Dose request systems and methods

Abstract

A dose request device for a medicament delivery device can include a housing, a dose request button, a short-range non-contact identifier, a communication interface configured to communicate with the medicament delivery device, and a controller. The short-range non-contact identifier can be configured to be capable of reading an identification code from a tag when the tag is disposed within a first range and not to be able to read the identification code from the tag when the tag is disposed beyond a second range. The controller can be configured and programmed to determine whether the identification code read by the short-range non-contact identifier matches any authorized identification code of a set of one or more authorized identification codes, and if so, and if the dose request button is pressed, the controller can then communicate a dose request to the medicament delivery device via the communication interface.

1 - 26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A medicament delivery system configured to alert a caregiver to the occurrence of an unauthorized dose request, thereby alerting the caregiver to possible misuse, abuse and/or drug theft, the medicament delivery system comprising:
 a medicament delivery device configured to selectively deliver one or more of doses of a medicament to a patient;   an information system accessible by the caregiver; and   a dose request device including—
 a dose request button configured to accept a medicament dose request from a user; 
 a non-contact identifier configured to identify whether the user is an authorized or unauthorized user of the dose request device; 
 a controller communicatively coupled with the non-contact identifier, the controller including a memory configured to log medicament dose requests, along with, for each medicament dose request, whether the user is an authorized or unauthorized user of the dose request device; and 
 a communication interface communicatively coupled with the medicament delivery device and the information system, wherein the dose request device is configured to communicate logged medicament dose requests by an unauthorized user to the information system. 
   
     
     
         28 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the information system is configured to push an alert to the caregiver. 
     
     
         29 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the medicament delivery device is a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump. 
     
     
         30 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein communicative coupling between the communication interface of the dose request device and information system is wireless. 
     
     
         31 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the information system is at least one of a Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system or an electronic Hospital Information System (HIS). 
     
     
         32 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the information system includes one of a personal computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), computing tablet, smartphone, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         33 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the medicament delivery device includes a touch-screen display. 
     
     
         34 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein communicative coupling between the communication interface of the dose request device and medicament delivery device is wireless. 
     
     
         35 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the non-contact identifier is one of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader, a near-field communications (NFC) reader, a barcode reader, a QR code reader, optics configured to obtain an image for at least one of facial, iris, or fingerprint recognition, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         36 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 27 , wherein the dose request device is shaped to encourage a user to hold the dose request device in a particular orientation, thereby advantageously positioning the non-contact identifier relative to the user. 
     
     
         37 . A dose request device configured to alert a caregiver to the occurrence of an unauthorized dose request, the dose request device comprising:
 a dose request button configured to accept a medicament dose request from a user;   a non-contact identifier configured to identify whether the user is an authorized or unauthorized user of the dose request device;   a controller communicatively coupled with the non-contact identifier, the controller including a memory configured to log medicament dose requests, along with, for each medicament dose request, whether the user is an authorized or unauthorized user of the dose request device; and   a communication interface communicatively coupled with an information system, wherein the dose request device is configured to communicate logged medicament dose requests by an unauthorized user to the information system.   
     
     
         38 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 37 , wherein communicative coupling between the communication interface of the dose request device and information system is wireless. 
     
     
         39 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 37 , wherein the information system is at least one of a Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system or an electronic Hospital Information System (HIS). 
     
     
         40 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 37 , wherein the medicament delivery device includes a touch-screen display. 
     
     
         41 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 37 , wherein the non-contact identifier is one of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader, a near-field communications (NFC) reader, a barcode reader, a QR code reader, optics configured to obtain an image for at least one of facial, iris, or fingerprint recognition, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         42 . The medicament delivery system of  claim 37 , wherein the dose request device is shaped to encourage a user to hold the dose request device in a particular orientation, thereby advantageously positioning the non-contact identifier relative to the user. 
     
     
         43 . A method of alerting a caregiver to the occurrence of an unauthorized dose request, the method comprising:
 accepting a medicament dose request from a user via a dose request device;   identify whether the user is an authorized or unauthorized user of the dose request device via a non-contact identifier;   logging the medicament dose request,   logging whether the user is an authorized or unauthorized user of the dose request device, for each logged medicament dose request;   communicating a logged medicament dose request by an unauthorized user to an information system, thereby alerting a caregiver to possible misuse, abuse and/or drug theft.   
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , further comprising pushing an alert to a caregiver. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein the dose request device is operably coupled to a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein the non-contact identifier is one of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader, a near-field communications (NFC) reader, a barcode reader, a QR code reader, optics configured to obtain an image for at least one of facial, iris, or fingerprint recognition, or a combination thereof.