Medication dosage container

#This invention relates generally to medication dosage control and pertains more particularly to a medication dosage container having facility for dosage control.

#From applicant's perspective, which is widely that of the pharmacological community, while the primary drug problem facing society is illicit drug usage, a quite serious secondary drug problem lies in medication usage errors. This problem is heightened when one considers that the vast majority of medication users are elderly and may have vision and memory difficulties and that many thereof are required to take different medicines with different dosages over different time periods.

#The discipline associated with dispensing of medication to a patient in a hospital (“in-patient” medication dispensing) lessens the secondary drug problem. A dispensing dolly is loaded, per patient and per time of distribution with the involved medications and patient identification. A nurse moves the dolly from patient to patient and dispenses the required medication. The dolly is then replenished with medication for the next time of distribution and the dispensing recurs at such next time.

#FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of a medication container and dispenser in accordance with the invention.

#FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation of the FIG. 1 container and dispenser as would be seen from plane II-II of FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation of the FIG. 1 container and dispenser as would be seen from plane III-III of FIG. 1.

#Referring to FIGS. 1-3, medicine container 10 comprises upstanding body 12 having open mouth 14 and hollow interior 16. Separator 18 is seated in body 12 and defines upper and lower compartments, respectively indicated at 20 and 22.

#While body 12 may have various cross-sections, body 12 of FIGS. 1-3 is shown to be circular in cross-section. Separator 18 defines a floor 24 for upper compartment 20 and a passage 26 opening into lower compartment 22. Separator 18 has upstanding cylindrical sidewall 28 contiguous with interior sidewall 30 of body 12 and is suitably secured therewith, e.g., by an adhesive, whereby separator is fixedly seated in body 12.

#Separator floor 24 extends partly across the cross-section of separator 18 and passage 26 is disposed between the end of separator floor 24 and separator sidewall 28.