Intelligent assignment, scheduling and notification scheme for task management

• US 20030149598A1
• Filed: 01/27/2003
• Published: 08/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Santoso, Nugroho Iwan, Rapaport, David
• Application Number:
  US10/351,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20030149598A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A system and method for intelligent assignment, scheduling and notification for better patient management is provided. The method includes registering at least one clinician along with a schedule of predetermined tasks and availability for the at least one clinician; registering at least one patient; assigning registered patients to the at least one registered clinician; generating an event task for the at least one registered clinician; determining if the at least one clinician is available; and if the at least one clinician is unavailable, assigning the event task to a next available registered clinician. The system will automatically route the event task, e.g., an alarm, with necessary information to a wireless device worn by the responsible clinician. Alarms could be generated by medical equipment, a medication and task scheduler, a central monitoring system, or triggered by abnormal test results.

Claims

1. A method for managing tasks, the method comprising the steps of:

registering at least one clinician along with a schedule of predetermined tasks and availability for the at least one clinician;

registering at least one patient;

assigning registered patients to the at least one registered clinician;

generating an event task for the at least one registered clinician;

determining if the at least one clinician is available; and

if the at least one clinician is unavailable, assigning the event task to a next available registered clinician.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of assigning a risk level to the at least one patient.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of assigning priority levels to the predetermined tasks.

4. The method as in claim 3, wherein the determining step further comprises the steps of:

determining if the priority level of the predetermined task the at least one clinician is performing is greater than a priority level threshold; and

if the priority level of the predetermined task is less than the threshold, waiting a predetermined time period and, if the priority level of the predetermined task is greater than the threshold, determining the at least one registered clinician is unavailable.

5. The method as in claim 3, further comprising the step of assigning priority levels to the event task.

6. The method as in claim 5, wherein the determining step further comprises the steps of:

determining if the priority level of the event task is greater than a priority level threshold; and

if the priority level of the event task is less than the threshold, waiting a predetermined time period and, if the priority level of the event task is greater than the threshold, assigning the event task to the clinician and reassigning at least one of the clinician'"'"'s predetermined tasks to another clinician.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein the assigning step is learning-based, rule-based, efficiency optimization-based or manual.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein the generating an event task step is initiated by a monitoring device.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein the generating an event task step is initiated by a maintenance task.

10. The method as in claim 1, wherein the generating an event task step is initiated by abnormal test results.

11. The method as in claim 1, wherein the assigning step includes wirelessly transmitting the event task to the at least one registered clinician.

12. The method as in claim 1, wherein the assigning step includes sending supporting data for completing the assigned task.

13. The method as in claim 1, wherein the generating an event task includes generating a test request for at least one patient and generating the event task based on results of the test.

14. The method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of acknowledging the assigned event task by the at least one clinician.

15. A system for managing tasks comprising:

an task assigner for assigning predetermined tasks to at least one clinician, the predetermined tasks being assigned based on a schedule of the at least one clinician and a plurality of patients;

an event-based monitor for generating event tasks; and

a transceiver for receiving generated event tasks, the event tasks being assigned by the task assigner based on the clinician'"'"'s schedule.

16. The system as in claim 15, wherein the event task includes supporting data for completing the event task.

17. The system as in claim 15, wherein the transceiver is a mobile device and receives the event tasks wirelessly.

18. The system as in claim 17, wherein the transceiver wirelessly transmits data to the task assigner.

19. The system as in claim 15, further comprising a registration station for registering the at least one clinician into the system.

20. The system as in claim 15, wherein the event task is initiated by a medical monitoring device.

21. The system as in claim 15, wherein the event task is initiated by a maintenance task.

22. The system as in claim 15, wherein the event task is initiated by abnormal test results.

23. The system as in claim 15, wherein the task assigner assigns priority levels to the predetermined tasks and, before assigning the event task to the at least one clinician, determines if the priority level of the predetermined task the at least one clinician is performing is greater than a priority level threshold, and if the priority level of the predetermined task is greater than the threshold, determines the at least one registered clinician is unavailable.

24. The system as in claim 23, wherein the task assigner assigns the event task to a next available clinician.

25. The system as in claim 15, wherein the task assigner assigns priority levels to the event task and, before assigning the event task to the at least one clinician, determines if the priority level of the event task is greater than a priority level threshold, and if the priority level of the event task is greater than the threshold, assigns the event task to the at least one clinician and reassigns at least one predetermined task to another clinician.

26. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for managing tasks, the method steps comprising:

registering at least one clinician along with a schedule of predetermined tasks and availability for the at least one clinician;

registering at least one patient;

assigning registered patients to the at least one registered clinician;

generating an event task for the at least one registered clinician;

determining if the at least one clinician is available; and

if the at least one clinician is unavailable, assigning the event task to a next available registered clinician.

27. A method for managing tasks, the method comprising the steps of:

registering a plurality of predetermined tasks,

registering at least one technician along with a schedule of availability for the at least one technician;

assigning registered tasks to the at least one registered technician;

generating an event task for the at least one registered technician;

determining if the at least one technician is available; and

if the at least one technician is unavailable, assigning the event task to a next available registered technician.