Method and system for advanced patient communication

• US 8,183,987 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2007
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eloquence Communications, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Patient Provider Communications Inc.
• Inventors: Traughber, Bryan James, Patak, Lance S., Morphopoulos, Thomas Demosthenes
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie
• Application Number:
  US11/778,974
• Publication Number:
  US 20080018436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,771 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/286.07
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/222 Personal calling arrangements or devices, i.e. paging systems selective calling systems and call receivers H04W84/00, H04W68/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A method and system for advanced patient communication have been disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises providing a patient communication device through which a patient communicates a first message from a hospital bed. The first message is received at a central processing server. The first message is processed to identify an urgency level of the message. One or more additional messages are generated based on the first message. The one or more additional messages are transmitted to specific health care provider devices of specific health care providers who are expected to respond to the patient.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing a patient communication device through which a patient communicates a first message from a hospital bed;

receiving the first message at a central processing server;

processing the first message to identify a first urgency level of the first message and a context of the first message;

generating one or more additional messages based on the first message; and

transmitting the one or more additional messages to specific health care provider devices of specific health care providers expected to respond to the patient, wherein the one or more additional messages are coded and routed to specific health care provider devices based on the context of the first message, a skillset and an availability associated with each specific health care provider, the first urgency level of the first message and a second urgency level, and

wherein the second urgency level is based on the first urgency level and a lapse in time between receiving the first message and responding to the first message.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising gathering and storing information related to responding to the patient, the information including time of request, the urgency level, responding health care professional, time of response, patient number, nurse number, doctor number, bed number, and treatment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating nurse metrics from the information; and

generating patient metrics from the information.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the patient communication device is a touch screen flat panel display.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the specific health care provider devices are mobile devices.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the information is automatically stored in a database that is searchable.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising translating the message of a first language generated from the patient communication device to a second language.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising customizing one or more displays of the patient communication device based on a specific condition of the patient.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising automatically prioritizing multiple messages from a plurality of patient communication devices according to pre-determined parameters.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising automatically generating interactive messages to the patient communication device and the specific health care provider devices to ensure predetermined treatment protocols are followed.

11. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, said plurality of instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to perform:

providing a patient communication device through which a patient communicates a first message from a hospital bed;

receiving the first message at a central processing server;

processing the first message to identify a first urgency level of the first message and a context of the first message;

generating one or more additional messages based on the first message; and

transmitting the one or more additional messages to specific health care provider devices of specific health care providers expected to respond to the patient, wherein the one or more additional messages are coded and routed to specific health care provider devices based on the context of the first message, a skillset and an availability associated with each specific health care provider, the first urgency level of the first message and a second urgency level, and

wherein the second urgency level is based on the first urgency level and a lapse in time between receiving the first message and responding to the first message.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, having stored thereon-additional instructions, said additional instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to further perform gathering and storing information related to responding to the patient, the information including time of request, the urgency level, responding health care professional, time of response, patient number, nurse number, doctor number, bed number, and treatment.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, having stored thereon-additional instructions, said additional instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to further perform:

generating nurse metrics from the information; and

generating patient metrics from the information.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the patient communication device is a touch screen flat panel display.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the specific health care provider devices are mobile devices.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the information is automatically stored in a database that is searchable.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, having stored thereon-additional instructions, said additional instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to further perform translating the message of a first language generated from the patient communication device to a second language.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, having stored thereon-additional instructions, said additional instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to further perform customizing one or more displays of the patient communication device based on a specific condition of the patient.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, having stored thereon-additional instructions, said additional instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to further perform automatically prioritizing multiple messages from a plurality of patient communication devices according to pre-determined parameters.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, having stored thereon-additional instructions, said additional instructions when executed by a computer, cause said computer to further perform automatically generating interactive messages to the patient communication device and the specific health care provider devices to ensure predetermined treatment protocols are followed.