Secured medical sign-in

• US 7,756,726 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2003
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Thuerk, Keith A.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pauls; John A
• Application Number:
  US10/670,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20050071188A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,483 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 705/4, 705/1, 345/342, 359/40, 709/206, 725/35
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

A method for concealing displayed confidential information includes providing one or more publically accessible displays and one or more private displays, receiving confidential information, displaying at least a portion of the confidential information at the private display, and displaying at least a portion of the confidential information at the publically accessible display for an amount of time determined by an occurrence of an event where the event includes at least one of an expiration of a time period and a user request. The method can also include sending a notification signal where the notification signal can be sent to a health care professional and storing at least a portion of the confidential information. The method can also include concealing at least a portion of the confidential information at the publically accessible display where the concealing step is responsive to a user request.

Claims

1. A method for concealing displayed confidential patient information comprising the steps of:

providing a system including at least one publically accessible display for displaying confidential information of a patient and at least one private display for displaying the confidential information displayed by the publically accessible display, wherein the private display is accessible only to authorized health care personnel, wherein the at least one publically accessible display and at least one private display are connected through a network;

receiving patient identification information supplied by the patient from an input device connected to the publically accessible display;

retrieving patient information from a central data store based on the supplied patient identification information;

displaying the confidential information including the supplied patient identification information and the retrieved patient information at the publically accessible display for a predetermined time period, wherein the publically accessible display is disposed within a housing so that the confidential information is only viewable by the patient;

displaying the confidential information at the private display for review by the authorized health care personnel;

concealing the confidential information displayed at the publically accessible display upon expiration of the predetermined time period or upon a request of the patient, the concealing step including at least one of;

removing the confidential information from the publically accessible display;

covering the confidential information; and

presenting the information in a nonsensical format;

sending a notification signal to the authorized health care personnel indicating that the patient is present; and

storing at least a portion of the confidential information in a local data store for the patient to receive proper treatment.

2. A system for concealing displayed confidential patient information comprising:

at least one publically accessible display for displaying confidential information of a patient, the publically accessible display being disposed within a housing so that the confidential information is only viewable by the patient;

an input device for receiving the patient identification information supplied by the patient, the input device being connected to the publically accessible display;

a central data store from which patient information can be retrieved based on the supplied patient identification information;

at least one private display for displaying the confidential information displayed by the publically accessible display, wherein the private display is accessible only to authorized health care personnel, wherein the at least one publically accessible display and at least one private display are connected through a network;

a device for sending a notification signal to the authorized health care personnel indicating that the patient is present; and

a local data store for storing at least a portion of the confidential information for the patient to receive proper treatment;

wherein the confidential information including the supplied patient identification information and the retrieved patient information is displayed at the publically accessible display for a predetermined time period;

wherein the confidential information displayed at the publically accessible display is concealed upon expiration of the predetermined time period or upon a request of the patient;

wherein the confidential information is concealed by at least one of removing the confidential information from the publically accessible display, covering the confidential information, and presenting the information in a nonsensical format.

3. The system according to claim 2, further comprising at least one wireless transceiver for at least one of sending and receiving at least a portion of the confidential information.

4. A machine readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

providing a system including at least one publically accessible display for displaying confidential information of a patient and at least one private display for displaying the confidential information displayed by the publically accessible display, wherein the private display is accessible only to authorized health care personnel, wherein the at least one publically accessible display and at least one private display are connected through a network;

receiving patient identification information supplied by the patient from an input device connected to the publically accessible display;

retrieving patient information from a central data store based on the supplied patient identification information;

displaying the confidential information including the supplied patient identification information and the retrieved patient information at the publically accessible display for a predetermined time period, wherein the publically accessible display is disposed within a housing so that the confidential information is only viewable by the patient;

displaying the confidential information at the private display for review by the authorized health care personnel;

concealing the confidential information displayed at the publically accessible display upon expiration of the predetermined time period or upon a request of the patient, the concealing step including at least one of;

removing the confidential information from the publically accessible display;

covering the confidential information; and

presenting the information in a nonsensical format;

sending a notification signal to the authorized health care personnel indicating that the patient is present; and

storing at least a portion of the confidential information for the patient to receive proper treatment.