Abstract: The system for monitoring and dispensing medical items which are dispensed for administration to patients includes a data terminal (76, 338) which is connected through a network (82, 328) to at least one remote computer (84, 324) having a processor and a data store. The system also includes a reading device (348) which is connected to the network. A user of the data terminal or the reading device is enabled to select a patient for whom medical items will be used, and responsive to a request to dispense items the requested items are dispensed from dispensing devices (96, 100, 344, 346, 450, 527) connected to the data terminal. A report generating device (384) generates reports (388) which include machine readable indicia corresponding to patients and/or medical items. Users may select patients and dispense medications by reading the indicia from the reports using the reading device.