Health unit assessment tool
First Claim
1. A normalized scoring method for a plurality of patient care departments of a health care facility, comprising:
- a. predetermining independently for each of plural health care departments what available patient receiving area scores to assign to different numbers of available patient receiving areas in a department;
b. determining how many patient receiving areas are available to receive patients in each of the plural health care departments;
c. determining from the number of available patient receiving areas and the predetermined available patient receiving area scores for each department an available patient-receiving-area component of a score for each said health care department;
d. predetermining for each of plural health care departments what scores to assign to different levels of staffing in the departments;
e. determining the level of staffing in each said health care department;
f. determining from the level of staffing and the predetermined staffing scores for each department a staffing level component of a score for each said health care department;
g. determining a score for each said health care department that is the sum of at least said available patient receiving areas component and said staffing level component; and
h. transmitting said score to a manager.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a normalized scoring method and apparatus for the patient care departments of a health care facility having more than one scored patient care department. The scoring method can be used, for example, to direct additional resources to departments that are less well staffed or have fewer available beds or other patient receiving areas than other departments, relative to need. For each scored health care department, scores are preassigned to different numbers of available beds or other patient receiving areas and to different staffing levels in the department. Different departments are independently scored, so the same number of available workers or the same number of available beds may be preassigned different scores in two different departments. An overall score is independently determined for each health care department by adding the patient receiving areas component and the staffing level component, and optionally other factors.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A normalized scoring method for a plurality of patient care departments of a health care facility, comprising:
-
a. predetermining independently for each of plural health care departments what available patient receiving area scores to assign to different numbers of available patient receiving areas in a department;
b. determining how many patient receiving areas are available to receive patients in each of the plural health care departments;
c. determining from the number of available patient receiving areas and the predetermined available patient receiving area scores for each department an available patient-receiving-area component of a score for each said health care department;
d. predetermining for each of plural health care departments what scores to assign to different levels of staffing in the departments;
e. determining the level of staffing in each said health care department;
f. determining from the level of staffing and the predetermined staffing scores for each department a staffing level component of a score for each said health care department;
g. determining a score for each said health care department that is the sum of at least said available patient receiving areas component and said staffing level component; and
h. transmitting said score to a manager. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A normalized scoring method for a plurality of patient care departments of a health care facility, comprising:
-
a. predetermining independently for each of plural health care departments what available patient receiving area scores to assign to different numbers of available patient receiving areas in a department;
b. determining how many patient receiving areas are available to receive patients in each of the plural health care departments;
c. determining from the number of available patient receiving areas and the predetermined available patient receiving area scores for each department an available patient-receiving-area component of a score for each said health care department;
d. predetermining independently for each of plural health care departments what scores to assign to different levels of staffing in a department;
e. determining the level of staffing in each said health care department;
f. determining from the level of staffing and the predetermined staffing scores for each department a staffing level component of a score for each said health care department; and
g. determining a score for each said health care department that is the sum of at least said available patient receiving areas component and said staffing level component. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A health care resource scoring apparatus for a health care facility having more than one department, said apparatus comprising:
-
a. a digital processor for processing input data and generating output data, said processor having an input to receive input data and an output for providing output data;
b. a first source of processor input data reflecting how many patient receiving areas are available in each of plural health care departments;
c. a second source of processor input data reflecting how many staff members are available to work in each of said plural health care departments;
d. a program operating in said processor for;
i. independently for each of said plural health care departments, determining from the number of available patient receiving areas a first component of a score, with more available patient receiving areas yielding a better score, ii. independently for each of said plural health care departments, determining from the number of available staff members a second component of a score, with more available staff members yielding a better score; and
iii. independently for each of said plural health care departments, determining a score for said health care department which is the sum of at least said first and second components; and
e. a common display for displaying output data representing the scores determined by said program for said plural health care departments.
-
Specification