Systems and methods for tracking pharmaceuticals within a facility

A method for monitoring unit dose medical products stored in a medication-dispensing unit, each of the unit dose medical products comprising a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the method comprising:

• removing a unit dose medical product from the dispensing unit;
• identifying the unit dose medical product removed from the dispensing unit by detecting removal of the RFID tag associated with the medical product removed from the dispensing unit, wherein the steps of identifying the medical product removed from the dispensing unit further comprises:
• reading the RFID tags of the medical products in the dispensing unit before the medical product is removed from the dispensing unit;
• reading the RFID tags of the medical products in the dispensing unit after the medical product is removed from the dispensing unit and assigning the unit dose medical products to respective individual patients to ensure that correct medical products are delivered to the patients;
• and
• determining a difference between the readings of the RFID tags taken before and after the medical product is removed from the dispensing unit to identify the unit dose medical product removed.

A method for monitoring removal of unit dose medical products stored in a medication-dispensing unit, each of the unit dose medical products comprising a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the method comprising:

• reading the RFID tags of the unit dose medical products in the dispensing unit before removing one or more medical products from the dispensing unit;
• removing one or more unit dose medical products from the dispensing unit;
• reading the RFID tags of the medical products in the dispensing unit after the one or more medical products are removed from the dispensing unit;
• and
• determining a difference between the readings of the RFID tags taken before and after the one or more medical products are removed from the dispensing unit to identify the one or more unit dose medical products removed from the dispensing unit, and assigning the unit dose medical products to respective individual patients to ensure that correct medical products are delivered to the patients.

An apparatus for tracking unit dose medical products, each of the unit dose medical products having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the apparatus comprising

• a casing comprising a plurality of lockable drawers for receiving one or more unit dose medical products therein,
• a reader for reading the RFID tags associated with the unit dose medical products in the drawers,
• a processor coupled to the reader for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags in the drawer to identify medical products in the drawer,
• wherein the processor can verify that a unit dose medical product removed from a drawer is authorized to be removed and the removed medical product is assigned to an individual patient as the medical product is removed, and
• wherein the processor can identify a medical product removed from a drawer by determining a difference between readings of RFID tags in the drawer taken before and after a medical product is removed.

A method for monitoring removal of unit does medical products stored in a medication-dispensing unit, each of the unit dose medical products comprising a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the method comprising:

• reading the RFID tags of the unit dose medical products in the dispensing unit before removing one or more medical products from the dispensing unit;
• removing one or more unit dose medical products from the dispensing unit;
• reading the RFID tags of the medical products in the dispensing unit after the one or more medical products are removed from the dispensing unit;
• determining a difference between the readings of the RFID tags taken before and after the one or more medical products are moved from the dispensing unit to identify the one or more unit dose medical products removed from the dispensing unit,
• returning a unit dose medical product to the dispensing unit;
• reading the RFID tags of the medical products in the dispensing unit after the medical product is returned to the dispensing unit;
• and
• determining a difference between the readings of the RFID tags taken before and after the medical products are returned to the dispensing unit to identify the medical product returned to the dispensing unit.