RULE-DRIVEN SPECIMEN TRACKING AND MANAGEMENT
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- configuring a set of one or more rules within a specimen management system to define a route for an anatomical pathology specimen container having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the route includes two or more expected locations having RFID readers, and wherein the set of rules includes an expected time period for the anatomical pathology specimen container to travel between two of the expected locations on the route;
interrogating the RFID tag of the anatomical pathology specimen container with an RFID reader upon receiving the anatomical pathology specimen container at a location; and
storing a timestamp to the specimen management system to indicate the time and location of the anatomical pathology specimen container based on the interrogation.
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Abstract
Techniques are described for using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to track patient specimens throughout the collection and analysis of patient specimens. A series of RFID tags may be used to track the specimens starting with the collection of a patient'"'"'s tissue specimen at a surgery or examination room, through the process of preparing the specimens at a laboratory, to a specialist'"'"'s office where the specimens are analyzed, and eventually into storage where the left-over specimen materials may be archived. A database may be used to capture unique identifiers for the RFID tags and other information throughout the process.
92 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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configuring a set of one or more rules within a specimen management system to define a route for an anatomical pathology specimen container having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the route includes two or more expected locations having RFID readers, and wherein the set of rules includes an expected time period for the anatomical pathology specimen container to travel between two of the expected locations on the route; interrogating the RFID tag of the anatomical pathology specimen container with an RFID reader upon receiving the anatomical pathology specimen container at a location; and storing a timestamp to the specimen management system to indicate the time and location of the anatomical pathology specimen container based on the interrogation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system comprising:
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a specimen management system having a set of one or more rules, wherein the specimen management system presents a user interface to configure the set of rules to define a route for an anatomical pathology specimen container having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the route includes at least two locations within a medical facility; and an RFID station at each of the locations to interrogate the RFID tag of the anatomical pathology specimen container at the respective location, wherein the specimen management system applies the rules to automatically provide an alert upon determining, based on the interrogation of the RFID tag at one or more of the locations, that shipment of the anatomical pathology specimen container within the medical facility fails to comply with the route defined by the set of rules. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method comprising:
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configuring a set of one or more rules to define a time period between association of an anatomical pathology specimen container of a first type with a patient record within a specimen management system and association of an anatomical pathology specimen container of a second type with the patient record, wherein the anatomical pathology specimen container of the second type hold a specimen that is at least a portion of a specimen previously held by the anatomical pathology specimen container of the first type; and providing an alert when the specimen management system detects that the anatomical pathology specimen container of a second type has not been associated with the patient record within the time period. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A system comprising:
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an anatomical pathology specimen container of a first type having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag; an anatomical pathology specimen container of a second type having an RFID tag, wherein the set of anatomical pathology specimen container of the second type holds a specimen that is at least a portion of a specimen previously held by the anatomical pathology specimen container of the first type; a specimen management system having a set of one or more rules, wherein the specimen management system presents a user interface to configure the set of rules to define a time period in which the RFID tag for the anatomical pathology specimen container of the second type is expected to be programmed using information associated with the RFID tag for the anatomical pathology specimen container of the first type. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method comprising:
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configuring a set of one or more rules within a specimen management system to define an expected sequence of actions to be performed with respect to a type of tissue specimen; interrogating, at different locations within a medical facility, to retrieve information from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag of an anatomical pathology specimen container that contains a tissue specimen corresponding to the type of tissue specimen; storing the information for each of the interrogations to a patient record associated with the tissue specimen within the specimen management system; and providing an alert when the specimen management system determines, based on the information, that one or more actions within the expected sequence of actions has failed to occur. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A method comprising:
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checking in a patient at a patient intake location; associating the patient with an examination room; storing the association within an information management system; providing the patient with a patient identification article having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag; receiving the patient at an examination room; interrogating the RFID tag of the patient identification article at the examination room to obtain patient identification information; accessing the information management system using the patient identification information; and providing an alert when the examination room at which the patient is received does not correspond to the examination room with which the patient was associated. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification