Networkable medical labeling apparatus and method

Abstract

Provided are a system and method of generating a label comprising label content based on information stored by a plurality of different databases. The system includes an interface that receives an order ID. A communication system transmits the order ID over a communication network to a remotely-located terminal, and receives order data comprising information obtained from a record in a first database. A memory device that is locally connected to the interface locally stores a second database comprising rules defining requirements of a drug labeling standard. The memory device stores insufficient information to locally interpret the order ID. A label generator applies at least one of the rules using a portion of the received order data and a portion of information locally stored in the second database to control a label printer that prints the label in compliance with the drug labeling standard.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for generating a label comprising label content based on information stored by a plurality of different databases, the system comprising:
 an interface that receives an order ID that uniquely identifies an order for a drug to be administered to a patient;   a communication system that: (i) transmits the order ID over a communication network to a remotely-located terminal that has access to a first database storing a record corresponding to the order ID, and (ii) receives, over the communication network, order data comprising information obtained from the record in the first database based on the order ID, wherein the order data is related to the order for the drug to be administered to the patient;   a memory device that is locally connected to the interface and locally stores a second database comprising rules defining requirements of a drug labeling standard, wherein the requirements are to be satisfied by the label to render the label compliant with the drug labeling standard, and wherein the memory device stores insufficient information to locally interpret the order ID; and   a label generator that applies at least one of the rules using a portion of the received order data and a portion of information locally stored in the second database to control a label printer that prints the label in compliance with the drug labeling standard.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein information about at least one of the requirements of the drug labeling standard is missing from the order data received by the communication system, and the label generator supplements the order information with the information about the at least one of the requirements that is missing from the order data to produce the label in compliance with the drug labeling standard. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one of the requirements of the drug labeling standard that is missing from the order data is a color code associated with a class of the drug that is to be printed onto the label. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one of the requirements of the drug labeling standard that is missing from the order data is formatting information defining a format of content that is to be printed onto the label. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the label generator supplements the received order information with additional information about the drug retrieved from the memory device, and produces the label to include the received order information as supplemented by the additional information.