JP7531366B2 - Pharmaceutical picking support system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical picking support system, and is particularly suitable for use in a system that supports the task of picking out multiple types of pharmaceuticals based on prescriptions from a wide variety of pharmaceuticals stored in a medicine shelf.

In general, dispensing pharmacies perform the task of retrieving one or more medicines based on a prescription from the many types of medicines stored in the medicine shelves (known as "picking" or "medicine picking"). They then dispense the medicines, inspect the dispensed medicines, and hand them over to the patient. Typically, dispensing staff such as pharmacists pick the medicines one by one while looking at the prescription, which makes the picking process inefficient and results in long waiting times for patients.

In response to this, a system that makes it possible to improve the efficiency of picking work is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the drug picking device described in Patent Document 1, the many drug storage units on the drug shelf are provided with lights and quantity displays that display the quantity of drugs to be picked. Then, the dispensing person designated for each prescription blinks the light of the drug storage unit that should be picked first, and lights up all the lights of the subsequent drug storage units. When picking from the first drug storage unit is completed, the light of the next drug storage unit is changed from lit to blinking. This allows the dispensing person to be guided by the lights in sequence to the location of the drug storage unit where the drug to be picked is stored, improving picking efficiency.

In the drug picking device described in Patent Document 1, the order in which drug storage units are changed from lit to flashing is determined so as to minimize the distance traveled by the dispenser. The order in which drug storage units are changed from lit to flashing is determined so that the dispenser moves from one end row of drug storage units on the drug shelf to the other end row. In this way, the guidance order by the lamps is determined so as to minimize the distance traveled by the dispenser, which makes it possible to greatly influence the picking order and improve picking efficiency.

JP 2007-289536 A

In the technology described in Patent Document 1, in order to minimize the travel distance of the dispensing pharmacist, the blinking order of the lights is determined so that the dispensing pharmacist moves from one row at one end of the medicine cabinet to the other row at the other end. However, there is a problem in that even if the picking order is determined so that the dispensing pharmacist moves only in one direction, the travel distance is not necessarily minimized in all dispensing pharmacies.

In other words, the structure and number of medicine shelves installed differ from one dispensing pharmacy to another, and which types of medicines are stored in which medicine cabinets on which medicine shelves. Therefore, even if a picking order is decided so that pharmacists move in one direction, how much the travel distance is shortened varies from one dispensing pharmacy to another. For example, when dispensing prescriptions frequently performed at a certain dispensing pharmacy, if the corresponding medicines for the prescription are stored in scattered medicine cabinets in positions that require moving from one end of the medicine shelf to the other to pick, the travel distance will be long even if moving in one direction, and picking work involving long travel distances will be performed frequently.

In addition, depending on the contents of the prescription, it may not be appropriate to move in only one direction to pick the medicine. Therefore, determining the picking order so that the medicine is picked in only one direction, as in Patent Document 1, is not necessarily a realistic method.

The present invention was made to solve these problems, and aims to make it possible to shorten the distance that dispensing staff must travel when picking, depending on the dispensing work situation at each dispensing pharmacy.

In order to solve the above problems, in this invention, based on delivery history information in which information indicating the locations and delivery times of multiple storage cabinets from which multiple types of medicines included in a prescription were taken is recorded for each prescription, a cumulative value indicating the frequency of delivery of medicines is calculated for each of multiple storage cabinets, and the difference in time between the delivery time of the medicine in the local storage cabinet and the delivery time in one or more other storage cabinets from which the medicine was taken out in a sequence shifted by one from the local storage cabinet is calculated. Then, a local storage cabinet with a large cumulative value and a long difference time is extracted as a source candidate, and a local storage cabinet with a small cumulative value is extracted as a destination candidate, and the source candidate storage cabinets and destination candidate storage cabinets are presented.

According to the present invention configured as described above, the self storage unit with a large cumulative value and a long differential time with other storage units is extracted and presented as a source candidate. The source candidate storage units presented in this way are storage units in which the dispensing staff travels a long distance and where picking involving such long-distance travel is repeated many times, and may be a factor in reducing the picking efficiency and, in turn, the work efficiency of dispensing work. In addition, according to the present invention, the self storage unit with a small cumulative value is extracted and presented as a destination candidate. The destination candidate storage units presented in this way are storage units in which picking is not performed very often, and even if the medicine stored in this storage unit is replaced with another medicine, it is considered that the effect of the subsequent change in differential time on the overall picking work is not large. Therefore, by replacing and storing the medicine stored in the storage unit of the source candidate presented in this way with the medicine stored in the storage unit of the destination candidate, it is possible to shorten the distance traveled by the dispensing staff in the daily dispensing work at the dispensing pharmacy compared to before the medicine was replaced. In this way, the present invention can shorten the travel distance of pharmacists depending on the status of dispensing operations at each dispensing pharmacy.

1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a medicine picking operation support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a server according to the present embodiment. 1 is a diagram showing an example of shipping history information stored in a shipping history DB storage unit according to this embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing contents of a movement candidate extraction unit according to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a more specific example of a functional configuration of a movement candidate presentation unit according to the present embodiment. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of identifying a storage facility that is a destination candidate having a history and an example of calculating a destination differential time. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a combination presented by a movement candidate presentation unit configured as in FIG. 5 . FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of processing by the destination time difference calculation unit and the combination presentation unit. FIG.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a medicine picking operation support system according to this embodiment. The medicine picking operation support system of this embodiment is a system that supports a picking operation of picking out multiple types of medicines based on a prescription from multiple medicine shelves _SR1 , _SR2 , ..., _SRn having multiple storage cabinets.

As shown in FIG. 1, the pharmaceutical picking business support system 100 of this embodiment is configured to include a server 101, a tablet 102, and a pharmacy terminal 103. The server 101, the tablet 102, and the pharmacy terminal 103 are connected by a wired LAN or a wireless LAN via an access point 110. Here, the server 101 is shown to be connected by a wired LAN, but it may also be connected via a communication network 300 such as the Internet or a mobile phone network.

In the present embodiment, the drug picking operation support system 100 is linked to the dispensing reservation system 200 through a communication network 300 connected to a pharmacy terminal 103. A patient can visit a dispensing pharmacy to request dispensing, or access the dispensing reservation system 200 from a patient terminal (not shown) to request (reserve) dispensing. When visiting a dispensing pharmacy to request dispensing, the patient hands the prescription to a staff member at the dispensing pharmacy. On the other hand, when accessing the dispensing reservation system 200 from a patient terminal to request dispensing, the patient photographs the prescription with the patient terminal and transmits the prescription image to the dispensing reservation system 200. The dispensing reservation system 200 transmits the prescription image to the pharmacy terminal 103.

A dispensing pharmacy staff member inputs information indicating the contents of the prescription (hereinafter referred to as prescription information) into the pharmacy terminal 103 based on the prescription handed over by the patient or a prescription image transmitted from the dispensing reservation system 200 to the pharmacy terminal 103. The prescription information input into the pharmacy terminal 103 is transmitted to the server 101. The server 101 generates information regarding instructions for picking medicines (hereinafter referred to as picking instruction information) based on the prescription information transmitted from the pharmacy terminal 103, and transmits it to the tablet 102. The picking instruction information is basically information indicating which storage location of the multiple medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n the medicine is to be taken out from.

The tablet 102 is a terminal used by a dispenser who picks medicines from a plurality of medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n , and the picking instruction information generated by the server 101 is displayed on this tablet 102. The dispenser sequentially picks the plurality of types of medicines included in the prescription while looking at the picking instruction information displayed on the tablet 102, and each time the dispenser finishes picking a medicine from one storage unit, the dispenser inputs information indicating that fact into the tablet 102. The tablet 102 transmits information related to the picking result (hereinafter referred to as picking result information) generated based on the input by the dispenser to the server 101.

The server 101 records the delivery history information based on the picking result information sent from the tablet 102. The server 101 then performs a predetermined process based on the accumulated delivery history information to generate proposal information regarding changes to the shelf allocation, and presents it to the pharmacy terminal 103. The proposal information regarding changes to the shelf allocation is information that suggests a change to the storage facility that stores the medicines, as it indicates the possibility of shortening the distance traveled by the dispensing staff when picking medicines. The details of the processing of the server 101, including this predetermined process, are described in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the server 101 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the server 101 according to this embodiment includes, as its functional configuration, a prescription information input unit 11, a picking instruction information generation unit 12, a picking instruction unit 13, a picking result information input unit 14, a shipment detection unit 15, a shipment history information recording unit 16, a counting unit 17, a transfer candidate extraction unit 18, and a transfer candidate presentation unit 19. The server 101 also includes, as storage media, a shelf allocation information storage unit 20A and a shipment history DB storage unit 20B. Note that these configurations may be provided in the pharmacy terminal 103, and the server 101 may be omitted.

The above-mentioned functional blocks 11 to 19 can be configured using either hardware, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), or software. For example, when configured using software, the above-mentioned functional blocks 11 to 19 are actually configured with a computer's CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and are realized by the operation of a program stored in a recording medium such as the RAM, ROM, hard disk, or semiconductor memory.

The shelf allocation information storage unit 20A stores information indicating the shelf allocation of the medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n (hereinafter referred to as shelf allocation information). The shelf allocation information is information indicating which medicine is stored in which storage unit of which storage shelf. In the example shown in FIG. 1, each of the medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n has storage units of 5 rows x 6 columns, and one type of medicine is stored in each storage unit. The staff of the dispensing pharmacy decides which medicine is stored in which storage unit. Then, according to the decided positions, the pharmacy terminal 103 generates shelf allocation information indicating the positions of the storage units in which each medicine is stored, and the generated shelf allocation information is transmitted to the server 101 and stored in the shelf allocation information storage unit 20A.

The prescription information input unit 11 inputs prescription information indicating the contents of the prescription from the pharmacy terminal 103. As described above, the staff of the dispensing pharmacy inputs the prescription information to the pharmacy terminal 103 based on the prescription handed over by the visiting patient or the prescription image transmitted to the pharmacy terminal 103 via the dispensing reservation system 200 from the patient terminal of a patient located far away. The pharmacy terminal 103 transmits the input prescription information to the server 101, and the transmitted prescription information is input by the prescription information input unit 11.

The picking instruction information generating unit 12 generates picking instruction information indicating which of the storage units among the multiple medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n the medicine should be picked from, based on the prescription information input by the prescription information input unit 11. This picking instruction information can be, for example, a list of information indicating the name of the medicine, the number of items to be removed, the identification information of the medicine shelf, the identification information of the storage unit, and the like, for each medicine. The identification information of the medicine shelf can be expressed, for example, by numbers such as 1, 2, ..., n. The identification information of the storage unit can be expressed, for example, by a combination of a row number and a column number. For example, the storage unit located at row 3, column 4 of the medicine shelf SR ₁ is represented by the identification information of the medicine shelf "1" and the identification information of the storage unit "3-4". In the following, for convenience of explanation, the location information of such a storage unit will be represented as "1:3-4". The storage unit at that location may also be represented as "storage unit "1:3-4"".

The picking instruction information may be a layout diagram of a plurality of medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n , in which the position of the storage cabinet in which the medicine to be picked is stored is drawn in a manner that makes it possible to distinguish it from others. For example, it is possible to generate picking instruction information by highlighting the storage cabinet in the corresponding position and displaying the name of the medicine and the number of drugs to be removed at the position of the storage cabinet. When generating picking instruction information using such a layout diagram, identification information of the medicine shelf and identification information of the storage cabinet are associated with the position of the storage cabinet to be highlighted. For example, when a storage cabinet located in the third row and fourth column of the medicine shelf SR ₁ is highlighted on the layout diagram, position information "1:3-4" indicating the position of the storage cabinet is associated with the highlighted position.

The picking instruction information may indicate the order in which multiple types of medicines are to be picked from multiple storage units. For example, when the picking instruction information is generated based on list information, it is possible to arrange multiple types of medicines in ascending order according to the picking order. Also, when the picking instruction information is generated based on the layout diagram of the medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n , it is possible to display a number indicating the picking order at the position of the highlighted storage unit.

The picking order is determined, for example, from the perspective of minimizing the total travel distance of the pharmacist when picking all of the multiple types of medicines included in a prescription. For example, the picking order is determined so that multiple types of medicines in the same medicine shelf are picked consecutively and by moving in only one direction.

The picking instruction unit 13 issues picking instructions to the dispensing staff by sending the picking instruction information generated by the picking instruction information generation unit 12 to the tablet 102 and displaying it on the display. The dispensing staff picks the multiple types of medicines included in the prescription in order while looking at the picking instruction information displayed on the tablet 102. Then, each time they finish picking a medicine from one storage unit, they input information to the tablet 102 indicating that picking has ended.

For example, when picking instruction information generated from the list information is displayed on the tablet 102, a dispensing staff member, upon picking a medicine from one storage cabinet, touches the check box of the corresponding medicine in the list information to input information indicating that picking of the medicine has been completed. Also, when picking instruction information generated from the layout diagram of the medicine shelves SR ₁ , SR ₂ , ..., SR _n is displayed on the tablet 102, a dispensing staff member, upon picking a medicine from one storage cabinet, touches the position of the corresponding storage cabinet in the layout diagram to input information indicating that picking of the medicine stored in the storage cabinet has been completed.

When information indicating that picking of pharmaceuticals is completed is input, the tablet 102 generates picking result information and transmits it to the server 101. For example, each time the dispensing staff performs a touch operation to end picking, the tablet 102 generates picking result information and transmits it to the server 101. The picking result information includes, for example, the name of the pharmaceutical, the number of items removed, identification information of the medicine shelf, identification information of the storage cabinet, and date and time information when picking ended. Of these, information included in the picking instruction information is used except for the date and time information when picking ended. The date and time information when picking ended is the clock information when the dispensing staff performed the touch operation.

The picking result information input unit 14 inputs the picking result information transmitted from the tablet 102 in the manner described above. When the picking instruction information includes the picking order, the picking instruction unit 13 may interactively transmit the picking instruction information to the tablet 102 using the picking result information input sequentially by the picking result information input unit 14. For example, the picking instruction unit 13 transmits to the tablet 102 only the picking instruction information for the medicine to be picked in the most recent order among the multiple types of medicines included in the prescription, and when the picking result information input unit 14 inputs the picking result information in response thereto, transmits to the tablet 102 only the picking instruction information for the medicine to be picked in the next order. By repeating this, picking instructions are sequentially given for the multiple types of medicines included in the prescription.

In addition, if the picking instruction information does not include the picking order and the picking instruction unit 13 does not interactively transmit the picking instruction information to the tablet 102, the tablet 102 may transmit the picking result information of each drug collectively to the server 101 when picking of multiple types of drugs related to one prescription is completed, rather than transmitting the picking result information to the server 101 each time the dispensing staff performs a touch operation to end picking.

The removal detection unit 15 detects, for each prescription, the locations of multiple storage cabinets from which the multiple types of medicines included in the prescription were removed and the removal times based on the picking result information input by the picking result information input unit 14. The locations of the storage cabinets are detected based on the medicine shelf identification information and storage cabinet identification information included in the picking result information. The removal times of the medicines are detected based on the date and time information at the end of picking included in the picking result information.

The delivery history information recording unit 16 records information indicating the locations and removal times of the multiple storage cabinets detected by the delivery detection unit 15 as delivery history information for each prescription in the database of the delivery history DB storage unit 20B. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of delivery history information stored in the delivery history DB storage unit 20B. As shown in FIG. 3, the delivery history information includes information on the picking number, the removal time of the medicine (date and time), the name of the medicine, the location of the storage cabinet (medicinal shelf identification information and storage cabinet identification information), and the number of deliveries. The picking number is a number assigned to each prescription. FIG. 3 shows delivery history information for three medicines related to one prescription. Delivery history information for multiple prescriptions is recorded in the delivery history DB storage unit 20B sequentially each time picking based on a prescription is performed.

The aggregation unit 17 calculates a cumulative value indicating the number of pharmaceutical shipments for each of the multiple storage units based on the shipment history information recorded in the shipment history DB storage unit 20B by the shipment history information recording unit 16, and calculates the difference in time between the time the pharmaceutical was removed from the storage unit and the time it was removed from one or more other storage units (hereinafter, these may be referred to as previous storage units) from which the pharmaceutical was removed in a sequence shifted by one from the storage unit (for example, the sequence preceding the sequence).

The counting unit 17 calculates the cumulative number of deliveries, which is the total number of pharmaceuticals picked from the storage unit, as an example of a cumulative value indicating the number of deliveries of pharmaceuticals. In addition, the counting unit 17 calculates, as an example of a differential time, the differential time between the time when picking of pharmaceuticals is completed in the storage unit and the time when picking of pharmaceuticals is completed in another storage unit immediately before the storage unit.

That is, the counting unit 17 calculates the cumulative number of medicines issued for storage unit "1:1-1". The counting unit 17 also calculates the difference in time between the time it takes to take out the medicine from storage unit "1:1-1" (its own storage unit) and the time it takes to take out the medicine from one or more storage units (other storage units) from which the medicine was taken out in the previous order. The counting unit 17 similarly calculates the cumulative number of medicines issued and the difference in time for all other storage units, including storage unit "1:1-2", storage unit "1:1-3", ... storage unit "n:5-6".

Here, one or more other storage units (previous storage units) means storage units from which the medicine was taken out in the previous order for one or more prescriptions. For example, in the case of the delivery history information for one prescription shown in FIG. 3, if the storage unit from which medicine B was taken out is the current storage unit "2:2-5", then the storage unit "1:1-2" from which medicine A was taken out is the previous storage unit. However, there may be other prescriptions in which medicine X is taken out in the order before medicine B. In this case, the counting unit 17 calculates the difference in time between the take-out time of medicine B and the take-out time of medicine A, which precedes medicine B, and the difference in time between the take-out time of medicine B and the take-out time of medicine X, which precedes medicine B. Note that if there are multiple delivery history information with the same combination of current storage unit and previous storage unit, the counting unit 17 calculates the average value of the difference in time.

The differential time represents the time it takes from the time the pharmacist finishes picking the medicine in the previous storage warehouse (other storage warehouse) to the time it finishes picking the medicine in the next storage warehouse (the current storage warehouse). This differential time includes the travel time required for the pharmacist to travel from the previous storage warehouse to the current storage warehouse, and the picking time required to retrieve the medicine from the current storage warehouse. Here, it is assumed that there is no significant difference in the picking time required to retrieve the medicine from each storage warehouse. In other words, it is assumed that the longer the travel time from the previous storage warehouse to the current storage warehouse, the longer the differential time, and that the shorter the travel time, the shorter the differential time.

The transfer candidate extraction unit 18 extracts a storage facility with a large cumulative number of outgoings and a long differential time calculated by the calculation unit 17 as a transfer source candidate, and extracts a storage facility with a small cumulative number of outgoings calculated by the calculation unit 17 as a transfer destination candidate. Here, the transfer candidate extraction unit 18 extracts multiple storage facilities as transfer source candidates and multiple storage facilities as transfer destination candidates. A large cumulative number of outgoings means that a predetermined condition is met regarding the large cumulative number of outgoings. Similarly, a small cumulative number of outgoings means that a predetermined condition is met regarding the small cumulative number of outgoings. Furthermore, a long differential time means that a predetermined condition is met regarding the length of the differential time.

As described above, a self-storage unit with a long differential time indicates that the movement time from the previous storage unit is long, and it can be said that if the medicines stored in this self-storage unit are moved to another storage unit, the differential time may be shortened. In particular, if medicines stored in a self-storage unit with a long differential time and a large cumulative number of deliveries are moved to another storage unit, it can be said that the total differential time in the picking performed in the daily dispensing work is effectively shortened. The transfer candidate extraction unit 18 extracts such a self-storage unit as a transfer source candidate. On the other hand, a self-storage unit with a small cumulative number of deliveries may have a long differential time if the medicines stored therein are moved to another storage unit, but since the cumulative number of deliveries is small, it can be said that there is a low risk that the total differential time in the picking performed in the daily dispensing work will be extremely long. The transfer candidate extraction unit 18 extracts such a self-storage unit as a transfer destination candidate.

Figure 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of the processing contents of the transfer candidate extraction unit 18. Figure 4(a) shows an example of extraction of transfer source candidates, and Figure 4(b) shows an example of extraction of transfer destination candidates. As shown in Figure 4(a), the transfer candidate extraction unit 18 first extracts a predetermined number of own storage units (four in the example of Figure 4(a)) in order of the cumulative number of withdrawals. The withdrawal history information records that each of the extracted predetermined number of own storage units has one or more previous storage units, and the calculation unit 17 calculates the difference in time between the time the medicine is removed from the previous storage unit and the time the medicine is removed from the own storage unit.

The transfer candidate extraction unit 18 further narrows down the number of self storage units extracted from the number of units with the largest cumulative number of withdrawals to those with differential times longer than a predetermined time, and extracts these as transfer source candidates. In the example shown in FIG. 4(a), the predetermined time is set to two minutes, and self storage units with differential times of more than two minutes for at least one of the one or more previous storage units are extracted as transfer source candidates. For example, the self storage unit at location "2:5-1" is extracted as a transfer source candidate because its differential time with the previous storage unit at location "5:3-1" exceeds two minutes. On the other hand, the self storage unit at location "4:2-5" is not extracted as a transfer source candidate because neither of its differential times with the previous storage unit at location "4:1-3" nor with the previous storage unit at location "3:3-6" exceeds two minutes.

Note that the method of extracting source candidates shown here is one example and is not limited to this. For example, a predetermined number of home storage units may be extracted from home storage units with a difference time exceeding 2 minutes or from those with a longer difference time, and then, from among the extracted home storage units, a predetermined number of home storage units may be extracted from those with a larger cumulative number of items removed as source candidates. Also, instead of extracting a predetermined number of home storage units from those with a larger cumulative number of items removed, home storage units with a cumulative number of items removed equal to or greater than a predetermined value may be extracted.

As shown in FIG. 4(b), the transfer candidate extraction unit 18 extracts a predetermined number of storage units (four in the example of FIG. 4(b)) from the side with the smallest cumulative number of items removed as transfer destination candidates. Here, the same number of transfer destination candidates are extracted as the number of storage units extracted from the side with the largest cumulative number of items removed as in FIG. 4(a), but this does not necessarily mean that the number is the same.

The transfer candidate presentation unit 19 presents the source candidate storage and the destination candidate storage extracted by the transfer candidate extraction unit 18 to the pharmacy terminal 103 as proposed information regarding the shelving change. For example, the transfer candidate presentation unit 19 presents the source candidate storage and the destination candidate storage to the pharmacy terminal 103 as list information. The dispensing pharmacy staff can swap a medicine stored in one of the source candidate storages with a medicine stored in one of the destination candidate storages. When the storage locations of the medicines are swapped, the staff generates shelving information for the swapped portion at the pharmacy terminal 103 and transmits the generated shelving information to the server 101, thereby updating the information in the shelving information storage unit 20A.

Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a more specific example of the functional configuration of the movement candidate presentation unit 19. As shown in Figure 5, the movement candidate presentation unit 19 includes, as a more specific functional configuration, a movement destination difference time calculation unit 19A and a combination presentation unit 19B.

The destination differential time calculation unit 19A first identifies the previous storage unit with a long differential time from the storage unit of the source candidate extracted by the transfer candidate extraction unit 18 as a long differential other storage unit (long differential previous storage unit). A previous storage unit with a long differential time is, for example, a previous storage unit with a differential time of more than 2 minutes. In the example shown in FIG. 4(a), the destination differential time calculation unit 19A identifies the previous storage unit "5:3-1" with a differential time of more than 2 minutes as a long differential previous storage unit for the self storage unit at the position "2:5-1" extracted as the source candidate. Similarly, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A identifies the previous storage unit "4:5-3" and the previous storage unit "1:2-3" with a differential time of more than 2 minutes as long differential previous storage units for the self storage unit at the position "1:1-3" and the self storage unit at the position "3:4-6" extracted as the source candidates.

In the example shown in FIG. 4(a), there is only one previous storage unit with a difference time exceeding two minutes for one source candidate storage unit, but there may be two or more. In this case, the destination difference time calculation unit 19A identifies, for example, the previous storage unit with the longest difference time among two or more previous storage units with a difference time exceeding two minutes as the long difference previous storage unit.

The destination time difference calculation unit 19A also identifies, among the multiple destination candidate storage units (see FIG. 4(b)) extracted by the destination candidate extraction unit 18, a storage unit in which it is recorded in the database of the delivery history DB storage unit 20B that medicines were removed in a sequence shifted by one (the sequence one after) from the long difference previous storage unit identified as described above, as a destination candidate storage unit with history.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of identifying a storage facility that is a candidate destination with history and an example of calculating the destination differential time described below. In this Figure 6, an example of processing is shown for the source candidate storage facility "2:5-1", but similar processing is also performed for the other source candidate storage facilities "1:1-3" and "3:4-6".

In the example of FIG. 6, of the four storage units extracted as destination candidates by the transfer candidate extraction unit 18, for three of the storage units "4:6-5", "3:3-5", and "2:4-1", the delivery history is recorded in the delivery history DB storage unit 20B that the medicine was picked from the storage unit of the destination candidate one time after the medicine was picked from the long difference previous storage unit "5:3-1", while for one of the storage units of the destination candidate "4:5-6", the delivery history is not recorded in the delivery history DB storage unit 20B that the medicine was picked from the storage unit of the destination candidate one time after the medicine was picked from the long difference previous storage unit "5:3-1". In this case, the destination difference time calculation unit 19A identifies the three storage units of the destination candidate "4:6-5", "3:3-5", and "2:4-1" as storage units of the destination candidate with history.

The destination differential time calculation unit 19A calculates the differential time between the removal time at the long difference previous storage identified as above and the removal time at the storage of the destination candidate with history (hereinafter, this is referred to as the destination differential time) based on the delivery history information recorded in the delivery history DB storage unit 20B. As shown in FIG. 6, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A calculates the differential time between the removal time of the medicine picked from the long difference previous storage "5:3-1" and the removal time of the medicine picked from the three destination candidate storages with history "4:6-5", "3:3-5", and "2:4-1".

The combination presentation unit 19B presents a combination of destination candidate storage facilities and source candidate storage facilities among the multiple destination candidate storage facilities (see FIG. 4(b)) extracted by the candidate extraction unit 18, in which the destination differential time calculated by the destination differential time calculation unit 19A in the relationship between the long differential other storage facility and the destination candidate storage facility with history is shorter than the differential time calculated by the aggregation unit 17 in the relationship between the long differential other storage facility and the source candidate storage facility itself (hereinafter, this is referred to as the source differential time).

In the example shown in FIG. 6, the destination differential time calculated by the destination differential time calculation unit 19A for the relationship between the long difference previous storage "5:3-1" and the three history-containing destination candidate storages "4:6-5", "3:3-5", and "2:4-1" is 0 minutes 50 seconds, 1 minute 40 seconds, and 2 minutes 30 seconds, respectively. On the other hand, the source differential time calculated by the aggregation unit 17 for the relationship between the long difference other storage "5:3-1" and the source candidate own storage "2:5-1" is 2 minutes 21 seconds, as shown in FIG. 4(a).

In this case, there are two storage units with history that are candidate destinations where the destination differential time is shorter than the source differential time: storage unit "4:6-5" and storage unit "3:3-5". Therefore, the combination presentation unit 19B presents to the pharmacy terminal 103 the combination of the source candidate storage unit "2:5-1" and the destination candidate storage unit "4:6-5", and the combination of the source candidate storage unit "2:5-1" and the destination candidate storage unit "3:3-5". Note that although an example of presenting two combinations has been described here, it is also possible to present only the combination with the largest difference between the source differential time and the destination differential time.

Figure 7 is a diagram showing examples of combinations presented by the transfer candidate presentation unit 19 configured as in Figure 5. In Figure 7, combinations of transfer source candidate storage units and transfer destination candidate storage units are presented in a table showing transfer source candidate storage units on the left and transfer destination candidate storage units on the right.

As described above, the second row of the table shown in FIG. 7 presents a combination of the source candidate repository "2:5-1" and the destination candidate repository "4:6-5", which was identified as having the largest difference between the source differential time and the destination differential time. The first row of the table presents a combination of the source candidate repository "3:4-6" and the destination candidate repository "2:2-1". As for the other source candidate repository "1:1-3", there was no destination candidate repository with history in which the destination differential time was shorter than the source differential time, so a combination with the destination candidate repository is not presented.

In the example of Figure 7, combinations are presented in order of the greatest effect on reducing differential time when drugs stored in the source candidate storage and the destination candidate storage are swapped and stored. That is, as shown in Figure 4(a), the cumulative number of shipments is greater in the source candidate storage "2:5-1" than in the source candidate storage "3:4-6", but the calculation results show that the difference between the source differential time and the destination differential time is greater in the source candidate storage "3:4-6", so the table is generated so that the source candidate storage "3:4-6" is ranked higher than the source candidate storage "2:5-1".

Configuring the transfer candidate presentation unit 19 as shown in FIG. 5 is merely an example and is not required. However, configuring it as shown in FIG. 5 makes it possible to present combinations in which the difference time is shortened by swapping the storage locations of medicines, compared to the case where one or more source candidate storage units and one or more destination candidate storage units extracted by the transfer candidate extraction unit 18 are simply presented side by side, making it easier for staff to understand which source candidate storage unit and destination candidate storage unit are the most effective for storing medicines.

The destination differential time calculation unit 19A and the combination presentation unit 19B may perform the following process. That is, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A calculates, as the destination differential time, the differential time between the drug removal time at the long difference other storage and the drug removal time at the storage of the destination candidate with history, as well as the differential time between the drug removal time at the previous storage other than the long difference other storage and the drug removal time at the storage of the destination candidate with history. Then, the combination presentation unit 19B presents a combination of the destination candidate storage and the source candidate storage among the multiple destination candidate storages extracted by the destination candidate extraction unit 18, in which all of the one or more destination differential times calculated by the destination differential time calculation unit 19A are shorter than the source differential time.

Figure 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the processing of the destination differential time calculation unit 19A and the combination presentation unit 19B in this case. As shown in Figure 8, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A calculates, as the destination differential time, the differential time between the drug removal time at the long difference other storage "5:3-1" identified by the method shown in Figure 6 and the drug removal time at the storage "4:6-5" of the candidate destination with history, as well as the differential time between the drug removal time at the previous storage "3:2-4" and "2:3-2" other than the long difference other storage "5:3-1" and the drug removal time at the storage "4:6-5" of the candidate destination with history.

In the example of FIG. 8, the delivery history DB storage unit 20B records an outgoing history of picking a medicine from the candidate destination storage unit "4:6-5" one time after picking a medicine from the previous storage unit "2:3-2", while the outgoing history DB storage unit 20B does not record an outgoing history of picking a medicine from the candidate destination storage unit "4:6-5" one time after picking a medicine from the previous storage unit "3:2-4". Here, for the candidate destination storage unit "4:6-5", all of the one or more destination differential times (0 minutes 50 seconds, 2 minutes 10 seconds) calculated in the relationship between the candidate source storage unit "2:5-1" and its corresponding previous storage units "5:3-1" and "2:3-2" are shorter than the source differential time (2 minutes 21 seconds). Therefore, the combination presentation unit 19B presents the combination of the source candidate repository "2:5-1" and the destination candidate repository "4:6-5".

If the difference between the time taken to remove the medicine from the previous storage unit "2:3-2" and the time taken to remove the medicine from the storage unit "4:6-5" that is a candidate for destination with history is longer than the source difference time (2 minutes 21 seconds), the combination presentation unit 19B will not present the combination of the source storage unit "2:5-1" and the destination storage unit "4:6-5". In this case, the same process may be performed for the other destination storage unit "3:3-5" whose destination difference time is shorter than the source difference time, and the combination of the source storage unit "2:5-1" and the destination storage unit "3:3-5" may be presented if all of the one or more destination difference times are shorter than the source difference time.

As another example, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A and the combination presentation unit 19B may perform the following process. That is, like the example shown in FIG. 8, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A calculates the differential time between the removal time at the long difference previous storage unit "5:3-1" and the removal time at the storage unit "4:6-5" of the destination candidate with history, as well as the differential time between the removal time at the previous storage unit "2:3-2" (wherein the removal history information is recorded in the removal history DB storage unit 20B) other than the long difference other storage unit "5:3-1" and the removal time at the storage unit "4:6-5" of the destination candidate with history.

Then, the destination differential time calculation unit 19A calculates the sum of one or more differential times (0 minutes 50 seconds, 2 minutes 10 seconds) calculated in this way as the destination differential time. The combination presentation unit 19B presents a combination of a destination candidate storage and a source candidate storage, among the multiple destination candidate storages extracted by the transfer candidate extraction unit 18, in which the destination differential time (total value of one or more differential times) calculated by the destination differential time calculation unit 19A is shorter than the source differential time. In the example of FIG. 8, the destination differential time, which is the sum of one or more differential times (0 minutes 50 seconds, 2 minutes 10 seconds), is 3 minutes, which is longer than the source differential time (2 minutes 21 seconds). Therefore, the combination presentation unit 19B does not present the combination of the source candidate storage "2:5-1" and the destination candidate storage "4:6-5".

The processes of the aggregation unit 17, the transfer candidate extraction unit 18, and the transfer candidate presentation unit 19 described above are executed when, for example, a staff member of the dispensing pharmacy operates the pharmacy terminal 103 to give an instruction. Alternatively, they may be executed automatically when a time preset by the staff member arrives. Alternatively, they may be executed automatically and repeatedly at predetermined intervals.

As described above in detail, in this embodiment, the cumulative number of deliveries is calculated for each of the multiple storage cabinets based on the delivery history information in the delivery history DB storage unit 20B, in which information indicating the locations and take-out times of the multiple storage cabinets from which the multiple types of medicines included in the prescription were taken out is recorded for each prescription, and the difference in time between the take-out time of the medicine in the local storage cabinet and the take-out time in one or more other storage cabinets from which the medicine was taken out immediately before the local storage cabinet is calculated. Then, the local storage cabinet with a large cumulative number of deliveries and a long difference time is extracted as a source candidate, and the local storage cabinet with a small cumulative number of deliveries is extracted as a destination candidate, and the source candidate storage cabinet and destination candidate storage cabinet are presented.

In a dispensing pharmacy, there are storage units with a large cumulative number of deliveries and storage units with a small cumulative number of deliveries, depending on the status of dispensing work performed daily. In addition, when taking out medicines in order, there are combinations of two storage units with a long differential time from taking out a medicine from one storage unit to taking out a medicine from the next storage unit and combinations with a short differential time. According to the present embodiment configured as described above, a self storage unit with a large cumulative number of deliveries and a long differential time with other storage units is extracted and presented as a transfer source candidate. The transfer source candidate storage unit presented in this way is a storage unit in which the dispensing staff travels a long distance and picking involving such long-distance travel is repeated many times, and it can be said that it is a storage unit that may be a factor that reduces the picking efficiency and, in turn, the work efficiency of dispensing work. In addition, according to this embodiment, a self storage unit with a small cumulative number of deliveries is extracted and presented as a transfer destination candidate. The transfer destination candidate storage unit presented in this way is a storage unit in which picking is not performed very often, and even if the medicine stored in this storage unit is changed to another medicine, it is considered that the effect of the difference time fluctuation that occurs thereafter on the overall picking work is not large. Therefore, by swapping and storing the medicines stored in the storage cabinet of the presented source candidate with the medicines stored in the storage cabinet of the destination candidate, it is possible to shorten the travel distance of the dispensing staff in the entire daily dispensing work at the dispensing pharmacy compared to before the medicines were swapped. In this way, according to this embodiment, the travel distance of the dispensing staff can be shortened depending on the dispensing work status of each dispensing pharmacy.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the difference in time between the drug removal time in the local storage unit and the removal time in one or more previous storage units from which the drug was removed in the order immediately before the local storage unit was calculated, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the difference in time between the drug removal time in the local storage unit and the removal time in one or more subsequent storage units from which the drug was removed in the order immediately after the local storage unit may be calculated.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the cumulative number of deliveries, which is the total number of medicines picked from a storage unit, is used as a cumulative value indicating the frequency of deliveries of medicines, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the cumulative number of deliveries, which is the number of times medicines are picked from a storage unit (even if multiple medicines are picked from one storage unit for one prescription, the number of deliveries is counted as one).

In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the tablet 102 is touched each time picking of medicines in a storage unit is completed, and the difference in time between the time when picking of medicines in the storage unit is completed and the time when picking of medicines in another storage unit immediately preceding the storage unit is completed is calculated. In other words, an example has been described in which the picking completion time is the removal time for both the storage unit and the other storage unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, when starting to pick medicines in a storage unit, the tablet 102 may be touched to calculate the difference in time between the time that picking medicines in the storage unit begins and the time that picking medicines ends in another storage unit that is one unit before the storage unit. In this case, the removal time for the storage unit indicates the picking start time, and the removal time for the other storage unit indicates the picking end time. In this way, it is possible to prevent the work time when picking medicines in the storage unit is not included in the difference in time.

In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which, when picking medicines from one storage unit, information indicating that picking has been completed is input by touching the tablet 102, but this example is not limiting. For example, information indicating that picking has been completed may be input by reading, with a reader, a barcode attached to the medicine taken out of the storage unit.

In the above embodiment, an example in which picking instruction information is displayed on the tablet 102 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, a lamp installed in a storage unit at the location where picking is to be performed may be turned on, similar to the method described in Patent Document 1. In this case, information indicating that picking has been completed may be input, for example, by reading a barcode attached to the medicine removed from the storage unit with a reader, or by pressing a removal button installed at the location of each storage unit.

In addition, the above embodiments are merely examples of how the present invention can be implemented, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted in a limiting manner. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from its gist or main features.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 11 Prescription information input unit 12 Picking instruction information generation unit 13 Picking instruction unit 14 Picking result information input unit 15 Delivery detection unit 16 Delivery history information recording unit 17 Counting unit 18 Transfer candidate extraction unit 19 Transfer candidate presentation unit 19A Transfer destination difference time calculation unit 19B Combination presentation unit 20A Shelf allocation information storage unit 20B Delivery history DB storage unit 100 Drug picking work support system 101 Server 102 Tablet 103 Pharmacy terminal

Claims (4)

A system for supporting a picking operation of picking out multiple types of medicines based on prescriptions from a medicine shelf having multiple storage units,
a delivery detection unit that detects, for each of the prescriptions, the positions of a plurality of storage chambers from which the plurality of types of medicines included in the prescription are taken out and the times at which the medicines are taken out;
a delivery history information recording unit that records information indicating the positions of the storage units and the removal times detected by the delivery detection unit in a database as delivery history information for each prescription;
a counting unit that calculates, for each of the plurality of storage units, a cumulative value indicating the number of times the medicine has been shipped based on the shipping history information recorded in the database by the shipping history information recording unit, and calculates a difference between the time taken to take out the medicine from the storage unit and the time taken to take out the medicine from one or more other storage units from which the medicine has been taken out in a sequence shifted by one from the storage unit itself;
a transfer candidate extraction unit that extracts a storage facility having a large cumulative total value and a long difference time calculated by the calculation unit as a transfer source candidate, and extracts a storage facility having a small cumulative total value calculated by the calculation unit as a transfer destination candidate;
A pharmaceutical picking operation support system comprising a transfer candidate presentation unit that presents the source storage facility candidates and the destination storage facility candidates extracted by the transfer candidate extraction unit. The transfer candidate extraction unit extracts a plurality of the transfer source candidate storages and a plurality of the transfer destination candidate storages,
The movement candidate presentation unit is
a destination differential time calculation unit which specifies the other storage cabinet having a long differential time from the storage cabinet of the transfer source candidate as a long differential other storage cabinet, and specifies a storage cabinet in which it is recorded in the database that the medicine was taken out in an order shifted by one from the long differential other storage cabinet among the plurality of destination candidate storage cabinets extracted by the transfer candidate extraction unit as a destination candidate storage cabinet with history, and calculates a destination differential time which is a differential time between the take-out time at the long differential other storage cabinet and the take-out time at the destination candidate storage cabinet with history based on the delivery history information recorded in the database;
The pharmaceutical picking operation support system according to claim 1, further comprising a combination presentation unit that presents a combination of a destination candidate storage facility and a source candidate storage facility among the multiple destination candidate storage facilities extracted by the destination candidate extraction unit, the destination differential time being the differential time calculated by the destination differential time calculation unit between the long difference other storage facility and the storage facility of the destination candidate with history, which is shorter than the source differential time being the differential time calculated by the aggregation unit between the long difference other storage facility and the storage facility of the source candidate. The destination differential time calculation unit calculates, as the destination differential time, a differential time between the take-out time at the long difference other storage and the take-out time at the storage of the destination candidate with history, as well as a differential time between the take-out time at another storage other than the long difference other storage and the take-out time at the storage of the destination candidate with history,
The pharmaceutical picking operation support system according to claim 2, characterized in that the combination presentation unit presents a combination of a destination candidate storage facility and a source candidate storage facility among the multiple destination candidate storage facilities extracted by the destination candidate extraction unit, in which all of the one or more destination differential times calculated by the destination differential time calculation unit are shorter than the source differential time. The pharmaceutical picking operation support system of claim 2, characterized in that the destination differential time calculation unit calculates a differential time between the take-out time at the long difference other storage facility and the take-out time at the storage facility of the destination candidate with history, as well as a differential time between the take-out time at another storage facility other than the long difference other storage facility and the take-out time at the storage facility of the destination candidate with history, and calculates the sum of one or more calculated differential times as the destination differential time.