Rapid visual impact patient identifier and method
First Claim
1. A patient identifier for rapid visual discernment of information relative to a patient comprising:
- a. a substrate with means on said substrate defining(1) a patient-specific segment comprising a numeric portion having two or more numbers associated with a patient wherein at least one of said numbers is a primary numeric character positioned at an outer edge of said patient identifier, and further comprising an alpha portion having two or more letters associated with a patient wherein at least one of said letters is a primary alpha character positioned at another outer edge of said patient identifier;
(2) a facility-specific segment representative of a health-care facility;
(3) a geochrome segment comprised of at least one color in combination with at least one geometric pattern, said geochrome segment being associated with a patient which, depending on the combination color and geometric pattern is representative of additional patient-specific information; and
(4) at least one treatment-specific segment on said identifier representative of a treatment-related procedure for the patient; and
b. means for mounting said identifier to another object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention involves a patient identifier processed and displayed on a printable medium and a method of generating the identifier. The identifier is generated from a block of identifying information in a health-care facility'"'"'s data base. It is structured in segments for rapid visual or tactile discernment of patient-specific information, treatment-specific information, and facility-specific information for a particular patient. The identifier takes the form of different symbols, alpha-numerics, and geochromes (color and shapes). Patient-specific information has a numeric portion of two or more numbers with at least one of the numbers being enlarged and positioned at an outer edge of the identifier, an alpha portion of two or more letters with at least one of the letters being enlarged and positioned at an opposite outer edge. Between the alpha and numeric portion is a geochrome segment made of one or more colors in combination with one or more shapes or one or more patterns. The configuration of the geochrome represents patient-specific triage information such as risk category and urgency of care. The identifier contains one or more symbols of a clearly discernible design which correlates to a medical procedure, to the body part involved, and to treatment alerts (such as allergies, drugs to be avoided, etc.). The method to generate the identifier utilizes the admission records, extracts data, checks against duplication with other identifiers, makes corrections if duplication is discovered, and generates the identifier.
98 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A patient identifier for rapid visual discernment of information relative to a patient comprising:
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a. a substrate with means on said substrate defining (1) a patient-specific segment comprising a numeric portion having two or more numbers associated with a patient wherein at least one of said numbers is a primary numeric character positioned at an outer edge of said patient identifier, and further comprising an alpha portion having two or more letters associated with a patient wherein at least one of said letters is a primary alpha character positioned at another outer edge of said patient identifier; (2) a facility-specific segment representative of a health-care facility; (3) a geochrome segment comprised of at least one color in combination with at least one geometric pattern, said geochrome segment being associated with a patient which, depending on the combination color and geometric pattern is representative of additional patient-specific information; and (4) at least one treatment-specific segment on said identifier representative of a treatment-related procedure for the patient; and b. means for mounting said identifier to another object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of creating, from admission records of a health-care facility, a rapidly discernible patient identifier for identifying a patient to treatment comprising the steps of:
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a. retrieving a patient'"'"'s last name; b. establishing a preliminary alpha code for said patient by identifying at least the first two letters of said last name and creating a primary alpha character by making a first letter of said at least two letters larger; c. retrieving a patient'"'"'s identifying number; d. establishing a preliminary numeric code for said patient by identifying at least two last numbers of said identifying number and creating a primary numeric character by making a last number of said at least two last numbers larger; e. assigning a final alpha-numeric code by conducting a duplicate check of said preliminary alpha code and said preliminary numeric code against alpha-numeric codes of other patients at the health-care facility to ensure against a duplication of said final alpha-numeric code; f. assigning additional patient-specific information to said identifier in the form of a geochrome; g. creating a data block of all information assigned to the identifier; h. printing the identifier from said data block such that said identifier to have a primary numeric character on an outer edge of said identifier, a primary alpha character on another outer edge of said identifier, and a geochrome on said identifier. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification