Cabinet with remote integration

Abstract

A medication dispensing cart with remote integration includes a plurality of drawers operably attached to a mast, a drawer controller operably connected to the drawers and configured to locking and unlocking of the drawers, a battery operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to provide power to the drawer controller, and a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration for the central server computer system to lock or unlock the drawers.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A medication dispensing cart with remote integration, the cart comprising:
 a rolling base configured to allow the cart to be wheeled between patients, rooms, and dispensing devices;   a mast operably mounted to the rolling base;   a work surface operably mounted to the mast;   a plurality of drawers operably attached to the mast;   a drawer controller operably connected to the drawers and configured to locking and unlocking of the drawers;   a battery operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to provide power to the drawer controller; and   a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration for the central server computer system to lock or unlock the drawers.   
     
     
         3 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , the cart comprising:
 a plurality of guiding lights, each of the guiding lights associated with at least one drawer from the plurality of drawers and configured to visibly indicate to a user at least one of where a medication is located or a drawer that has been unlocked.   
     
     
         4 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein each of the drawers is specific to a particular medication and the central server computer system allows access to the particular medication by remotely unlocking a drawer that is specific to the particular medication to which access has been allowed. 
     
     
         5 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein each of the drawers is specific to a particular patient and the central server computer system allows access to the medication to the particular patient by remotely unlocking a drawer that is specific to the particular patient to which access has been allowed. 
     
     
         6 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to retrieve a list of at least one of medicines or patients and produce a listing of medicines that a user must load from a dispensing location to the cart. 
     
     
         7 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to retrieve a list of at least one of medicines or patients and produce a listing of medicines that a user must load from a dispensing location to the cart, wherein the computer is configured to, upon a specific user stocking one of the drawers, automatically grant the user access to the one of the drawers. 
     
     
         8 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to require a user to log in and provide a password or other identifier to verify the user's identity in order to grant the user access to any of the drawers. 
     
     
         9 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to require a user to log in and provide a password or other identifier to verify the user's identity, and the computer is configured to verify the user's identity with information from the central server computer system. 
     
     
         10 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to, by itself or in cooperation with a remote computer server, generate automated reports or logs of medications that have been removed from the drawers of the cart. 
     
     
         11 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 2 , wherein the computer is configured to, by itself or in cooperation with a remote computer server, generate automated reports or logs of medications that have been removed from the drawers of the cart, wherein the medications in such a report or log are listed on at least one of a patient by patient basis, cart user basis or medical professional basis. 
     
     
         12 . A medication dispensing cart with remote integration, the cart comprising:
 a rolling base configured to allow the cart to be wheeled between patients, rooms, and dispensing devices;   a mast operably mounted to the rolling base;   a work surface operably mounted to the mast;   a plurality of drawers operably attached to the mast;   a drawer controller operably connected to the drawers and configured to locking and unlocking of the drawers;   a battery operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to provide power to the drawer controller; and   a plurality of guiding lights, each of the guiding lights associated with at least one drawer from the plurality of drawers and configured to visibly indicate to a user a drawer where a medication is located or a drawer that has been unlocked.   
     
     
         13 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , the cart comprising:
 a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration.   
     
     
         14 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , the cart comprising:
 a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration, wherein each of the drawers is specific to a particular medication and the central server computer system allows access to the particular medication by remotely unlocking a drawer of the cart that is specific to a particular medication to which access has been allowed, a guiding light indicating the drawer of the cart that has been unlocked by the central server computer system.   
     
     
         15 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , the cart comprising:
 a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration, wherein each of the drawers is specific to a particular patient and the central server computer system allows access to the medication to the particular patient by remotely unlocking a drawer that is specific to the particular patient to which access has been allowed, a guiding light indicating the drawer of the cart that has been unlocked by the central server computer system.   
     
     
         16 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , wherein the computer is configured to retrieve a list of at least one of medicines or patients and produce a listing of medicines that a user must load from a dispensing location to the cart, a guiding light indicating the drawer of the cart to which a medicine is to be loaded. 
     
     
         17 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , the cart comprising:
 a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration, wherein the computer is configured to retrieve a list of at least one of medicines or patients and produce a listing of medicines that a user must load from a dispensing location to the cart, wherein the computer is configured to, upon a specific user stocking one of the drawers, automatically grant the user access to the one of the drawers, a guiding light indicating the drawer of the cart to which access has been granted to the user.   
     
     
         18 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , the cart comprising:
 a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration, wherein the computer is configured to require a user to log in and provide a password or other identifier to verify the user's identity in order to grant the user access to any of the drawers, one or more guiding lights indicating respective one or more drawers of the cart to which access has been granted to the user.   
     
     
         19 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , the cart comprising:
 a computer operably connected to the drawer controller and configured to wirelessly connect to a network for a central server computer system to interact with the medication dispensing cart with remote integration, wherein the computer is configured to require a user to log in and provide a password or other identifier to verify the user's identity, and the computer is configured to verify the user's identity with information from the central server computer system, one or more guiding lights indicating respective one or more drawers of the cart to which access has been granted to the user.   
     
     
         20 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , wherein the computer is configured to, by itself or in cooperation with a remote computer server, generate automated reports or logs of medications that have been removed from the drawers of the cart. 
     
     
         21 . The medication dispensing cart with remote integration of  claim 12 , wherein the computer is configured to, by itself or in cooperation with a remote computer server, generate automated reports or logs of medications that have been removed from the drawers of the cart, wherein the medications in such a report or log are listed on at least one of a patient by patient basis, cart user basis or medical professional basis.