Importance

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Abstract

An intake to exit security system for high-volume pharmacies provides maximum security from tampering and assures accuracy. The system immediately assigns bar codes to shipments upon arrival and then tracks them through warehousing, bulk distribution, prescription dispensing and shipping to patients, hospitals and drugstores. Bar-coded lock neck devices secure bulk drug canisters to bar-coded dispensing machines at specified dispensing stations where the machines dispense drugs into pre-labeled prescription bottles according to prescription indicia on the labels. Bottles then undergo content analysis and certification before packaged and shipped to customers. A Ramon laser spectral analysis contrasts the bottle contents to a library of known spectral signatures of drugs, and the pharmacist is alerted to any detected difference. A simultaneously captured visual image of the pills enables the pharmacist visually to compare the contents to a library of known visual appearances of the drugs. Both analyses are recorded for prescriptions certified and forwarded to customers. Deviations are excised without disrupting flow of other prescriptions, and the system automatically reassigns an incorrectly filled prescription to another bottle which starts anew through the system. Full bottles of commonly used drugs and specialized containers for irregularly shaped objects, creams and ointments may be pre-filled and inventoried for later collation with prescription bottles at the packaging and shipping stage.

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First Claim