System and method for managing workflow

• US 7,796,045 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Jeffrey A., Spear, Steven E., Larson, Wendy R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tai T
• Application Number:
  US12/258,654
• Publication Number:
  US 20090051526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/572.8, 340/539.11, 340/539.12, 340/686.1, 340/686.6, 600/300, 600/515, 600/518, 705/8, 705/9
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• 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 and method for managing workflow is provided. The system includes one or more computer devices which execute workflow software to assign tasks to medical staff. The workflow software may be configured to assign tasks to persons on the medical staff based on a set of criteria including the person'"'"'s current location or zone, the locations or zones in which other uncompleted tasks are located, and whether the person has a particular pieced of medical equipment. The system may include portable wireless communication devices and an interactive voice recognitions (IVR) subsystem to permit persons on the staff to communicate information by voice to the computer devices via the portable wireless communication devices and to receive audio messages from the computer devices via the wireless communication devices. The workflow software may be configured to display a staff screen in which the displayed data is filtered by medical staff role and sorted by medical staff identification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing workflow including assigning tasks to medical staff in a healthcare facility, the method comprising

receiving information indicating that a person on the medical staff has completed an assigned task,

ascertaining the person'"'"'s location in the healthcare facility, and

assigning a new task to the person based on a set of criteria including the person'"'"'s location and including an amount of time that a task has remained uncompleted, wherein a task that is farther away from the person is assigned to the person as the new task if it has remained uncompleted for a threshold amount of time despite the fact that the person is closer to at least one other location having an associated task, and wherein the new task assigned to the person is a task that is closest in location to the person if the threshold amount of time has not elapsed for any tasks that are farther away from the person.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicating that the person on the medical staff has completed the assigned task comprises receiving information via an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving information via the IVR system comprises receiving voice information via a wireless communication device carried by the person.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving information via the IVR system comprises receiving voice information via a telephone of the healthcare facility.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein ascertaining the person'"'"'s location in the healthcare facility comprises ascertaining the person'"'"'s location based on a wireless signal received from a portable device carried by the person.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the portable device comprises a badge worn by the person.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein ascertaining the person'"'"'s location in the healthcare facility comprises associating the person'"'"'s location with a monitoring station at which the person enters the information indicating that the person has completed the assigned task.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of criteria includes whether the person is in possession of a particular type of medical equipment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of criteria includes a role that has been assigned to the person.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of criteria includes an amount of time that a patient or a piece of equipment has been waiting to be transported from one location to another.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein ascertaining the person'"'"'s location in the healthcare facility comprises receiving data regarding the person'"'"'s location from a locating and tracking system.

12. A computer-implemented method for managing workflow including assigning tasks to medical staff in a healthcare facility, the method comprising

receiving information indicating that a person on the medical staff has completed an assigned task,

ascertaining a first zone of the healthcare facility in which the person is located, and

assigning a new task to the person based on a set of criteria including whether the person has a piece of equipment needed to accomplish a particular task and including an amount of time that a task in a second zone of the healthcare facility has remained uncompleted, wherein the task that is in the second zone is assigned to the person as the new task if it has remained uncompleted for a threshold amount of time despite the fact that the person is in the first zone, and wherein the new task assigned to the person is a task that is within the first zone if the threshold amount of time has not elapsed for any tasks that are in the second zone.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the piece of equipment comprises a wheelchair.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein tasks that do not require use of the piece of equipment are excluded from being assigned to the person as the new task.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving information indicating that the person on the medical staff has completed an assigned task comprises receiving information via an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving information via the IVR system comprises receiving voice communications via at least one of a wireless communication device carried by the person, a telephone of the healthcare facility, or a computer devices having voice communication capability.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein ascertaining a first zone of the healthcare facility in which the person is located is based on a wireless signal received from a portable device carried by the person.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein ascertaining a first zone of the healthcare facility in which the person is accomplished by associating the person'"'"'s location with a monitoring station at which the person enters the information indicating that the person has completed the assigned task.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising designating areas of the healthcare facility as being a near area, a far area, and a very far area from the first zone and assigning different wait time thresholds for the near, far, and very far areas in connection with assigning the new task to the caregiver.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a first wait time threshold is assigned to the near area, a second wait time threshold longer than the first time threshold is assigned to the far area, and a third wait time threshold longer than the second time threshold is assigned to the very far area.