System and Method for Association of Patient Care Devices to a Patient

• US 20140297310A1
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Collins, Williams F. Jr., Gallup, Michael D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,734,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00221 with wireless transmission of data, e.g. by infrared radiation or radiowaves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/256 having a database of accessory information, e.g. including context sensitive help or scientific articles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• 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: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A system and method for collecting, communicating, displaying, and/or analyzing data from multiple medical devices is disclosed. The system includes a local data collection module and a number of medical device adapters. The medical device adapters are coupled to respective medical devices via hardwired connections to receive data from the respective medical devices. The medical device adapters wirelessly transmit the data to the local data collection module. The local data collection module communicates the data received from the medical device adapters to an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system for automatic entry of at least some of the data in the electronic medical record of a patient associated with the medical devices.

Claims

1. A data communication module for use with a patient care device which has device data pertaining to operation of the device and that has patient data relating to a patient, the patient care device also having a port through which the device data and patient data is obtainable, the data communication module comprising

a controller,

a connector coupled to the controller and coupleable to the port of the patient care device to establish a wired connection between the patient care device and the data communication module,

a transmitter coupled to the controller and operable to transmit wireless signals which comprise information regarding the device data and the patient data, and

a location device that sends or receives at least one signal which is used to determine a location of the data communication module, and therefore, the location of the patient care device in a healthcare facility.

2. The data communication module of claim 1, wherein the location device comprises circuitry that is coupled to the controller.

3. The data communication module of claim 1, wherein the location device comprises a location tag coupled to a housing of the data communication module.

4. The data communication module of claim 1, wherein the location device comprises an ultrasound emitter, an ultrasound receiver, or an ultrasound transceiver.

5. The data communication module of claim 1, further comprising a module port that permits a hardwired connection to be made to the data communication module.

6. The data communication module of claim 5, wherein the module port is a different type of port from the port of the patient care device.

7. The data communication module of claim 6, wherein the port of the patient care device comprises an RS-232 port or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and the module port comprises an RJ-45 port.

8. The data communication module of claim 1, wherein the wireless signals are transmitted according to one of an 802.15.4 protocol and an ultrawide band protocol.

9. The data communication module of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to perform data filtering so that subsequent device data or patient data received from the patient care device in packets that are identical to previously received packets are not transmitted by the transceiver.

10. The data communication module of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is included as part of a transceiver that is coupled to the controller.

11. The data communication module of claim 1, further comprising a receiver coupled to the controller and operable to receive wireless signals.

12. The data communication module of claim 11, wherein the location device comprises an ultrasonic receiver and the controller is programmed so that in response to the receiver receiving an RF location signal, a timer is started, and in response to the ultrasonic receiver receiving an ultrasonic signal the timer is stopped so that the controller is able to determine a time between receipt of the RF signal and receipt of the ultrasonic signal.

13. The data communication module of claim 12, wherein the controller is programmed to transmit as one of the wireless signals, the time between receipt of the RF signal and receipt of the ultrasonic signal to another device.

14. The data communications module of claim 12, wherein the RF location signal and/or the ultrasonic location signal comprise the at least one signal which is used to determine a location of the data communication module.

15. The data communications module of claim 1, further comprising a disassociate input that is coupled to the controller and that is activated by a caregiver when the patient care device to which the data communications module is coupled is to be disassociated from the patient.

16. A method of associating a plurality of devices in a room with either a first patient in the room or a second patient in the room, the method comprising

providing time of flight or time of arrival data to an association computer, the association computer being operable to determine a distance to each device of the plurality of devices from a first reference point associated with the first patient and from a second reference point associated with the second patient based on the time of flight or time of arrival data,

in the association computer, associating any devices within a first predetermined distance from the first reference point with the first patient, and

in the association computer, associating any devices within a second predetermined distance from the second reference point with the second patient.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first and second predetermined distances are substantially equivalent.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first predetermined distance is different from the second predetermined distance.

19. A method of associating a plurality of devices in a room with either a first patient in the room or a second patient in the room, the method comprising

providing time of flight or time of arrival data to an association computer, the association computer being operable to determine a distance to each device of the plurality of devices from a first reference point associated with the first patient and from a second reference point associated with the second patient based on the time of flight or time of arrival data,

as among two like devices in the room, associating the like device that is closest to the first reference point with the first patient and associating a second of the like devices that is closest to the second reference point with the second patient,

obtaining data via an Ethernet of a healthcare facility from a remote computer, and

resolving ambiguities as to whether at least one device of the plurality of devices is associated with the first patient or the second patient based on the data obtained from the remote computer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the remote computer comprises part of at least one of an electronic medical records (EMR) system and an admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) system.