Method and system for medical alarm monitoring, reporting and normalization

• US 7,671,733 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2007
• Issued: 03/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emergin Incorporated (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Weiss, David, Crooks, Adrian, Sierra, Juan, McNeal, Michael, Brezina, Mark, Souders, Axel
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl; Daniel
• Application Number:
  US11/709,002
• Publication Number:
  US 20070229249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.12, 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/517, 340524-525, 340/501, 340/506, 340521-522, 340/541, 340/552, 340/555, 340/556, 340/565, 340/567, 340/10.1, 340/10.5, 340/10.51, 340/10.52
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

A system for monitoring and reporting medical alarms includes an alarm messenger for receiving an alarm signal from monitored equipment. The alarm signal includes information to enable determination of the location of the monitored equipment. The alarm messenger outputs an alarm messenger signal including the information. A database includes a master association table stored in the database. A central server receives the alarm signal, utilizes the information from the alarm signal to access the master association table to determine alarm information and, in response to the alarm information, notifies the appropriate staff of an alarm condition.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and reporting medical alarms comprising:

an alarm messenger which receives, from monitored equipment, an alarm signal including information indicative of a location of the monitored equipment and outputs an alarm messenger signal including the information, the alarm messenger signal including a text tag and an image tag, the alarm messenger signal as first transmitted from the alarm messenger having an empty attribute for the image tag, the alarm messenger sending the text portion of the alarm messenger signal with an expected image instruction,

a central server which receives the alarm messenger signal from the alarm messenger and sends an alert in response thereto;

a database, a master association table stored in said database, said central server receiving said alarm messenger signal, utilizing the information from said alarm messenger signal to access said master association table to determine alarm information and, in response to said alarm information, notifying appropriate staff of an alarm condition.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said central server date stamps each alarm messenger signal received, creates a log of each alarm messenger signal stored in said database, receives alarm response information from the alarm messenger, date stamps the response information and stores the response information in the log.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the alarm messenger determines a placeholder for the image tag and indicates to the central server the size of the image to follow.

4. A system for monitoring and reporting medical alarms comprising:

an alarm messenger which receives an alarm signal from monitored equipment, said alarm signal including information indicative of a location of the monitored equipment, said alarm messenger outputting an alarm messenger signal, including the information, said alarm messenger signal including a text tag and an image tag, the alarm messenger signal as first transmitted from the alarm messenger to a central server has an empty attribute for the image tag, the alarm messenger sending the text portion of the alarm message signal with an expected image instruction to the central server as the alarm signal, the central server transmitting the alarm signal to an appropriate staff.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the alarm messenger determines an appropriate placeholder for the image tag and indicates to the central server the size of the image to follow.

6. A system for monitoring and reporting medical alarms, the system comprising:

an alarm messenger which receives alarm signals from a plurality of patient monitoring equipment which monitor a plurality of patients for medical alarm situations and generate the alarm signals, each alarm signal being in an equipment specific format and including information identifying a medical alarm situation that triggered the alarm signal, a location of the equipment sending each alarm signal, and an identifier of the equipment sending each alarm signal;

a central server which;

receives the alarm signals from the alarm messenger,

translates the information included in the alarm signals to a generic format,

determines a location of the monitor equipment which generated each alarm signal,

determines a response and identifies staff to respond to each alarm signal, and

transmits response instructions and location information to the identified staff.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the central server includes a master association table which maps equipment identification information, patient identification information, bed identification information, room identification information and staff identification information.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said master association table includes rules governing a method in which the identified staff is notified regarding the alarm situation, the rules being a function of two or more of the equipment identification information, the patient identification information, the bed identification information the room identification information, alarm sensitivity and the staff identification information.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the central server determines a predefined location to which the equipment is assigned;

and produces an alarm if the location of the monitored equipment is not the same as the predefined location.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising an orchestrator, the orchestrator communicating with the central server, the central server sending each alarm signal to the orchestrator, and the orchestrator sending a signal to the central server to authorize processing of the alarm signal as a function of a sensitivity of the alarm signal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the decision to authorize the central server to send the alarm signal is manually made.

12. The system of claim 6, further comprising an assignments table storing information regarding assignments of at least one of equipment and staff to at least one of a time period, a bed, and a physical location.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising an assignment templates table storing an index of each of the assignments stored in the assignment table, the central server modifying the assignments by amending the assignments tables by utilizing the assignment templates table to access the desired assignments table.

14. The system of claim 13, further including:

an orchestrator, the orchestrator communicating with the central server, the central server sending the alarm information to the orchestrator, and the orchestrator sending a signal to the central server to authorize processing of an alarm signal as a function of a sensitivity of an alarm signal; and

wherein said orchestrator provides a graphical user interface for an operator to input modifications to assignments to the server for operation thereon by the server.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the central server activates an assignment in response to a manual input from the orchestrator.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the central server activates assignments utilizing the assignment template to select the assignment to be activated from the assignments table.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a scheduler for causing the central server to activate an assignment in response to a predetermined schedule.

18. The system of claim 6, further comprising a location-based application compatible device assigned to at least one staff member;

a database in the central server storing at least one zone corresponding to geographical locations within a monitored facility;

the central server monitors the location based compatible device to determine the physical location of the closest at least one staff member to the equipment generating the alarm signal and notifying a closest member of the staff of the alarm condition.

19. The system of claim 6, further comprising a location-based enabled tag affixed to at least one equipment;

a database in the central server storing at least one zone within which the equipment is permitted to be located;

the central server sending out an alarm if the equipment leaves the permitted zone.

20. The system of claim 6, further comprising a location based application compatible device assigned to at least one equipment;

a database of the central server storing one or more zones corresponding to geographical locations within a monitored facility;

the central server monitoring the location base compatible device to determine the physical location of the equipment.

21. The system of claim 6, further comprising a location based application compatible device assigned to at least one staff member;

a database of the central server storing at least one zone corresponding to a geographical location within the monitored facility and a pre-determined zone in which the at least one staff member is entitled to be present;

the central server sending out an alarm if the at least one staff member leaves the permitted zone.