SYSTEM AND METHOD TO SCHEDULE RESOURCES IN DELIVERY OF HEALTHCARE TO A PATIENT

• US 20090089092A1
• Filed: 09/26/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Johnson, Christopher, Cuddihy, Paul, Weisenberg, Jenny M., Toledano, David, Akbay, Kunter, Dulgeroglu, Onur
• Granted Patent: US 8,027,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/00 ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance
• 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 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method to schedule resources in delivery of healthcare to a series of patients is provided. The method comprises the steps of identifying an availability of the series of resources to deliver the healthcare to each patient; calculating a predicted duration to deliver the healthcare to each patient; calculating a schedule including a block of time dependent on the predicted duration for each resource to deliver healthcare to the patient, the block of time including a start time and an end time; calculating a confidence level in the schedule, the confidence level including a probability that one or more of the resources will not be available for the block of time of the schedule or calculating a likelihood that one or more resources will be available for the block of time in the schedule; and outputting the schedule and the confidence level in the schedule for display.

Claims

1. A method to schedule a plurality of resources in delivery of healthcare to a plurality of patients, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying an availability of one or more of the resources to deliver the healthcare to each of the plurality of patients;

calculating a predicted duration to deliver the healthcare to each of the patients;

calculating a schedule including at least one block of time dependent on the predicted duration for at least one of the plurality of resources to deliver healthcare to one or more of the patients, the at least one block of time including a start time and an end time;

calculating a confidence level in the schedule, the confidence level including at least one of a probability that the at least one resource will not be available for the at least one block of time of the schedule, or calculating a likelihood that the at least one resource will be available for at least one block of time in the schedule; and

outputting the schedule and the confidence level in the schedule for illustration in a display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the confidence includes creating a cumulative probability density function generated from a historical data of availability of one or more of the plurality of resources in delivery of healthcare.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising receiving a desired range of confidence, wherein the step of calculating the schedule includes generating the schedule having the confidence level within the desired range of confidence.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting the schedule and the confidence level includes outputting a first schedule and a first confidence level in the first schedule dependent on a current data of the plurality of the resources, and outputting a second schedule and a second confidence level in the second schedule dependent on a change to the first schedule.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence level is in one of the start time of the at least one block of time or in the end time of the at least one block of time.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising the step of identifying at least one block of time of scheduling of the plurality of resources as a critical path of the schedule, the step of identifying the critical path dependent on one or more of a number of interdependencies of the scheduling of the at least one resource with others of the least one resource, or the confidence level of the at least one resource being available for at least one block of time in the schedule of the plurality of the resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the least one resource includes one the group comprising a physician, a clinician, a technician, a nurse, an imaging system, a wheel chair, a bed, a room, or a department in a care facility.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting the display includes outputting graphic representations representative of confidence level in one or more blocks of time of the schedule of the plurality of the resources.

9. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising the step of tracking a biometric data of the patient, wherein the step of calculating the confidence level in the schedule depends on the biometric data, the biometric data is selected from the group of parameters comprising a blood pressure reading, a pulse, a respiratory rate, an electrocardiogram data, or a consciousness.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking a location of one or more of the plurality of resources or at least one of the plurality of patients via an optical tracking system operable to perform computer-aided recognition of an acquired digital image of the one or more of the plurality of resources.

11. An article of manufacture in combination with a plurality of resources in delivering healthcare to a plurality of patients, the article of manufacture comprising:

at least one machine readable medium; and

a plurality of computer readable instructions stored on the at least one machine readable medium for execution by a processor, the plurality of computer readable instructions representative of the following steps;

identifying an availability of one or more of the plurality of resources to deliver the healthcare to each of the plurality of patients,

calculating a predicted duration to deliver the healthcare to each of the patients,

calculating a schedule including at least one block of time dependent on the predicted duration for each the plurality of resources to deliver healthcare to one or more of the patients, the at least one block of time including a start time and an end time,

calculating a confidence level in the schedule, the confidence level including at least one of a probability that at least one of the resources will not be available for the at least one block of time of the schedule, or calculating a likelihood that at least one of the resources will be available for at least one block of time in the schedule, and

outputting the schedule and the confidence level in the schedule for illustration in a display.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the step of calculating the confidence includes creating a cumulative probability density function generated from a historical data of availability of one or more of the plurality of resources in delivery of healthcare to the plurality of patients.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 11, the plurality of computer readable instructions further representative of the steps of receiving a desired range of confidence, wherein the step of calculating the schedule includes generating the schedule having the confidence level within the desired range of confidence.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the step of outputting the schedule and the confidence level includes outputting a first schedule and a first confidence level in the first schedule dependent on a current data of the plurality of the resources, and outputting a second schedule and a second confidence level in the second schedule dependent on a change to the first schedule.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the confidence level is in one of the start time of the at least one block of time or in the end time of the at least one block of time.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 11, the plurality of computer readable instructions further representative of the step of identifying at least one block of time of scheduling of the plurality of resources as a critical path of the schedule, the step of identifying the critical path dependent on one or more of a number of interdependencies of the scheduling of the at least one resource with others of the least one resource, or the confidence level of the at least one resource being available for at least one block of time in the schedule of the plurality of the resources.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the step of outputting the display includes outputting graphic representations representative of confidence level in one or more blocks of time of the schedule of the plurality of the resources.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 11, the plurality of computer readable instructions further representative of the steps of receiving a biometric data of the patient, wherein the step of calculating the confidence level in the schedule depends on the biometric data, the biometric data is selected from the group of parameters comprising a blood pressure reading, a pulse, a respiratory rate, an electrocardiogram data, a measure of activity, chemical sensing, image-derived measures, or a consciousness of the at least one patient.