Assistive technology for operating nursing homes and other health care facilities

• US 10,646,171 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2018
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: J Brasch Company LLC
• Original Assignee: J Brasch Company LLC
• Inventors: Brasch, John, Smith, Gordon
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Nabil H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eustaquio, Cal J
• Application Number:
  US16/159,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20190110762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/08 Elderly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/07 Home care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0257 Proximity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1126 using a particular sensing technique
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6889 Rooms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6891 Furniture
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6894 Wheel chairs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• 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 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A facility for coordinating the safety care of a person is described. The facility receives sensor output indicating that the person has departed a place of repose. In response to this receiving, the facility establishes an alarm identifying the person, accesses a set of on-duty caregivers, and applies one or more precedence rules to establish a precedence among at least a portion of the set of on-duty caregivers. Until a caregiver has accepted the alarm, for each caregiver in the established precedence, the facility: causes a mobile device carried by the caregiver to render a message notifying the caregiver of the alarm and soliciting the caregiver'"'"'s acceptance of the alarm; and allows the caregiver an interval of time of a first predetermined length in which to accept the alarm before proceeding to the next caregiver in the established precedence.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for coordinating the safety care of a person, comprising:

receiving sensor output indicating, based at least in part on one or more inference rules, that the person has departed a place of repose;

in response to the receiving, establishing an alarm identifying the person;

accessing a set of on-duty caregivers;

applying one or more precedence rules to establish a precedence among at least a portion of the set of on-duty caregivers, wherein at least some of the set of on-duty caregivers has an assigned area, wherein the precedence rules consider assigned areas of on-duty caregivers in establishing the precedence, and wherein the assigned areas of the caregivers are selected from the nodes of a tree hierarchy of areas of a physical facility, such that two of the caregivers in the established precedence of caregivers are assigned to two different nodes of the tree hierarchy corresponding to areas of different sizes that both contain the place of repose;

until a caregiver has accepted the alarm;

for each caregiver in the established precedence;

causing a mobile device carried by the caregiver to render a message notifying the caregiver of the alarm and soliciting the caregiver'"'"'s acceptance of the alarm; and

allowing the caregiver an interval of time of a first predetermined length in which to accept the alarm before proceeding to the next caregiver in the established precedence, wherein the one of the two caregivers that is earlier in the established sequence is assigned to a node corresponding to an area that is smaller than the area to which the node to which the other one of the two caregivers is assigned.

2. A method in a computing system for coordinating the safety care of a person, comprising:

receiving sensor output indicating, based at least in part on one or more inference rules, that the person has departed a place of repose;

in response to the receiving, establishing an alarm identifying the person;

accessing a set of on-duty caregivers;

applying one or more precedence rules to establish a precedence among at least a portion of the set of on-duty caregivers;

until a caregiver has accepted the alarm;

for each caregiver in the established precedence;

causing a mobile device carried by the caregiver to render a message notifying the caregiver of the alarm and soliciting the caregiver'"'"'s acceptance of the alarm;

allowing the caregiver an interval of time of a first predetermined length in which to accept the alarm before proceeding to the next caregiver in the established precedence;

determining that an interval of time of a second predetermined length has passed since the alarm was established without a caregiver notified of the alarm accepting the alarm, the second predetermined length being greater than the first predetermined length; and

in response to the determining, triggering an audible alarm near the place of repose.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least some of the set of on-duty caregivers has a last-known location, and wherein the precedence rules consider last-known locations of on-duty caregivers in establishing the precedence.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein at least some of the set of on-duty caregivers has a current location, and wherein the precedence rules consider current locations of on-duty caregivers in establishing the precedence.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the place of repose is a bed, chair, sofa, or wheelchair.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising, for a distinguished caregiver in the established precedence:

receiving an indication that the distinguished caregiver affirmatively declined to accept the alarm; and

in response to the received indication, proceeding to the next caregiver after the distinguished next caregiver in the established precedence before expiration of an interval of time of the first predetermined length.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein at least some of the set of on-duty caregivers has an assigned area, and wherein the precedence rules consider assigned areas of on-duty caregivers in establishing the precedence.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the assigned areas of the caregivers are selected from the nodes of a tree hierarchy of areas of a physical facility, such that two of the caregivers in the established precedence of caregivers are assigned to two different nodes of the tree hierarchy corresponding to areas of different sizes that both contain the place of repose.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accessing an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies alarm criteria for the person; and

determining that the sensor output matches alarm criteria specified by the accessed alarm configuration,

and wherein the establishing is in response to the determining.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accessing an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies an alarm mode for the person,

and wherein the causing is performed in response to the determining.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accessing an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies precedence rules for the person,

and wherein the applied precedence rules are the precedence rules specified by the alarm configuration.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising presenting a visual user interface for specifying precedence rules,

and wherein the applied preference rules are specified via the presented user interface.

13. A computer-readable medium not constituting a signal per se, the computer-readable medium storing contents that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions comprising:

receiving sensor output indicating, based at least in part on one or more inference rules, that a person has departed a place of repose;

in response to the receiving, establishing an alarm identifying the person;

accessing a set of on-duty caregivers;

applying one or more precedence rules to establish a precedence among at least a portion of the set of on-duty caregivers;

until a caregiver has accepted the alarm;

for each caregiver in the established precedence;

causing a mobile device carried by the caregiver to render a message notifying the caregiver of the alarm and soliciting the caregiver'"'"'s acceptance of the alarm;

allowing the caregiver an interval of time of a first predetermined length in which to accept the alarm before proceeding to the next caregiver in the established precedence;

determining that a distinguished caregiver declined an earlier alarm less than a threshold period of time ago; and

in response to the determining, omitting the distinguished caregiver from the portion of the set of on-duty caregivers among which the precedence is established.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the place of repose is a bed, chair, sofa, or wheelchair.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein at least some of the set of on-duty caregivers has at least one of an assigned area, a current location, or a last-known location, and wherein the precedence rules consider the at least one of an assigned area, a current location, or a last-known location in establishing the precedence.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the actions further comprise:

accessing an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies alarm criteria for the person; and

determining that the sensor output matches alarm criteria specified by the accessed alarm configuration,

and wherein the establishing is in response to the determining.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the actions further comprise accessing an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies an alarm mode for the person,

and wherein the causing is performed in response to the determining.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the actions further comprise accessing an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies precedence rules for the person,

and wherein the applied precedence rules are the precedence rules specified by the alarm configuration.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the actions further comprise presenting a visual user interface for specifying precedence rules,

and wherein the applied preference rules are specified via the presented user interface.

14. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing contents that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

receive sensor output indicating, based at least in part on one or more inference rules, that a person has departed a place of repose;

in response to the receiving, establish an alarm identifying the person;

access a set of on-duty caregivers;

apply one or more precedence rules to establish a precedence among at least a portion of the set of on-duty caregivers;

until a caregiver has accepted the alarm;

for each caregiver in the established precedence;

cause a mobile device carried by the caregiver to render a message notifying the caregiver of the alarm and soliciting the caregiver'"'"'s acceptance of the alarm;

allow the caregiver an interval of time of a first predetermined length in which to accept the alarm before proceeding to the next caregiver in the established precedence;

determine that a distinguished caregiver accepted an earlier alarm that has not yet been resolved; and

in response to the determining, omit the distinguished caregiver from the portion of the set of on-duty caregivers among which the precedence is established.

21. The system of claim 14 wherein the place of repose is a bed, chair, sofa, or wheelchair.

22. The system of claim 14 wherein at least some of the set of on-duty caregivers has at least one of an assigned area, a current location, or a last-known location, and wherein the precedence rules consider the at least one of an assigned area, a current location, or a last-known location in establishing the precedence.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the contents, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

access an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies alarm criteria for the person; and

determining that the sensor output matches alarm criteria specified by the accessed alarm configuration,

and wherein the establishing is in response to the determining.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the contents, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to access an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies an alarm mode for the person,

and wherein the causing is performed in response to the determining.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein the contents, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to access an alarm configuration specific to the person that specifies precedence rules for the person,

and wherein the applied precedence rules are the precedence rules specified by the alarm configuration.

26. The system of claim 14, wherein the contents, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to present a visual user interface for specifying precedence rules,

and wherein the applied preference rules are specified via the presented user interface.