GRADUAL TRANSITION BETWEEN BASAL RATES IN AN AMBULATORY DRUG DELIVERY DEVICE
A controller in an ambulatory drug delivery device automatically creates gradual transitions between basal rates entered by a user. The user may enter at least two target basal rates and two corresponding durations for delivering a medication at each rate. Systems and methods for such drug delivery are described.
1 . A system for administering medication to a patient, comprising:
an infusion pump; and
software associated with the infusion pump configured to automatically provide a basal medication dosage profile that is based upon input from a user, the basal medication dosage profile comprising
at least two target basal rates;
a first duration for administering a medication to the patient at a first target basal rate; and
a second duration for administering the medication at a second target basal rate; and
at least one transition period over which a delivered basal rate gradually transitions between the target basal rates.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the transition period is automatically set by the software.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the transition period is set by the user.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the infusion pump is configured to administer the medication such that a first volume administered in a first dose is either the same as or is different from a second volume administered in a second dose.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a slope of a plot of the basal medication dosage profile as basal rate versus time provided by the software is non-zero and not infinity over the at least one transition period.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transition period occurs over a fixed time period.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the basal medication dosage profile includes at least two transition periods and each transition period has a duration that is constant within the basal medication dosage profile.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the infusion pump is configured to administer medication doses at fixed time intervals.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the duration of each transition period is an amount of time (T) that yields a whole number when divided by a duration (t) of the fixed dosage time intervals.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the duration (t) of the fixed dosage time intervals is 5 minutes.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the duration of each transition period (T) is 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes.
12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the duration of each transition period (T) is 60 minutes.
13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user provides input using a user interface located on the infusion pump or on a remote device.
14 . A method of delivering a medicament to a patient, comprising:
accepting, from a user via software associated with an infusion pump, at least two rates of medicament delivery and periods of time during a 24 hour period corresponding to each rate of medicament delivery;
generating a rate profile based upon the at least two rates of medicament delivery and periods of time using the software associated with the infusion pump; and
providing the rate profile to a controller associated with the infusion pump to direct administration of the medicament to the patient,
wherein the rate profile comprises a transition period between the at least two rates of medicament delivery over which a delivered rate gradually transitions between the two rates.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the transition period has a duration chosen by the user.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the transition period has a duration automatically determined by the software.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the infusion pump is configured to administer medicament doses at fixed time intervals.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the duration of each transition period is an amount of time (T) that yields a whole number when divided by a duration (t) of the fixed dosage time intervals.
19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the duration (t) of the fixed dosage time intervals is 5 minutes.
20 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the pump administers the medication in a different volume for each dose administered during transition periods.
21 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising further refining the basal rate profile.
22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein further refining the basal rate profile comprises the user providing additional information.
23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the additional information comprises more basal rate intervals, new values for existing basal rate intervals, or both.