Location-based management of healthcare environments

• US 10,395,007 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2013
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerner Innovation, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cerner Innovation, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Eaton, Jr., James D., Compton, David L., Nelson, Justin, Cannon, Paul, Nolte, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess, Joseph D
• Application Number:
  US14/139,537
• Publication Number:
  US 20140114681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,073 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for managing healthcare environments are provided. In embodiments, a real-time status of a clinical device, along with a location, is received. The location of the clinical device is obtained via a clinical device identifier that is tracked by a plurality of sensors in a healthcare environment. A clinical device may be identified as inappropriate for use and an alert presented to a clinician including the problem of the clinical device and the location thereof. A replacement clinical device may be located, using clinical identifiers, and presented to the clinician. Such monitoring and location awareness facilitates efficient responses to healthcare situations.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform an improved method by a server including one or more processors, a plurality of sensors, one or more tracked clinical devices, and one or more identifiers communicating through a computer network accurately monitoring and managing a healthcare environment to identify an appropriate replacement clinical device and to generate a graphical user interface displaying the appropriate replacement clinical device utilizing location awareness in combination with electronic health records and electronic storage of clinical information, the method comprising:

receiving in real-time by the server configured to operate in the healthcare environment, through the computer network from the one or more identifiers associated with a first clinical device of the one or more tracked clinical devices, a real-time status of the first clinical device from the plurality of sensors indicating at least whether the first clinical device is functionally appropriate for use, wherein the plurality of sensors use signals to track in real-time the one or more identifiers which continuously provide real-time status of the first clinical device and update a location of the first clinical device in the network in real-time;

determining by the server from the real-time status of the first clinical device that the first clinical device is not appropriate for use based on the real-time status indicating that the first clinical device has a problem which requires attention;

determining by the server that an alert is needed, the name of the first clinical device, a particular problem that makes the first clinical device not appropriate for use, and a severity of the problem based on the clinical information, location information, and clinical device information;

upon determining that the alert is needed, generating a graphical user interface by the server automatically without user interaction which simultaneously displays the alert on a computing device in an alert area of the graphical user interface indicating at least that the first clinical device is not appropriate for use, the severity of the problem, the name of the clinical device, the particular problem that makes the first clinical device not appropriate for use, and a location of the first clinical device within a blueprint of a healthcare environment based on the data received from the first clinical device, wherein the location of the first clinical device is tracked by a clinical device identifier via a plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment;

the server identifying features of the first clinical device and determining at least one available replacement clinical device that meets the identified features criteria as the first clinical device by accessing a list of available clinical device;

the server automatically without user interaction identifying a real-time location of the determined at least one available replacement clinical device utilizing the one or more identifiers associated with the one or more tracked clinical devices via the plurality of sensors;

the server automatically without user interaction prioritizing the at least one available replacement clinical device based at least on the determined features of the at least one available replacement clinical device matching the features of the first clinical device;

the server automatically without user interaction determining the appropriate replacement clinical device from the prioritized replacement at least one clinical device with the most features matching the features of the first clinical device and located within the closest proximity of real-time location to the location of the first clinical device; and

the server automatically without user interaction updating the graphical user interface to display on the computing device the real-time location of the appropriate replacement clinical device within the blueprint of the healthcare environment identifying the appropriate replacement clinical device so that the location of the appropriate replacement device is visible within the blueprint simultaneously with the alert.

2. The computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment utilize ultrasound technology, infrared technology, or radio-frequency identification technology.

3. The computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the alert indicates a name of the first clinical device, the location of the first clinical device, and a problem associated with the first clinical device.

4. The computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the status of the first clinical device is one of:

in use and functioning, not in use and capable of functioning, not in use and requires maintenance, in use and requires maintenance, in use and not functioning, or not in use and not able to function.

5. The computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the location of the at least one replacement clinical device is determined based on proximity of the replacement clinical device to the patient.

6. The computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein the location of the at least one replacement clinical device is determined based on proximity of the replacement clinical device to a location of the clinician.

7. The computer-storage media of claim 6, wherein the location of the clinician is determined based on a clinician identifier that is tracked via the plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment.

8. A method of accurately monitoring and managing a healthcare environment to identify an appropriate replacement clinical device and to present an alert on a graphical user interface by a server including one or more processors, a plurality of sensors, one or more tracked clinical devices, and one or more identifiers communicating through a computer network utilizing location awareness in combination with electronic health records and electronic storage of clinical information, the method comprising:

receiving in real-time by the server configured to operate in the healthcare environment, through the computer network utilizing a sensor system including the one or more identifiers associated with a first clinical device of the one or more tracked clinical device, a real-time status of the first clinical device from the plurality of sensors indicating at least whether the first clinical device is functionally appropriate for use, wherein the plurality of sensors use signals to track in real-time the one or more identifiers which continuously provide real-time status of the first clinical device and update a location of the first clinical device in the network in real-time;

determining by the server from the real-time status of the first clinical device that the first clinical device is not appropriate for use based on the real-time status indicating that the first clinical device has a problem which requires attention;

determining by the server that an alert is need, the name of the first clinical device, a particular problem that makes the first clinical device not appropriate for use, and a severity of the problem based on the clinical information, location information, and clinical device information;

upon determining that the alert is needed, generating a graphical user interface by the server automatically without user interaction which simultaneously displays the alert on a computing device in an alert area of the graphical user interface indicating at least that the first clinical device is not appropriate for use, the severity of the problem, the name of the clinical device, the particular problem that makes the first clinical device is not appropriate for use, and a location of the first clinical device within a blueprint of a healthcare environment based on the data received from the first clinical device, wherein the location of the first clinical device is tracked by a clinical device identifier via a plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment;

identifying by the server features of the first clinical device and determining at least one available replacement clinical device that meets the identified features criteria as the first clinical device by accessing a list of available clinical device;

identifying by the server automatically without user interaction, a real-time location of the determined at least one available replacement clinical device utilizing the one or more identifiers associated with the one or more tracked clinical devices via the plurality of sensors;

prioritizing by the server automatically without user interaction, the at least one available replacement clinical device based at least on the determined features of the at least one available replacement clinical device matching the features of the first clinical device;

determining by the server automatically without user interaction, the appropriate replacement clinical device from the prioritized replacement at least one clinical device with the most features matching the features of the first clinical device and located within the closest proximity of real-time location to the location of the first clinical device; and

updating by the server automatically without user interaction, the user interface to display on the computing device the location of the appropriate replacement clinical device within the blueprint of the healthcare environment identifying the appropriate replacement clinical device so that the location of the appropriate replacement device is visible within the blueprint simultaneously with the alert.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment utilize ultrasound technology, infrared technology, or radio-frequency identification technology.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the alert indicates a name of the first clinical device, the location of the first clinical device, and a problem associated with the first clinical device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the status of the first clinical device is one of:

in use and functioning, not in use and capable of functioning, not in use and requires maintenance, in use and requires maintenance, in use and not functioning, or not in use and not able to function.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the location of the at least one replacement clinical device is determined based on proximity of the replacement clinical device to the patient.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the location of the at least one replacement clinical device is determined based on proximity of the replacement clinical device to a location of the clinician.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the location of the clinician is determined based on a clinician identifier that is tracked via the plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment.

15. A computer system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more databases;

one or more output devices

a sensor system; and

computer storage memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which accurately monitoring and managing a healthcare environment to identify an appropriate replacement clinical device and to generate a graphical user interface displaying the appropriate replacement clinical device utilizing location awareness in combination with electronic health records and electronic storage of clinical information, when executed by at least one processor, configure the computer system to;

receive through the computer network utilizing the sensor system including the one or more identifiers associated with a first clinical device of the one or more tracked clinical device, a real-time status of the first clinical device, wherein the received real-time status indicates at least whether the first clinical device is functionally appropriate for use, and wherein the plurality of sensors use signals to track in real-time the one or more identifiers which continuously provide real-time status of the first clinical device and update a location of the first clinical device in the network in real-time;

determine that the status of the first clinical device indicates that the first clinical device is not appropriate for use based on the real-time status indicating that the first clinical device has a problem which requires attention;

determine by the server that an alert is needed, the name of the first clinical device, a particular problem that makes the first clinical device not appropriate for use, and a severity of the problem based on the clinical information, location information, and clinical device information;

upon determining that the alert is needed, automatically without user interaction generate a graphical user interface which simultaneously displays the alert on a computing device in an alert area of the graphical user interface indicating at least that the first clinical device is not appropriate for use, the severity of the problem, the name of the clinical device, the particular problem that makes the first clinical device is not appropriate for use, and a location of the first clinical device within a blueprint of a healthcare environment based on the data received from the first clinical device, wherein the location of the first clinical device is tracked by a clinical device identifier via a plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment;

identifying by the server features of the first clinical device and determining at least one available replacement clinical device that meets the identified features criteria as the first clinical device by accessing a list of available clinical device;

automatically without user interaction identify a real-time location of the determined at least one available replacement clinical device utilizing the one or more identifiers associated with the one or more tracked clinical devices via the plurality of sensors;

automatically without user interaction prioritize the at least one available replacement clinical device based at least on the determined features of the at least one available replacement clinical device matching the features of the first clinical device;

automatically without user interaction determine the appropriate replacement clinical device from the prioritized replacement at least one clinical device with the most features matching the features of the first clinical device and located within the closest proximity of real-time location to the location of the first clinical device; and

automatically without user interaction update the user interface to display on the computing device the location of the appropriate replacement clinical device within the blueprint of the healthcare environment identifying the appropriate replacement clinical device so that the location of the appropriate replacement device is visible within the blueprint simultaneously with the alert.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors in the healthcare environment utilize ultrasound technology, infrared technology, or radio-frequency identification technology.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the alert indicates a name of the first clinical device, the location of the first clinical device, and a problem associated with the first clinical device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the status of the first clinical device is one of:

in use and functioning, not in use and capable of functioning, not in use and requires maintenance, in use and requires maintenance, in use and not functioning, or not in use and not able to function.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the location of the at least one replacement clinical device is determined based on proximity of the replacement clinical device to the patient.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the location of the at least one replacement clinical device is determined based on proximity of the replacement clinical device to a location of the clinician.