METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING AUTOMATED NAVIGATION IN A HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100176941A1
• Filed: 12/10/2009
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Saptharishi, Ramkumar, Jain, Rachit, Jain, Monika
• Granted Patent: US 8,334,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.130
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• 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 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5403 Dog having a dog
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/8216 Tampering detector
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/8973 Mounting aids, guides and assistors

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating automated navigation in a healthcare facility. The navigation system comprises: a healthcare information system configured to have access to at least patient information, healthcare resource information and healthcare facility information; and an identification device provided to a patient in the healthcare facility, configured to communicate at least the current location of the patient to the hospital information system. The identification device and the healthcare information system interact with each other for generating and providing at least navigation information to the patient.

Claims

1. A system for assisting a patient in navigating within a healthcare environment, the system comprising:

a healthcare information system configured to have access to at least patient information, healthcare resource information and healthcare facility information; and

an identification device configured to be provided to a patient in the healthcare facility, and further configured to communicate at least a current location of the patient to the hospital information system,

wherein the identification device and the healthcare information system are configured to interact with each other to generate and provide at least navigation information to the patient.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the healthcare information system is configured to generate and communicate an interactive healthcare facility map to the identification device.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identification device is a configurable device configured to initiate the interaction by querying the healthcare information system for navigation information corresponding to a destination.

4. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the navigation information includes:

distance and direction to the destination from the current location of the patient, the destination being a desired healthcare resource or healthcare facility.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the healthcare information system is configured to generate the navigation information with reference to the current location of the patient.

6. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identification device includes a Radio frequency identification tag (RFID) based tracking device, Global positioning system (GPS) based tracking device, Infrared (IR) based tracking device and barcode based tracking device.

7. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the identification device further includes:

a memory configured to store the healthcare facility map upon receiving the same from the hospital information system, and a display configured to convey the navigation information to the patient.

8. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identification device is configured to retrieve the healthcare facility map from its memory upon loosing communication with the hospital information system.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the identification device is further configured to communicate an emergency situation of the patient to the hospital information system.

10. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the healthcare information system is configured to identify a nearest emergency patient care room to the patient'"'"'s, current location and communicate the same to the patient.

11. A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the healthcare information system is further configured to communicate the patient information to the nearest emergency room and establish a communication between the patient and emergency room.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the healthcare information system is further configured to convey any relevant information corresponding to the destination to the identification device.

13. A system as claim in claim 12, wherein the healthcare information system is a server configured to be associated with a database and a processor.

14. An automated navigation method in a healthcare environment the method comprising:

providing an identification device to a patient in the healthcare facility, the identification device configured to identify current location of the patient;

generating navigation information for the patient with reference to the current location of the patient; and

communicating the navigation information to the identification device.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the step of providing identification device comprises:

configuring the identification device with a unique identification number specific to the patient.

16. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the step of providing identification device further comprises:

providing a password for the identification device.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the step of generating navigation information comprises:

accessing a database having patient information, healthcare resource information, healthcare facility information and an interactive healthcare facility map.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the step of generating navigation information further comprises:

obtaining destination information, indicating the destination to which the patient needs to be navigated.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the step of generating navigation information further comprises:

generating distance and direction for a patient to navigate to the destination.

20. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the step of communicating the navigation information to the identification device comprises:

communicating the navigation information to the identification in text, audio and image format.

21. A machine readable medium or media having recorded thereon instructions configured to instruct an apparatus comprising a server and an identification device for automatically navigating in a healthcare facility, the machine readable medium or media comprising:

a routine for obtaining the current location of a patient in a healthcare facility from an identification device provided to the patient;

a routine for generating navigation information to a destination, for the patient with reference to the current location of the patient; and

a routine for communicating the navigation information to the identification device.