Methods, systems, and apparatus for tapering or uptitrating drug dosages
AssigneeThe United States Government as represented by the Department of Veterans Affairs
InventorsConstance H. Fung, Lara Kierlin
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Abstract
This disclosure relates to a method tapering or uptitrating a drug, e.g., benzodiazepines or non-benzodiazepine sedative hypnotics. Also disclosed is an apparatus for cutting or splitting a pill which can be used to blind or mask a dosage during a taper or uptitration plan. Also disclosed are methods of using the apparatus. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.
Claims25
A method of tapering or uptitrating a drug for a patient, comprising:
- receiving, at a computing device, a patient-derived parameter comprising at least one of:
- a Likert-like scale response indicative of the patient's motivation to begin or continue a drug tapering or uptitrating plan, a Likert-like scale response indicative of the patient's subjective perception of a drug tapering or uptitrating plan, the patient's blood pressure, the patient's heart rate, a Likert-like scale response indicative of the patient's subjective report of global well-being, or Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Scale (CIWA-B) scores for a benzodiazepine or non-benzodiazepine sedative hypnotic;
- receiving, at a computing device, a provider-derived parameter comprising at least one of:
- a baseline dose, a desired end dose, a number of days per week the drug is taken, a day of the week the drug is taken, a number of weeks for tapering, a number of digits following a decimal place for the drug dose, a day for being drug-free days, a function of the taper plan, a strength of the taper plan, a specific dose strength on certain days, an upper bound for percentage reduction during each week or partial week, a lower bound for percentage reduction during each week or partial week, or a maximal percent reduction per week;
- generating, by the computing device, based on the at least one patient-derived parameter, the at least one provider-derived parameter, and the drug, a taper or uptitrating plan associated with the drug and the patient, wherein the taper or uptitrating plan is indicative of a plurality of dosage amounts of the drug for each of a plurality of specific days;
- determining, by the computing device, based on the taper or uptitrating plan, a first dosage amount of the plurality of dosage amounts of the drug;
- and
- sending, by the computing device, an indication of the first dosage amount.
A method of tapering or uptitrating a drug comprising:
- receiving, at a computing device, at least one parameter associated with a drug and a patient identifier;
- generating, by the computing device, based on the at least one parameter and the drug, a taper plan associated with the drug and the patient identifier, wherein the taper plan is indicative of a plurality of dosage amounts of the drug for each of a plurality of specific days;
- determining, by the computing device, based on the taper plan, a first dosage amount of the plurality of dosage amounts of the drug;
- and
- sending, by the computing device, an indication of the first dosage amount.
An apparatus comprising:
- a body having a central axis, wherein the body defines a plurality of receptacles that are spaced around the central axis, wherein the plurality of receptacles define a perimeter;
- a pill cutter disposed on a segment of the perimeter defined by the plurality of receptacles, the pill cutter comprising:
- a platform that is configured to receive a pill;
- a cutting element that is coupled to the platform and configured to move toward and away from the platform in order to cut a pill received on the platform;
- and
- an actuator that is configured to cause the cutting element to move toward and away from the platform.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.