functioning, it is desirable to indicate the time when the medicine should be taken next.

The conventional medication management device has character displays of "morning,""noon,""night," and "before going to bed." This generally means "after breakfast", "after lunch", "after dinner" and "before bedtime".
However, the time to wake up and the time to go to bed vary from person to person, and the time to eat also varies greatly depending on lifestyle habits. Therefore, “morning,” “noon,” and “night” for an individual patient may vary greatly from person to person. Therefore, even if the light is turned on at 8:00 a.m. and the drug is taken out of the drug container, it is not uncommon for the drug to be taken in the "morning" only several hours later. You may forget to take it.

The second aspect solves this problem, and has a character display corresponding to morning, noon, and night indicating the dosing time of the drug container, and has dosing time setting means for setting each dosing time. One of the features of the medication administration device is that the medication time corresponding to the medication timing can be set by the medication timing setting means at least up to the hour and minute.

According to this aspect, it is possible to set the notification time by the arrival-of-time notification means according to the patient's individual lifestyle.

In the medication management device, a pharmacist or the like stores the corresponding medicine in the medicine container. This work requires careful attention and requires repeated confirmation work, which places a heavy burden on pharmacists and the like.

A third aspect is intended to reduce this burden, in which a light emitting member is provided at a position corresponding to each drug containing portion, and the light emitting member corresponding to the drug containing portion in which the drug needs to be held emits light. It is a medication management device characterized by having a specific function.
In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane, and the drug storage section holds the drug at the dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage section, and the arrival of the dosing time is notified by light and/or sound. In a medication management device having a time arrival notification means, the operation in the anticipation mode is possible, and if a medicine that has not reached the dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipation mode, the dosing time of the medicine is reached. part or all of the means for notifying the arrival of time does not function, and light-emitting members are provided at positions corresponding to the drug containing portions, and light is emitted from the light-emitting members corresponding to the drug containing portions in which the drug needs to be held. This medicine administration management device is characterized by having a function of specifying a medicine containing portion to allow the patient to take medicine.

According to this aspect, it is confirmed whether or not there is a medicine in the medicine containing part where the light emitting member emits light. Also, even if there is medicine in the medicine container where the light-emitting member does not emit light, it is misplaced. This aspect contributes to elimination of erroneous insertion of medicines.

A mode corresponding to this modification has a light-emitting member at a position corresponding to each drug-containing portion, and has a drug-containing portion specifying function for causing the light-emitting member corresponding to the drug-containing portion corresponding to the prescription information to emit light. One of its features is a medication management device.
In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane, and the drug storage section holds the drug at the dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage section, and the arrival of the dosing time is notified by light and/or sound. In a medication management device having a time arrival notification means, the operation in the anticipation mode is possible, and if a medicine that has not reached the dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipation mode, the dosing time of the medicine is reached. Even if the drug arrives, part or all of the time arrival notification means does not function, light-emitting members are provided at positions corresponding to the respective drug storage portions, and the light-emitting members corresponding to the drug storage portions corresponding to the prescription information emit light. The medication management device is characterized by having a storage section specifying function.

In each of the above-described aspects, the main device and the drug setting device are provided, the main device has the light-emitting member, the drug setting device is provided with the drug storage section, and the drug setting device is detachable from the main device. It is desirable to have

The medication management device may be purchased by the patient himself or may be lent to the patient or facility by a pharmacy or the like.
In addition, pharmacies and the like may rent out a large number of medication management devices to a large number of patients. Therefore, there is a concern that the location of the rented medication management device may become unknown.

A fourth aspect is intended to alleviate this problem. In a medication administration system constituted by the medication administration device and the portable input device described above, the portable input device communicates with the medication administration device through wired or wireless communication. At least one of the medication management device and the portable input device is provided with position detection means and communication means, and the current position of the medication management device and/or the portable input device is communicated to others by wireless communication. It is a medication management system characterized by being able to transmit to the device of.

According to this aspect, a clue for locating the medication management device whose location is unknown can be obtained.

An aspect relating to a computer program includes a plurality of drug storage units distributed in a plane, a drug having a dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage unit being held in the drug storage unit, and notification means using light and/or sound. In the computer program for controlling the control device of the medication management device, it is possible to operate in the timing notification operation of notifying the arrival of the medication timing by light and/or sound and the anticipation mode, and during the anticipation mode operation, This computer program is characterized in that, when a drug that has not reached its dosing time is taken out from the drug storage part, part or all of the time arrival notification means does not function even if the time for taking the drug comes.

The medication management device or the like of the present invention can be adapted to the patient's lifestyle and habits, and is easy to use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a front view of the medication management apparatus which comprises the medication management system of embodiment of this invention, the communication terminal for patients, and the communication terminal for traders. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the medication management device of FIG. 1, showing a state in which the medication management device is divided into a main unit and a medicine setting tool. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the medication management device of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state in which a drug is set in a drug container of the medication management device; FIG. 10 is a front view of the medication management device showing a state in which the medicine container identification function is activated and one light-emitting member of the medicine container in which the medicine is to be set is illuminated. It is a front view of the medication management apparatus showing a state in which the medication time has come. FIG. 10 is a front view of the medication management device when the anticipation mode is activated; FIG. 10 is a front view of the medication management device showing a state in which the pre-taking mode is activated and the medicine is taken out from the instructed medicine container. It is a front view which shows an example of the display screen of a medication management apparatus and a communication terminal. It is a front view of the medication management apparatus of FIG. 1, and shows the example of a change of the layout of a medicine accommodating part. It is a front view which shows another example of the display screen of a communication terminal, (a) is a screen which displays a medication taking condition, (b) is a screen which displays a medication history. It is a front view showing another example of the display screen of the communication terminal, (a) is a basic setting screen, (b) is an attribute setting screen, (c) is a dosing time setting screen, and (d). It is a day-of-the-week setting screen, and (e) is a change notice screen. It is a front view which shows another example of the display screen of a communication terminal, (a) is a layout setting screen, (b) is a screen after layout modification.

Embodiments of the present invention will be further described below.
The medication management device 1 of this embodiment is composed of a main unit 2 and a medicine setting tool 3 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, there are a plurality of communication terminals 5 and 6 as members constituting the medication management system 100 of the present embodiment together with the medication management device 1 .

The communication terminal 5 is a patient communication terminal 5 mainly used by a patient. The communication terminal 6 is a business communication terminal 6 used by a pharmacist or the like. The trader communication terminal 6 functions as a portable input device.
The communication terminals 5 and 6 are well-known notebook computers, communication tablets, smartphones, etc., and have input means such as keyboards and touch panels, and display screens. Communication terminals 5 and 6 also have a communication function for connecting to the Internet. The communication terminals 5 and 6 can construct a wireless LAN together with other devices, and are cordless and portable.
Furthermore, the communication terminals 5 and 6 also have a function of communicating with the communication means 72 built in the medication management device 1 . The communication method with the medication management device 1 may be wired communication or wireless communication.

The communication terminals 5 and 6 are also used as mobile terminals, and can be used to communicate with medical institution personnel such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists through the Internet or the like. The communication terminals 5, 6 can also communicate with external cloud computing services. Doctors, pharmacists, relatives of patients, etc. can also obtain information via external cloud computing services.
The patient communication terminal 5 can also be used to keep in touch with relatives such as children and grandchildren when the patient is in a facility or is elderly.

On the other hand, the vendor communication terminal 6 also functions as setting means for setting operating conditions of the medication management device 1 . It is also possible to obtain a computer program that communicates with an external computer or an external cloud computing service server to operate the medication management device 1 .
The communication terminal 6 for the trader has at least a clock function, a GPS function, etc., and has a function of recognizing and storing the current position at the current time.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drug setting tool 3 is provided with a large number of drug storage sections 11 on a planar base material 10 .
The planar shape of the base material 10 is substantially rectangular, and hook pieces (engagement pieces) 22 are provided on the back side of each side portion.
As shown in FIG. 3, the drug containing portion 11 has an outer wall portion 12 facing the user, an inner wall portion 13 facing the outer wall portion 12, a side wall portion, and a bottom wall portion 16. It has an inner bag portion 17 that looks like a gusseted pocket.

In this embodiment, the drug containing portion 11 is composed of a transparent pocket sheet 18 . Specifically, the drug containing portion 11 has a structure in which the right and left sides and the lower side of a transparent pocket sheet 18 are adhered or welded to the base material 10 so that an object can be put inside from the upper side.
In this embodiment, the drug containing portion 11 is a pocket having an opening 27 on the upper side. In the present embodiment, the opening 27 of the drug containing portion 11 serves as a drug loading/unloading port.

Focusing on the inside of the drug containing portion 11, an opening 20 is provided in the inner bag portion 17 and in the inner wall portion 13 as shown in FIG. The opening 20 penetrates the inner bag portion 17 and the back side of the medicine setting tool 3 , so that the inside of the inner bag portion 17 can be seen from the back side of the medicine setting tool 3 .

In this embodiment, a light absorbing member 21 is built in the inner bag portion 17 .
1 and 2, the drug storage units 11 are distributed in a matrix in a plane, and are located at specific positions determined based on the timing of taking the drug by the user, and correspond to the drug storage units 11. It holds the drug package 25 (see FIG. 4) of the doser and the dose timing.
The drug package 25 contains one type or a plurality of types of drugs to be taken at the same time.
There are cases in which one drug package 25 is put in one drug container 11 and a plurality of drug packages 25 are put in one drug container 11 .
Of course, there may be a drug container 11 into which the drug package 25 cannot be placed.

In this embodiment, the drug storage units 11 are arranged in a matrix shape (rows and columns) configured by dividing usage into a day of the week axis and a dosing timing axis.
Specifically, the vertical axis is the seven days of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and the horizontal axis is "morning,""noon,""night," and "before going to bed."

In the present embodiment, time display pockets 43a, 43b, 43c, and 43d are provided above the region in which the medicine containing portions 11 are arranged. The time display pockets 43a, 43b, 43c, and 43d contain tags indicating "morning,""noon,""night," and "before going to bed." The time display pockets 43a, 43b, 43c, and 43d are transparent, and the letters "morning,""noon,""night," and "before going to bed" written on the tags can be read from the outside.
As for the display of the seven days of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", " It contains tags labeled "Thursday,""Friday,""Saturday," and "Sunday."

The medicine setting tool 3 is used exclusively by one person who takes the medicine. For example, medicines which the person A takes for a week are stored in the medicine container 11 according to the day of the week and the timing of taking the medicine.
That is, the drug containing portion 11 is located at a specific position where the doser is determined to be A alone, and the timing of dosing is determined based on a display such as "morning of the month, noon of the month...", and the drug containing portion 11 is It is in a specific position determined by the user and the timing of the dose.

Next, the main unit 2 will be explained.
The main unit 2 is plate-shaped as shown in FIG. 2, and has a setting tool mounting area 50 in the center. Moreover, there is an operation area 51 above the setting tool mounting area 50 .
The setting tool mounting area 50 is slightly recessed as a whole. A hook piece (engagement piece) 57 is provided on a side portion of the setting tool mounting area 50 .
In the setting tool mounting area 50, the medicine setting tool 3 is mounted. Specifically, the hook piece (engagement piece) 22 of the medicine setting tool 3 is engaged with the hook piece (engagement piece) 57 of the setting tool mounting area 50 to attach the medicine setting tool 3 to the main unit 2 . The medicine setting tool 3 is detachable from the main unit 2 .

A plurality of pocket corresponding portions 53 are provided in the setting tool mounting area 50 .
The pocket-corresponding portion 53 is located at a position corresponding to the position of each medicine containing portion 11 of the medicine setting tool 3, and is a surface on which the inner bag portion 17 of each medicine containing portion 11 is arranged.
In the center of the pocket corresponding portion 53, there is a medicine detection portion 52. As shown in FIG. An upper light-emitting portion 55 is provided on the upper portion of the pocket-corresponding portion 53 , and lateral side light-emitting portions 56 are provided on both sides of the pocket-corresponding portion 53 .
The upper light-emitting portion 55 incorporates an LED and other light-emitting members, and is located at a position corresponding to the upper side of the inner bag portion 17 of each medicine containing portion 11 .
The lateral light-emitting portions 56 incorporate LEDs and other light-emitting members, and are located at positions corresponding to the left and right sides of the inner bag portion 17 of each drug containing portion 11 . However, in the present embodiment, the lateral light-emitting portion 56 arranged between the adjacent drug storage portions 11 is shared.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drug detection unit 52 has an infrared sensor 60 mounted therein.
The drug detection unit 52 detects taking-in and taking-out of drugs from the drug storage unit 11 .
In the medication management device 1 of the present embodiment, light (infrared rays) is irradiated into the medicine container 11 and the intensity of the reflected light is monitored. Compare the strength of Then, depending on whether the intensity of the reflected light becomes stronger or weaker, it is detected whether the drug is taken in or out. In this embodiment, it is determined that the medicine has been taken out when the intensity of the reflected light becomes stronger or weaker.

In this embodiment, one of the infrared sensors 60 also serves as an attachment/detachment detection sensor that detects attachment/detachment of the medicine setting device 3 . The attachment/detachment detection sensor may be a sensor different from the infrared sensor 60 .

Next, the operation area 51 will be explained.
A speaker 65 and a plurality of operation switches 66, 67, 68, and 70 are provided in the operation area.
In this embodiment, there is a speaker 65 on the left end. In line with speaker 65 are volume switch 66 , confirmation switch 67 , prefetch switch 68 and time switch 70 .
By pressing the confirmation switch 67, a voice message is played.
In the medication management device 1 of this embodiment, a light (not shown) lights up when there is a message to be notified to a patient or the like. When the confirmation switch 67 is pressed while the light is on, the necessary voice message is played from the speaker 65. - 特許庁For example, a message such as "I forgot to take my medicine" is played.

A prefetch switch 68 is used when switching between the normal mode and the prefetch mode.
When the time switch 70 is operated, voice guidance of the current time is provided in the normal mode, and voice guidance of the next time to take medicine is provided in the advance mode.

Further, inside the main device 2, a control device 71 and communication means 72 are built.
The control device 71 controls the light emitting section 55 , the light emitting section 56 and the infrared sensor 60 .
The control device 71 has a calendar function for knowing the day of the week and a clock function for knowing the time.

Next, the functions and usage of the medication management device 1 of this embodiment will be described.
The medication management device 1 has the following functions.
(1) Timing notification function that notifies the arrival of the dosing time by sound and light emission (2) Insertion/removal detection function that detects the insertion/removal of medicine into/from the medicine container 11 (3) Corresponds to the medicine container that needs to hold the medicine (4) Anticipation mode (5) Time setting function for setting the time of administration (6) Installation location specifying function

In the medication management device 1 , the medicine is placed in the medicine package 25 or directly contained in each medicine container 11 of the medicine setting tool 3 .
As described above, the drug storage units 11 correspond to the day of the week and the dosing time, and each drug storage unit 11 stores the drug (medicine package 25) to be taken by the patient when the dosing time comes. be.

In this embodiment, the main device 2 of the medication management device 1 is placed at the patient's home or the like.
Here, in the medication management apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the medicine setting tool 3 is detachable from the main unit 2 , so the pharmacist removes the medicine setting tool 3 from the medication management apparatus 1 and puts the medicine in the medicine container 11 . can be accommodated.
Furthermore, the pharmacist can also store the medicine in the medicine container 11 at a place other than the patient's home or the like.
That is, a pharmacist can store drugs in the drug storage unit 11 at his or her own pharmacy (dispensing room) and bring the drug setting device 3 containing the drugs to the patient's home or nursing care facility. Then, the medicine setting device 3 can be attached to the main unit 2 at the patient's home or the like.

The recommended method of use is the latter method, in which a pharmacist stores a drug in the drug storage unit 11 at his/her own pharmacy (dispensing room) and transports the drug set device 3 with the drug stored to the patient's home or nursing care. This is a method in which the drug setting tool 3 is attached to the main unit 2 at the patient's home or the like after being brought into a facility.
According to this method, in preparation for visiting a plurality of nursing care facilities, a plurality of medicine setting tools 3 containing medicines can be prepared in advance according to the facilities.
The method will be explained.
In many cases, the pharmacy or the like lends the medication management device 1 to the individual patient or facility. Usage differs depending on when you visit.

When a pharmacist or the like first brings the medication management device 1 into a patient's home or the like, he or she attaches the medicine setting device 3 to the main device 2 at his/her own pharmacy (dispensing room).
In addition, the timing of taking the drug attached to the medication management device 1 and the like are input to the communication terminal (portable input device) 6 for the trader. As for the input method, the pharmacist sees the prescription and inputs it manually. Alternatively, the prescription information from the prescription or the like may be taken into the communication terminal 6 for the trader and automatically input by the communication means.
Specifically, who is taking the drug, the timing of taking the drug, the type of the drug, and the like are input to the communication terminal 6 for the agent. For example, on Monday, medicine A in the morning, no medicine in the afternoon, medicine C in the evening, and medicine D before going to bed are input to the business communication terminal 6 . Other days of the week are similarly entered.

When the input of the dosing time and the like to the communication terminal 6 for the trader is finished, and the necessary medicine is loaded in the medicine container 11, information communication is performed between the communication terminal 6 for the trader and the communication means 72 of the main unit 2. Then, information such as the timing of taking the drug is transmitted to the control device 71 of the main unit 2 and stored in the control device 71 .

Around this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the drug is put into the drug container 11. That is, the medicine to be taken is held in the medicine container 11 corresponding to the dosing time.
In addition, in the example of FIG. 4, there is an error in inserting the medicine.
That is, according to the above-described example, no medicine is taken on Wednesday afternoon, but the medicine is erroneously inserted into the medicine container 11 corresponding to Wednesday afternoon.

Then, the operation is performed in the medicine containing portion specifying mode, and the medicine containing portion specifying function is operated. Specifically, the agent's communication terminal 6 is operated to operate the medication management apparatus 1 in the medicine storage section specifying mode.
When the machine is operated in the medicine containing portion specific mode, the light emitting member corresponding to the medicine containing portion 11 that needs to hold the medicine emits light. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the lateral side light-emitting portion 56 on the left side of the medicine containing portion 11 emits light. The corresponding light-emitting member does not emit light for the drug containing portion 11 that does not need to hold the drug.
Only the lateral side light-emitting portion 56 on the left side of the drug containing portion 11 in which the drug needs to be put emits light.

A pharmacist who sees the light-emitting state will notice that there is an error in the operation of holding the medicine. That is, since there is no medicine to be taken at noon on Wednesday, the lateral light-emitting portion 56 on the left side of the medicine containing portion 11 at that location is in an off state, but the medicine is put in in spite of this.
The medication management device 1 of the present embodiment thus has the function of specifying the medicine container, and supports the insertion of the medicine.

The method of using the drug containing portion identification mode is not limited to the above-described method. You may put a medicine into the medicine accommodating part 11 which exists.
That is, the timing for activating the medicine containing portion identification mode is arbitrary, and after holding medicine in each medicine containing portion 11, the medicine containing portion identification mode may be activated to cause the side light emitting portion 56 to emit light. It is also possible to activate the drug containing portion specifying mode at the beginning of the operation and put the drug into the portion where the side light emitting portion 56 emits light.
It should be noted that when the medication management device 1 is operated in the medicine storage unit specifying mode, the infrared sensor 60 is stopped, and the taking-in/out detection function by the medicine detection unit 52 is stopped.

When it is confirmed that the medicine has been correctly inserted into each medicine container 11, the medicine setting tool 3 is removed from the main unit 2. FIG. Then, the main unit 2 is placed in a predetermined box. The medicine setting tool 3 is folded and put into a dedicated bag. In this state, the main unit 2 and the medicine setting tool 3 are carried to the patient's house or the like.
Then, the medicine setting tool 3 is attached to the main unit 2 at the patient's house or the like.

At the patient's house or the like, operation is performed again in the drug storage part specific mode, and only the light-emitting member corresponding to the drug storage part 11 in which the drug is supposed to be held emits light to confirm an error in attachment of the drug or omission of the drug.
At the patient's home or the like, the operator's communication terminal (portable input device) 6 is used to set the detailed time according to the patient's lifestyle.
This embodiment has a dosing time setting means for setting a dosing time, and the dosing time setting means can set the dosing time to hours and minutes.
Actually, the operator's communication terminal 6 is switched to the time setting mode, and the necessary time setting is performed. For example, for a person who wakes up at 5:00 am and has breakfast immediately, it is possible to set 5:30 as "morning".
Also, if you are a person who eats lunch late, you can set a time such as 13:00 as "lunch".

When all the settings are completed, the setting conditions are transmitted from the communication terminal for business use 6 to the control device 71 of the main unit 2 automatically or through a predetermined operation, and the setting contents are stored in the control device 71 . The setting contents are also stored in the communication terminal 6 for the trader. Furthermore, information including setting contents is transmitted to an external server or a cloud computing service via the Internet or the like.
At this time, the current position is confirmed by the GPS function of the communication terminal 6 for traders. Sent to a server, etc.

When the pharmacist or the like visits the patient's house from the next time onwards, he/she brings only the drug set tool 3 with the drug already attached.
In the medicine setting tool 3, necessary medicines in the pharmacy are put in a predetermined medicine container 11 in advance. In practice, separate main unit (backup main unit) 2 and medicine setting tool 3 are prepared. Then, in the same manner as in the previous case, the drug setting tool 3 is attached to the spare main unit 2 at the pharmacy, and the drug is put into the drug container 11 .
Since the dosing time and the like are already stored in the vendor communication terminal 6, there is no need to re-input if there is no change in the prescription.
Then, in the same manner as in the case described above, the operation is performed in the medicine containing portion specific mode, and the light emitting member corresponding to the medicine containing portion 11 of the standby main unit 2 that needs to hold the medicine emits light so that the medicine is correctly inserted. make sure there is

After confirmation by the spare main unit 2 is completed, the medicine setting tool 3 is removed from the spare main unit 2, folded and placed in a dedicated bag, and in this state only the medicine setting tool 3 is carried to the patient's house or the like. The spare main unit 2 is left at the pharmacy or the like.
Only the drug setting tool 3 is carried to the patient's home and replaced with the drug setting tool 3 already attached to the main unit 2 at the patient's home.
Actually, two sets of medicine setting tools 3 with medicines are delivered first, and when the first set is consumed, the patient or the like manually replaces it with a spare set. A pharmacist or the like visits the patient's home every week, brings back the empty drug setting tool 3, and leaves a new drug setting tool 3 at the patient's home.

In addition, in the medication management device 1 of the present embodiment, when all the medicines held in the medicine setting tool 3 are consumed, a display or voice guidance prompting replacement of the medicine setting tool 3 is issued.
When the patient or the like removes the consumed medicine setting tool 3 from the main unit 2 according to voice guidance or the like, the attachment/detachment detection sensor for detecting the attachment/detachment of the medicine setting tool 3 detects this. That is, the attachment/detachment detection sensor detects that the medicine setting tool 3 is not present in front of the main unit 2 .
Then, the spare medicine setting tool 3 is attached to the main unit 2 . The attachment/detachment detection sensor detects that a new medicine setting tool 3 has been attached.

In the present embodiment, when the attachment/detachment detection sensor once stops detecting the medicine setting tool 3 and detects the medicine setting tool 3 again after a while, it is determined that the medicine setting tool 3 has been replaced, and this information is obtained. is stored in the controller 71 . The setting contents are also stored in the communication terminal 6 for the trader. Furthermore, information including setting contents is transmitted from the medication management device 1 or the like to an external server or a cloud computing service via the Internet or the like.
As a result, it is possible to confirm from a remote location that the replacement work of the medicine setting tool 3 has been correctly performed.

In this embodiment, the prefetch switch 68 can be used to switch between normal mode and prefetch mode. The operation in each mode will be explained.

Normal Mode In the normal mode, the timing notification function is activated.
In the normal mode, when the time to take any drug arrives, the patient is notified of that fact. In this embodiment, there is provided a time arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of the dosing time by means of light and sound.
For example, if there is a drug to be taken after lunch, the speaker 65 will emit a sound prompting the user to take the drug at noon. It is desirable that the sound prompting the user to take the medicine be a meaningful voice such as "Please take the medicine".
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the upper light-emitting portion 55 and the side light-emitting portion 56 corresponding to the medicine containing portion 11 containing the medicine to be taken emit light, and the time to take the medicine has come visually. inform the patient that

The patient knows that it is time to take the medicine by the sound of the speaker 65 and the light emission of the light emitting parts 55 and 56 . Also, the medicine containing portion 11 containing the medicine to be taken is indicated by the light emitted from the light emitting portions 55 and 56 .
Then, the patient takes out the medicine from the specific medicine container 11 .

When a patient takes out a drug from a predetermined drug storage section 11, the corresponding drug detection section 52 detects it. That is, in this embodiment, as described above, the drug detection unit 52 has a function of detecting the taking in and out of medicine.
When the patient takes out the medicine from the prescribed medicine container 11, the sound from the speaker 65 and the light emission from the light emitting parts 55 and 56 stop.

In this embodiment, the control device 71 of the medication management apparatus 1 records that a medicine has been discharged from a specific medicine container 11, and the record is stored for a certain period of time. The fact that the medicine is discharged from the medicine container 11 is regarded as the patient taking the medicine, and that fact is also recorded.
The above-described records are transmitted to the patient communication terminal 5 and the trader communication terminal 6 by the communication means 72 of the medication management apparatus 1, and the same information is also stored in the trader communication terminal 6 and the like.
Furthermore, the communication means 72 of the medication management device 1 is connected to the Internet or the like, and the time at which the patient is considered to have taken the medication and information on the medication are transmitted from the medication management device 1 to an external person such as a doctor or a family member via the Internet or the like. be done.
Information may also be transmitted from the medication management device 1 to an external cloud computing service through the Internet or the like.
In this embodiment, the medication management apparatus 1 is directly connected to the Internet for information communication, but may be connected to the Internet via the communication terminal 6 for traders.

Prefetch Mode If the prefetch switch 68 is operated during operation in the normal mode, the operation mode is switched to the prefetch mode.
In the advance mode, the upper light emitting portion 55 and the side light emitting portion 56 corresponding to the drug containing portion 11 to be taken next emit light even though the dosing time has not yet come.
For example, assume that you plan to take your daytime medication at noon and your nighttime medication at 6:00 PM.
Daytime medications are assumed to have already been taken. For example, assume that you are planning to have dinner with a friend at a restaurant, and the current time is not yet time to take your nighttime medicine.

Under such circumstances, when the prefetch switch 68 is operated to switch to the prefetch mode, as shown in FIG. , and the side light-emitting portion 56 emits light.
Then, from the speaker 65, a voice prompting the user to take out the drug such as "Please take the drug" is played. Under this situation, when the time switch 70 is operated, the time when the medicine should be taken next is announced from the speaker 65 . Specifically, a voice such as "The time to take the medicine is 6:00 PM" is played.

When the patient takes out the medicine for night use from the medicine containing part 11, as shown in FIG. The upper light-emitting portion 55 and the side light-emitting portion 56 corresponding to the drug storage portion 11 "before going to bed" emit light.
Then, in the same way as before, a voice prompting the user to take out the medicine, such as "Please take the medicine", is played from the speaker 65. FIG. Under this situation, when the time switch 70 is operated, the time when the medicine should be taken next is announced from the speaker 65 . Specifically, a voice such as "Dosing time is 10:00 pm" is played.
When the medicine for before going to bed is taken out, the upper light emitting part 55 and the side light emitting part 56 corresponding to the medicine containing part 11 to be taken next emit light, and this state is returned to the normal mode by operating the prefetch switch 68 again. continues until

In the medicine storage part 11 from which the medicine has already been taken out in the pre-taking mode, the upper light emitting part 55 and the side light emitting part 56 do not emit light even when the dosing time comes, and no voice notification is given.

In this embodiment, operating the time switch 70 informs the user of the next time to take the medicine, but the time may be notified without operating the time switch 70 .

The above is the normal usage of the medication management device 1, but applied usage is also possible.
In the embodiment described above, the medicine container 11 of the medicine setting tool 3 is configured to be used four times a day for "morning use", "noon use", "night use" and "before going to bed". If the frequency is small, for example, only "morning use" and "night use" may be used. In this case, the medicine setting tool 80 has only "morning use" and "night use", and the one for two weeks is adopted.
In addition, it is desirable that the display screen of the communication terminal 6 for the trader displays two weeks on one screen accordingly.

In the above-described embodiment, the medicine containing portion 11 of the medicine setting device 3 is configured to be taken four times a day for "morning use", "noon use", "night use" and "before going to bed". Any one of the dosing periods may be changed for an occasional dose as shown in FIG.
Here, one-time medicines are medicines that are taken as needed to suppress severe symptoms, such as pain relief, fever relief, and cough medicine, and there is no set timing for taking them. On the other hand, in many cases, the shortest dosing interval is specified for the purpose of suppressing side effects.
In this embodiment, the time when the one-time medicine is extracted is stored. Then, when the next dose is taken out again, the elapsed time from the previous time is calculated. If the time interval is shorter than the shortest dosing interval, the speaker 65 sounds a warning voice.

In this embodiment, by wirelessly or wiredly connecting the provider's communication terminal 6 or other portable terminal or a personal computer near the medication management device 1, the patient's medication status and device settings can be checked.
In addition, by connecting the provider's communication terminal 6, other portable terminals, and a personal computer to the cloud computing service from a position away from the medication management device 1, the patient's medication status and device settings can be confirmed.
FIG. 11( a ) is an example of the display screen of the communication terminal 6 for business operators, and the squares correspond to the drug storage units 11 of the medication management device 1 .
A circle indicates the drug container 11 from which the drug was extracted at the regular time. “Forgotten” is the drug container 11 from which the drug was not extracted at the regular time. The "previous" is the medicine containing portion 11 that has not been extracted from the medicine containing portion 11 in the pre-fetch mode. The “medicine” is the drug container 11 in which the time to take the drug has not yet come and the drug remains.

In this embodiment, it is possible to ascertain the taking status of medicines from the squares "maru", "forget", "end", and "medicine". Also, the day when the drug should be taken out is displayed above the grid.
For the cell corresponding to the drug container 11 in which the dose is placed, the time when the dose was taken out is displayed.
The trader communication terminal 6 has a touch panel, and inputs and checks are performed by touching a predetermined position on the touch panel.
When the history column is touched, the screen is switched to a history screen such as that shown in FIG.

Next, an outline of the operation condition method by the communication terminal 6 for the trader will be described.
By operating the vendor communication terminal 6, a basic setting screen such as that shown in FIG.
On the basic setting screen, an attribute display section 100 for displaying attributes such as the patient's name (Taro Yuyama), a layout display section 101 modeled after the drug storage section 11 of the medication management apparatus 1, and an operation section 102 are displayed.

By performing a predetermined operation, it is possible to switch to the attribute setting screen as shown in FIG. 12(b). Then, in FIG. 12(b), the patient's attributes are entered. Only the patient name is displayed in the attribute display section 100 of the basic setting screen.

In the basic setting screen shown in FIG. 12( a ), the layout display section 101 has the seven days of the month, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as the vertical axis, and "Morning", "Noon", "Night", and "Sleep". The display is made in a matrix with the horizontal axis being the front.
In the basic setting screen shown in FIG. 12(a), the portion marked with "O" indicates the medicine container 11 in which the medicine to be taken should be placed. Conversely, a portion without a mark "○" indicates that there is no drug to be taken.
In this embodiment, it is possible to switch between the presence/absence of "o" by selecting (touching) the screen, and the presence/absence of necessity of taking is set based on the prescription information.
The presence or absence of “○” in each square of the layout display section 101 is set based on the prescription information. In this embodiment, the display screen of the vendor communication terminal 6 is a touch panel. In other words, if a cell is touched while the "○" is displayed, the "○" will disappear. On the other hand, when a cell is touched when there is no display of "○", the display of "○" appears.

In addition, the day of the week and the timing of taking the drug can be arbitrarily set by using the communication terminal 6 for the trader of the present embodiment.
As for the day of the week to be taken, a day of the week setting screen such as that shown in FIG. Then, when the day of the week displayed on the day of the week setting screen is touched, the display of the cell is set to the touched day of the week.

The same applies to the dosing period, and by touching the dosing period square, a dosing period setting screen such as that shown in FIG. 12(c) appears. By using a predetermined input means, it is possible to specifically set the time to take the medicine, whether it is morning or afternoon, or the like.

In addition, when the usage is scheduled to be changed, the settings according to the usage after the change can be stored in advance and displayed on the screen.
FIG. 12E shows an example of the change notice screen. In the current regimen shown in FIG. 12(a), the drug is not taken at noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but in the modified regimen, the drug is also taken at these times.

The layout of the medicine setting tool 3 shown in FIG. 1 is for one patient and for one week. change to "evening"), the medicine setting tool 3 can also be used for multiple weeks.
In that case, the tags to be inserted into the time display pockets 43a, 43b, 43c, and 43d are, for example, "morning", "evening", "morning", and "evening". Alternatively, the tags to be inserted into the day display pockets 45a, 45b, 45c, 45d, 45e, 45f, and 45g are "Monday", "Wednesday", "Friday", "Monday", "Wednesday", "Friday", and no tags. .

To change the layout, on the day setting screen of FIG. Correspondingly, only the timing of taking the medicine is input on the dosing timing setting screen of FIG. 12(c).
Here, in response to the change of the tag "Night" to "Evening", the name column is changed from "Night" to "Evening", and the dosing time is also changed as necessary. (For example, change the dosing time from 20:00 corresponding to evening to 18:30 corresponding to "evening".)
As a result, the layout of the dosing time setting screen is automatically changed.
When setting the dosing period across days, check the division field corresponding to the last dosing period of the day. (In the case of Fig. 13(b), the second "evening 18:30" from the left is the last dosing time of the day.)
If you want to set the days of the week across more weeks, check the split field corresponding to the last day of the week. (In the case of FIG. 13(b), the third "Friday" from the top is the last day of the week.)
Also, if the layout is changed across days or weeks, it may be difficult to see (in the case of alternating days, alternating, gradual decrease, and gradual increase), so a line dividing the week is displayed as shown in FIG. can do.
Line display can be done by checking the "split" or "next week" columns.
The "division" column is a column below the squares representing the dosing time. A vertical line 105 is displayed, making it visually clear that the week to be taken is different.
The "next week" column is a column on the right side of the cell representing the day of the week. If this column is checked as shown in FIG. 106 is displayed, making it visually clear that the week to be taken is different.

The medicine setting device 3 described above is a medicine setting device for personal use, but a daily medicine setting device for a plurality of users and a drug setting device for each dosing time for a plurality of users may be used. You may apply this invention to.
The one-day drug setting device is, for example, like a daily calendar, in which the days of the week to be taken are written, and the drug storage units 11 are arranged in a matrix formed by a plurality of names of users and a timing axis for taking the drug. be.
The medicine setting device for each dosing time point is used by a plurality of dosing persons in common, and is used in nursing homes and hospitals. In the medicine setting device by dosing time, medicines to be taken by each of a plurality of dosing persons at a specific time of day (for example, in the morning) are accommodated by dosing person's name.

As a method for attaching the medicine setting tool 3 to the main unit 2, in addition to engaging means such as hooks, known joining means such as hook-and-loop fasteners can be employed. In this case as well, the medicine setting tool 3 is detachable from the main unit 2 , so the pharmacist can remove the medicine setting tool 3 from the medication management device 1 and store the medicine in the medicine container 11 .

In the embodiment described above, the control device 71 itself of the main device 2 stores a computer program for controlling the medication management device 1 . However, the control device 71 does not necessarily store a computer program for controlling the light-emitting members such as the upper light-emitting portion 55, the audio device, and the like.
For example, the control device 71 may be remotely operated from an external computer using communication means such as the Internet. In this case, an external computer stores a computer program for operating the light-emitting member, the audio device, and the like.

Of course, a computer program may be loaded into the control device 71 from the outside using communication means such as the Internet.
Examples of storage media storing computer programs include hard disks, CD-ROMs, and DVDs.

In the embodiment described above, a plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane, and the drug storage section holds a drug corresponding to the dosing person and the dosing timing in the drug storage section. A medication management device having a medication specifying function that has a light-emitting member at a position where the medication is to be held, and the specific light-emitting member emits light to indicate a medication storage portion in which the medication to be taken is held. This medicine administration management device is characterized by having a function of specifying a medicine containing portion for causing a light-emitting member corresponding to the portion to emit light.

In the embodiment described above, a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, there are character displays corresponding to morning, noon, and night to indicate the dosing times of the drug storage portions, and the dosing corresponding to the drug storage portions is provided. A medication management device for holding a timing medicine in a medicine storage part, comprising timing arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of the medication timing by light and/or sound, and medication timing setting means for setting the medication timing, and the medication timing The medication management device is characterized in that the medication timing can be set at least to hours and minutes by a setting means.

In the above-described embodiments, in a medication administration system composed of a medication administration device and a portable input device, the medication administration device has a plurality of medication storage units distributed in a plane, and It holds the corresponding doser and the drug at the dose timing in the drug storage unit, and has timing notification means for notifying the arrival of the dose time by light and/or sound. At least one of the medication management device and the portable input device is provided with position detection means and communication means, and the current position of the medication management device and/or the portable input device can be transmitted to another device by wireless communication.

In the embodiment described above, a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, there are character displays corresponding to morning, noon, and night to indicate the dosing times of the drug storage portions, and the dosing corresponding to the drug storage portions is provided. In a computer program for controlling a control device of a medication management device that holds a timing medicine in the medicine storage portion and has notification means by light and/or sound, a time arrival notification operation for notifying the arrival of the dosing time by the notification means and dosing time setting for setting the dosing time, and by the dosing time setting, the dosing time can be set at least up to the hour and minute.

In the embodiment described above, a plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane, and the drug storage section holds a drug corresponding to the dosing person and the dosing timing in the drug storage section. In a computer program for controlling a control device of a medication management device having a light-emitting member at a position where a drug is to be taken, a specific light-emitting member emits light to indicate a drug container holding a drug to be taken, and a drug is held. The computer program is characterized in that it is possible to perform a medicine containing portion specifying operation of causing a light emitting member corresponding to a medicine containing portion to emit light.

1 Medication Management Device 2 Main Unit 3 Medicine Set Tool 5 Patient Communication Terminal 6 Vendor Communication Terminal 11 Medicine Storage Part 55 Upper Light Emitting Part 56 Lateral Light Emitting Part 65 Speaker 100 Medication Management System

Claims (10)

a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, and a drug having a dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage portion is held in the drug storage portion;
In a medication management device equipped with time arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of a medication time by light and/or sound,
The drug storage unit is a pocket having an opening serving as a drug loading/unloading port,
There is a light emitting member at a position corresponding to each drug storage part,
It is possible to operate in a preemptive mode,
If a medicine that has not reached its dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipatory mode, part or all of the timing notification means will not function even if the dosing time of the medicine has come.
In the pre-emption mode, a pre-emption instruction is issued to emit light from the light-emitting member corresponding to the medicine container holding the medicine to be taken next before the dosing time has come,
1. A medicine administration management device, comprising a medicine containing portion identifying function for causing a light-emitting member corresponding to a medicine containing portion to hold a medicine to emit light. a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, and a drug having a dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage portion is held in the drug storage portion;
In a medication management device equipped with time arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of a medication time by light and/or sound,
The drug storage unit is a pocket having an opening serving as a drug loading/unloading port,
There is a light emitting member at a position corresponding to each drug storage part,
It is possible to operate in a preemptive mode,
If a medicine that has not reached its dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipatory mode, part or all of the timing notification means will not function even if the dosing time of the medicine has come.
In the pre-emption mode, a pre-emption instruction is issued to emit light from the light-emitting member corresponding to the medicine container holding the medicine to be taken next before the dosing time has come,
1. A medicine administration management device, comprising a medicine container identifying function for causing a light-emitting member corresponding to a medicine container corresponding to prescription information to emit light. 1 or 2, wherein when the medicine is taken out from the medicine containing part while the pre-taking mode is functioning, a pre-taking instruction indicating the medicine containing part holding the medicine to be taken next is issued. 3. The medication management device according to 2. 4. The medication management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein in the anticipation mode, the timing of the next medication is indicated. 5. The medication management device according to claim 4 , wherein when the medicine is taken out from the medicine container while the anticipatory mode is functioning, the next time to take the medicine is indicated. a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, and a drug having a dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage portion is held in the drug storage portion;
In a medication management device equipped with time arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of a medication time by light and/or sound,
It is possible to operate in a preemptive mode,
If a medicine that has not reached its dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipatory mode, part or all of the timing notification means will not function even if the dosing time of the medicine has come.
There is a light emitting member at a position corresponding to each drug storage part,
1. A medicine administration management device, comprising a medicine containing portion identifying function for causing a light-emitting member corresponding to a medicine containing portion to hold a medicine to emit light. a plurality of drug storage portions are distributed in a plane, and a drug having a dosing timing corresponding to the drug storage portion is held in the drug storage portion;
In a medication management device equipped with time arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of a medication time by light and/or sound,
It is possible to operate in a preemptive mode,
If a medicine that has not reached its dosing time is taken out from the medicine container during the operation of the anticipatory mode, part or all of the timing notification means will not function even if the dosing time of the medicine has come.
There is a light emitting member at a position corresponding to each drug storage part,
1. A medicine administration management device, comprising a medicine container identifying function for causing a light-emitting member corresponding to a medicine container corresponding to prescription information to emit light. There is a character display corresponding to morning, noon, and night to indicate the time to take the medicine storage part,
Claim 1, characterized in that it has a dosing time setting means for setting each dosing time, and the dosing time corresponding to the dosing time can be set by the dosing time setting means at least up to the hour and minute. 8. The medication management device according to any one of 1 to 7 . having a main unit and a medicine setting tool,
The main unit has a light-emitting member,
9. The medication management device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 , wherein the medicine setting tool is provided with the medicine storage part, and the medicine setting tool is detachable from the main unit. In a medication administration system comprising the medication administration device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 and a portable input device,
The portable input device sets operating conditions of the medication management device through wired or wireless communication,
At least one of the medication management device and the portable input device has position detection means and communication means, and is capable of transmitting the current position of the medication management device and/or the portable input device to another device by wireless communication. A medication management system characterized by:

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