Medical examination system

• US 20020152107A1
• Filed: 07/05/2001
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ito, Naoyuki, Mifune, Yoshiteru
• Granted Patent: US 7,080,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• 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 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

In an on-site medical examination, an appointment is made from a work office in order to shorten the entire medical examination time of the patients and the order and the route can be shown at the medical examination site. The scheduler includes a waiting queue for individual medical examination items and a waiting queue for individual patients. The efficiency of the medical examination is achieved by communicating by wireless displays carried by patients at the medical examination site and by giving individual guidance concerning the places to go at the site.

Claims

1. A medical examination system comprising:

a plurality of wireless display devices that have a display part and a communication part held by each patient waiting for a medical examination; and

a server including a plurality of virtual reality displays corresponding to said respective wireless display devices, a wireless communication means for communicating, and a scheduler of medical examination appointments, wherein said scheduler includes;

a waiting queue means for individual medical examination items for forming waiting queues for each of a plurality of medical examination items and sequentially queueing the medical examination appointments of the patients, and a waiting queue means for individual patients for forming waiting queues for each patient and sequentially queueing medical examination items for which appointments are to be made,

said scheduler includes means for making a first appointment for one of said medical examination items so that the time when the patient can receive a medical examination is calculated to start at an earliest possible time on said medical examination items which are registered in said waiting queue means for individual patients and in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items, and

said scheduler includes means for making at least a second appointment for another of said medical examination items so that the time when the patient can receive a medical examination is calculated to start at an earliest possible time after the first appointment which has been previously confirmed with respect to remaining queues of said waiting queue means for individual medical items, and the second appointment time is calculated to start at an earliest possible time on said medical examination items which are registered in said waiting queue means for individual patients and in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items;

wherein said server includes means for forming information concerning medical examination guidance including an individual medical examination order, a starting time and an order of medical examination items based on said waiting queue means for individual patients and said waiting queue means for medical examination items, on one of said virtual reality displays of said server for respective patients, and

wherein said wireless display devices display guidance relating to a medical examination route to individual patients via said wireless communication means of said server.

2. The medical examination system according to claim 1,

wherein said scheduler includes means for maintaining an unconfirmed state of an entire appointment process in case an interval between a starting time of the first appointment and a completion time of an appointment for a last medical examination item becomes at least equal to a predetermined amount of time and one of said medical examination items starts with an empty queue time period and means for changing the empty queue time period to a void queue time period that cannot be utilized again, and

means for repeating an appointment process and means for confirming the entire appointment process when an interval between the starting time of the first appointment and the completion time of the appointment for said last medical examination item becomes less than the predetermined amount of time and a time period for said first medical examination item does not start from an empty queue time period.

3. The medical examination system according to claim 2, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

4. The medical examination system according to claim 1,

wherein said scheduler includes means for determining a condition where no confirmation is given from a patient during a predetermined time period before an appointment time of one of said medical examination items of the waiting queue means for individual patients corresponding to patient who applied for cancellation of a medical examination appointment and for determining a condition where a patient previously applied for cancellation, said scheduler further includes means for eliminating the patient from said waiting queue means for individual patients and moving all patients who have been queued in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items to an empty queue so that reappoints become possible for this time and means for providing notices of cancellation to patients who have not made appointments and means for providing notices of change of appointments are given to patients who have already made appointments.

5. The medical examination system according to claim 4, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

6. The medical examination system according to claim 1,

wherein said scheduler includes means for determining when a patient completes a medical examination for one of said medical examination items and for eliminating an entry related to the medical examination from said queue and means for determining when the patient does not complete a medical examination in a predetermined amount of time and for changing times of patients in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items to a next appointment time period that is available so as to be delayed while following the waiting queue means for individual patients.

7. The medical examination system according to claim 6, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

8. The medical examination system according to claim 1, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

9. The medical examination system according to claim 1, said medical examination system further comprises:

a personal computer installed in a medical examination site, wherein said personal computer comprises a communication means for communicating at close range with the wireless display device carried by the patient, a communication means for communicating with said server and a control means for outputting information relating to completion of the medical examination of the patient.

10. The medical examination system according to claim 1, said medical examination system further comprises:

a personal computer installed in a medical examination site, wherein said personal computer comprises a communication means for communicating at close range with the wireless display device carried by the patient, a communication means for communicating with said server and a control means for outputting information relating to completion of the medical examination of the patient.

11. A medical examination system comprising:

a plurality of wireless display devices that have a display part and a communication part held by each patient waiting for a medical examination; and

a server including a plurality of virtual reality displays corresponding to said respective wireless display devices, a wireless communication means for communicating, and a scheduler of medical examination appointments, wherein said scheduler includes;

a waiting queue means for individual medical examination items for forming waiting queues for each of a plurality of medical examination items and sequentially queueing the medical examination appointments of the patients, and a waiting queue means for individual patients for forming waiting queues for each patient and sequentially queueing medical examination items for which appointments are to be made,

said scheduler includes means for making a first appointment for one of said medical examination items so that the time when the patient can receive a medical examination is calculated to start at an earliest possible time on said medical examination items which are registered in said waiting queue means for individual patients and in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items, and

said scheduler includes means for making at least a second appointment for another of said medical examination items so that the time when the patient can receive a medical examination is calculated to start at an earliest possible time after the first appointment which has been previously confirmed with respect to remaining queues of said waiting queue means for individual medical items, and the second appointment time is calculated to start at an earliest possible time on said medical examination items which are registered in said waiting queue means for individual patients and in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items;

said scheduler further includes means for determining that a completion time for an appointment for one of said medical examination items is delayed for at least an average time required for the medical examination on said one of said medical examination items and means for utilizing an empty queue time period in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items so that a time for a next appointment is available for each of said medical examination items, said scheduler further includes means for representing a starting time as a leading queue when an empty queue time period exists within said queue and for representing a starting time when no empty queue time periods exists by the time immediately after the final patient completes a medical examination appointment so that the time is registered with said waiting queue means for individual patients and said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items by calculating the time so as to start from a time when an appointment is available in an earliest medical examination item,

wherein said server includes means for forming information concerning medical examination guidance including an individual medical examination order, a starting time and an order of medical examination items based on said waiting queue means for individual patients and said waiting queue means for medical examination items, on one of said virtual reality displays of said server for respective patients, and

wherein said wireless display devices displays guidance relating to a medical examination route to individual patients via said wireless communication means of said server.

12. The medical examination system according to claim 11,

wherein said scheduler includes means for maintaining an unconfirmed state of an entire appointment process in case an interval between a starting time of the first appointment and a completion time of an appointment for a last medical examination item becomes at least equal to a predetermined amount of time and one of said medical examination items starts with an empty queue time period and means for changing the empty queue time period to a void queue time period that cannot be utilized again, and

means for repeating an appointment process and means for confirming the entire appointment process when an interval between the starting time of the first appointment and the completion time of the appointment for said last medical examination item becomes less than the predetermined amount of time and a time period for said first medical examination item does not start from an empty queue time period.

13. The medical examination system according to claim 12, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

14. The medical examination system according to claim 11,

wherein said scheduler includes means for determining a condition where no confirmation is given from a patient during a predetermined time period before an appointment time of one of said medical examination items of the waiting queue means for individual patients corresponding to patient who applied for cancellation of a medical examination appointment and for determining a condition where a patient previously applied for cancellation, said scheduler further includes means for eliminating the patient from said waiting queue means for individual patients and moving all patients who have been queued in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items to an empty queue so that reappoints become possible for this time and means for providing notices of cancellation to patients who have not made appointments and means for providing notices of change of appointments are given to patients who have already made appointments.

15. The medical examination system according to claim 14, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

16. The medical examination system according to claim 11,

wherein said scheduler includes means for determining when a patient completes a medical examination for one of said medical examination items and for eliminating an entry related to the medical examination from said queue and means for determining when the patient does not complete a medical examination in a predetermined amount of time and for changing times of patients in said waiting queue means for individual medical examination items to a next appointment time period that is available so as to be delayed while following the waiting queue means for individual patients.

17. The medical examination system according to claim 16, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

18. The medical examination system according to claim 11, wherein said server includes means for allowing its database to be accessed from an external network.

19. A medical examination method comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of wireless display devices, having a display part and a communication part, to a patient waiting for a medical examination;

providing a server including a plurality of virtual reality displays corresponding to the respective wireless display devices, a wireless communication means for communicating, and a scheduler of medical examination appointments,

forming waiting queues for individual medical examination items, and

forming waiting queues for each patient,

making a first appointment for one of the medical examination items so that the time when the patient can receive a medical examination is calculated to start at an earliest possible time for the medical examination items which are registered in the waiting queue for individual patients and in the waiting queue for individual medical examination items and,

making at least a second appointment for another of the medical examination items so that the time when the patient can receive a medical examination is calculated to start at an earliest possible time after the first appointment which has been previously confirmed with respect to remaining queues of the waiting queues for individual medical items, and the second appointment time is calculated to start at an earliest possible time on the medical examination items which are registered in the waiting queue for individual patients and in the waiting queue for individual medical examination items;

forming information concerning medical examination guidance including an individual medical examination order, a starting time and an order of medical examination items based on the waiting queue for individual patients and the waiting queue for medical examination items, on one of the virtual reality displays of the server for respective patients; and

displaying guidance relating to a medical examination route to individual patients from the server.