Infusion pump with an electronically loadable drug library and a user interface for loading the library

Claim 2

A drug infusion pump for use with a container containing a particular drug, said pump comprising: a pump mechanism which during operation causes the particular drug to be delivered to a patient from the container; a programmable controller controlling the pump mechanism; an electronically loadable memory inside the pump, said electronically loadable memory storing a drug library; input circuitry through which the electronically loadable memory is electronically loaded with said drug library, said drug library containing a plurality of drug entries, there being associated with each drug entry a set of associated drug delivery parameters for configuring the drug infusion pump; a user interface enabling a user to program the programmable controller, said user interface comprising: means for enabling the user to select a drug entry from the electronically loaded drug library; and means for configuring the programmable controller with the set of drug delivery parameters associated with the selected drug entry.

Claim 3

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said container is a syringe and said drive mechanism operates said syringe.

Claim 4

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said electronically loadable memory is non-volatile memory.

Claim 5

The drug infusion pump of claim 3 wherein said electronically loadable memory is EEPROM.

Claim 6

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said user interface comprises a control panel through which the user programs the programmable controller and a display screen for displaying drug entries from the drug library.

Claim 7

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein each of the associated sets of drug delivery parameters includes information selected from a group of parameters including drug concentration, drug delivery rate, drug dose, and bolus size.

Claim 8

The drug infusion pump of claim 6 wherein the said group of parameters includes minimum, default and maximum drug delivery rate.

Claim 9

The drug infusion pump of claim 6 wherein the said group of parameters includes minimum, default and maximum dose.

Claim 10

The drug infusion pump of claim 6 wherein the said group of parameters includes minimum, default and maximum bolus size.

Claim 11

The drug infusion pump of claim 6 wherein the said group of parameters includes maximum bolus rate.

Claim 12

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said electronically loaded drug library contains a list of available mode options, said mode options specifying the units available for expressing drug delivery information, and wherein said drug infusion pump offers the user the list of available mode options from which to make a selection when the electronically loaded drug library is in said pump.

Claim 13

The drug infusion pump of claim 11 wherein said list of available mode options includes selection made from the group including milliliter/hour, units/hour, micrograms/minute, and micrograms/kilogram/minute.

Claim 14

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said electronically loaded drug library contains a list of names of syringe manufacturers, said names of syringe manufacturers identifying syringes that are used in the drug infusion pump, and wherein said drug infusion pump offers the user the list of names of syringe manufacturers from which to make a selection when the electronically loaded drug library is in said pump.

Claim 15

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said electronically loaded drug library contains a list of syringe sizes, said selected syringe sizes identifying syringes that are used in the drug infusion pump, and wherein said drug infusion pump offers the user the list of syringe sizes from which to make a selection when the electronically loaded drug library is in said pump.

Claim 16

The drug infusion pump of claim 1 wherein said electronically loaded drug library contains a set of switchable features, each having a user selectable on and off condition, and wherein said drug infusion pump offers the user only the features from among the set of switchable features that are in the on condition when the electronically loaded drug library is in said pump.

Claim 17

The drug infusion pump of claim 15 wherein said set of switchable features includes a drug library enable flag, wherein the drug library enable flag enables and disables, depending upon the condition of the drug library enable flag, access to the drug entries within the drug library in said drug infusion pump.

Claim 18

The drug infusion pump of claim 15 wherein said set of switchable features includes a syringe recognition flag, wherein the syringe recognition flag enables and disables, depending upon the condition of the syringe recognition flag, a syringe recognition capability within said drug infusion pump when the drug library is in said drug infusion pump.

Claim 19

The drug infusion pump of claim 15 wherein said set of switchable features includes a syringe detection flag, wherein the syringe detection flag enables and disables, depending upon the condition of the syringe detection flag, a syringe detection capability within said drug infusion pump when the drug library is in said drug infusion pump.

Claim 20

The drug infusion pump of claim 15 wherein said set of switchable features includes a volume limit detection flag, wherein the volume limit flag enables and disables, depending upon the condition of the volume limit flag, a function within the pump that enables the user to specify a volume limit for a drug delivery configuration when the drug library is loaded in said drug infusion pump.

Claim 21

A drug infusion pump for use with a container containing a given drug, said container including a machine readable label, the label specifying an identifier of the given drug and possibly other information about the given drug, said pump comprising: a pump mechanism which during operation causes the given drug to be delivered to a patient from the container; a programmable controller controlling the pump mechanism; a memory storing a drug library, said drug library containing a plurality of drug entries, there being associated with each drug entry a set of associated drug delivery parameters for configuring the drug infusion pump; a label reader which during use reads the contents of the label on the container; means responsive to the label reader for identifying an entry in the drug library that corresponds to the given drug; means for configuring the programmable controller by using the set of drug delivery parameters associated with the identified entry from the drug library; and means for causing the controller to run the pump mechanism using the set of drug delivery parameters associated with the identified entry from the drug library.

Claim 22

A drug infusion pump for use with a container containing a given drug, said container including a machine readable label, the label specifying an identifier of the given drug and possibly other information about the given drug, said pump comprising: a pump mechanism which during operation causes the given drug to be delivered to a patient from the container; a programmable controller controlling the pump mechanism; a memory storing a drug library, said drug library containing a plurality of drug entries, there being associated with each drug entry a set of associated drug delivery parameters for configuring the drug infusion pump; a label reader which during use reads the contents of the label on the container; means responsive to the label reader for identifying an entry in the drug library that corresponds to the given drug; means for configuring the programmable controller by using the set of drug delivery parameters associated with the identified entry from the drug library; and means for causing the controller to run the pump mechanism using the set of drug delivery parameters associated with the identified entry from the drug library.

Claim 23

The drug infusion pump of claim 20 wherein said container is a syringe and said drive mechanism operates said syringe.

Claim 24

The drug infusion pump of claim 20 wherein said machine readable label is a touch memory.

Claim 25

The drug infusion pump of claim 20 wherein said configuring means also uses information from said label to configure the programmable controller.

Claim 26

The drug infusion pump of claim 20 wherein the label includes an expiration date for the given drug and wherein said pump further comprises: an internal clock indicating a current date; means for comparing the expiration date as read by the label reader to the current date as indicated by the internal clock; and means for issuing a warning if the current date is later than the expiration date.

Claim 27

The drug infusion pump of claim 24 further comprising means for preventing the controller from running the drive mechanism if the current date is later than the expiration date.