Automatic Identification for Spot Measurements
First Claim
1. A patient monitoring system for monitoring physiological functions of each of a plurality of patients, the system comprising:
- a plurality of identification devices, each associated with one of a patient or a clinician including;
an electronic identification code memory for storing an identification code corresponding to one of the patient or the clinician, anda body-coupled communication device for communicating the identification code; and
a medical device including;
a body-coupled communication device for reading respective communicated identification codes and automatically associating the medical device and measurement results with the identification codes;
a sensor for spot measuring a physiological function of each of a plurality of patients; and
a memory for storing results of the measurements and the identification codes.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A patient monitoring system (8) monitors physiological functions of a plurality of patients (12). Each clinician (10) and each patient (12) has an associated identification device (20, 22), which each includes an identification code corresponding to respective clinician and patient. Each identification device (20, 22) includes a respective body-coupled communication device (24, 26) for communicating the identification code to a medical device (14). The clinician (10) activates the medical device (14) which includes a body-coupled communication device (40) including an ID reader (42). The ID reader (42) scans the area to detect whether the clinician identification is present. After the clinician'"'"'s identification code is read, the medical device (14) is ready to take measurements. The clinician (10) takes the medical device (14) to the patient (12). The ID reader (42) scans the area to detect the patient identification code. The result of the measurement along with the patient identification code is stored in a medical device memory (56) and later transferred to a patient record in a hospital database (70).
34 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A patient monitoring system for monitoring physiological functions of each of a plurality of patients, the system comprising:
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a plurality of identification devices, each associated with one of a patient or a clinician including; an electronic identification code memory for storing an identification code corresponding to one of the patient or the clinician, and a body-coupled communication device for communicating the identification code; and a medical device including; a body-coupled communication device for reading respective communicated identification codes and automatically associating the medical device and measurement results with the identification codes; a sensor for spot measuring a physiological function of each of a plurality of patients; and a memory for storing results of the measurements and the identification codes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 7, 8)
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3. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the medical device further includes:
a medical device activator for triggering the clinician body-coupled communication device to transmit the electronic clinician identification code. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6)
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9. A method for monitoring a plurality of patients, comprising:
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assigning wireless identification devices to one of a patient or a clinician, which each identification device is encoded with an electronic identification code that uniquely identifies one of the patient or the clinician; automatically associating the wireless identification devices to a medical device which is linked to the patients; spot measuring a physiological function of each of the plurality of patients; and storing results of the measurements and the identification codes in a measurement memory. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A patient monitoring system for monitoring physiological functions of each of a plurality of patients, the system comprising:
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a clinician identification device including; an electronic clinician identification code memory for storing the clinician identification code, and a clinician body-coupled communication device for communicating the clinician identification code; a patient identification device including; an electronic patient identification code memory for storing a patient identification code, and a body-coupled communication device for communicating the patient identification code; and a medical device including; a medical device body-coupled communication device for reading respective communicated identification codes and automatically associating the medical device with the identification codes; a sensor for spot measuring a physiological function of each of a plurality of patients; a memory for storing results of the measurements and the identification codes; and a communication interface for transferring the stored data to a hospital database.
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18. A spot measurement device for measuring a physiological function of a plurality of patients, the device comprising:
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a sensor for measuring at least one physiological function; a body-coupled communication device which electronically receives patient identification codes contemporaneously with measuring the physiological function; and a memory for storing data indicative of the measured physiological function and contemporaneously determined patient identification codes. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification