Administration methods and packagings for oral medications

Abstract

Packagings for holding oral medications and methods for administering oral medications from a packaging. The packaging includes a cover and a body with compartments each configured to hold at least one of the oral medications. The compartments have a circular arrangement on the body. The method may include at least partially detaching the cover from the body to access a separate opening to each of the compartments. In response to removing the cover, all of the oral medications may be removed from the compartments to empty the packaging.

1 . A packaging for holding a plurality of oral medications, the packaging comprising:
 a body including a plurality of compartments each configured to hold at least one of the oral medications, the compartments having a circular arrangement relative to a reference point on the body; and   a cover attached to the body for confining the oral medications in the compartments, the cover being at least partially detachable from the body to access the compartments.   
     
     
         2 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein each of the compartments located within a respective one of a plurality of sectors of a circle defining the circular arrangement. 
     
     
         3 . The packaging of  claim 2  wherein the sectors have respective central angles that are approximately equivalent. 
     
     
         4 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein the cover includes a first surface, a second surface between the first surface and the compartments, and a data field on the first surface, the data field comprised of human-readable text. 
     
     
         5 . The packaging of  claim 4  wherein the body further comprises a plurality of unique indicia, each of the unique indicia marked on one of the compartments, and the human-readable text in the data field on the second surface correlates one of the indicia with an alphanumeric identifier of the oral medication in each of the compartments. 
     
     
         6 . The packaging of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a plurality of indicia, each of the indicia marked on one of the compartments, and the indicia selected such that each of compartments is uniquely identified by a respective one of the indicia. 
 
     
     
         7 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein each of the compartments has a first side wall, a second side wall joined to the first side wall at a first corner, and a third side wall joined to the first side wall at a second corner. 
     
     
         8 . The packaging of  claim 7  wherein the third side wall is joined to the second side wall at a third corner to define an opening into each of the compartments and the first, second, and third side walls have a triangular arrangement such that the opening is triangular and the opening narrows in a direction toward a center of the body. 
     
     
         9 . The packaging of  claim 7  wherein the first corner of each of the compartments is disposed as a reference point on a circle defining the circular arrangement. 
     
     
         10 . The packaging of  claim 7  wherein the body has a surface, the cover has a surface attached to the surface of the body, and the first, second, and third side walls project in a direction away from the surface of the cover. 
     
     
         11 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein the body includes an outer perimeter and a shoulder extending about the outer perimeter, the shoulder is disposed between the outer perimeter of the body and the compartments, and the cover is attached to the shoulder of the body. 
     
     
         12 . The packaging of  claim 11  wherein the body includes a center region and a plurality of strips extending radially from the center region of the body at different angular locations about a center of the center region, each of the strips is disposed between an adjacent pair of the compartments, and the cover is further attached to the strips and the center region of the body. 
     
     
         13 . The packaging of  claim 11  further comprising:
 a coating between the shoulder of the body and a first surface of the cover, the coating providing a releasable attachment between the shoulder of the body and the first surface of the cover. 
 
     
     
         14 . The packaging of  claim 13  wherein the coating is comprised of an adhesive, each of the compartments includes an opening covered by the first surface of the cover, and the coating includes a plurality of regions modified to reduce the adhesiveness, each of the regions aligned with the opening to a respective one of the compartments. 
     
     
         15 . The packaging of  claim 13  wherein the cover includes a second surface separated from the coating by the first surface and a data field on the second surface that contains human-readable text. 
     
     
         16 . The packaging of  claim 13  wherein the body includes a plurality of corners arranged about the outer perimeter, each of the corners including a pattern of features that reduces a surface area of the first surface so that the coating and the cover have a reduced adhesiveness in each of the corners. 
     
     
         17 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein the body has a rectangular geometrical shape. 
     
     
         18 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein the cover is free of score lines or lines of weakening. 
     
     
         19 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein the body includes an indexing feature configured to permit to establishment of a rotational orientation of the body. 
     
     
         20 . The packaging of  claim 19  wherein the body includes a planar surface, the compartments project from the planar surface, and the indexing feature is a post that projects from the planar surface in the same direction as the compartments. 
     
     
         21 . The packaging of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the compartments includes a side wall and a denesting feature that projects from the side wall into an interior space of the compartment. 
     
     
         22 . An assembly comprising the packaging of  claim 1  and the oral medications. 
     
     
         23 . The assembly of  claim 22  wherein each of the oral medications comprises a single unit dose. 
     
     
         24 . An assembly comprising a plurality of the packagings of  claim 1  and a carton having an interior space configured to hold the packagings in a vertical stack, a slot providing access into the interior space for removing the packagings, and a removable slot cover over the slot. 
     
     
         25 - 33 . (canceled) 
     
     
         34 . The packaging of  claim 14  wherein each of the regions and the respective opening to each of the compartments have a matching geometrical shape, and the regions have a circular arrangement that matches the circular arrangement of the compartments. 
     
     
         35 . The packaging of  claim 13  wherein the coating is comprised of an adhesive, each of the compartments includes an opening covered by the first surface of the cover, the coating is applied in a pattern to include a plurality of regions substantially free of the adhesive, and each of the regions is aligned with the opening to a respective one of the compartments. 
     
     
         36 . The packaging of  claim 35  wherein each of the regions and the respective opening to each of the compartments have a matching geometrical shape, and the regions have a circular arrangement that matches the circular arrangement of the compartments. 
     
     
         37 . The packaging of  claim 13  wherein the coating is comprised of an adhesive, each of the compartments includes an opening covered by the first surface of the cover, the cover includes a liner with a plurality of sections that covers the coating, and each of the sections is aligned with the opening to a respective one of the compartments. 
     
     
         38 . The packaging of  claim 35  wherein each of the sections and the respective opening to each of the compartments have a matching geometrical shape, and the sections have a circular arrangement that matches the circular arrangement of the compartments.