Method and system for facilitating automated navigation in a healthcare environment

• US 8,334,767 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2009
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Jain, Rachit, Saptharishi, Ramkumar, Jain, Monika
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T
• Application Number:
  US12/634,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20100176941A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.13, 340/539.26, 3405721-5727, 340/573.4, 701206-213, 701/439, 701/466, 701/469
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5403 Dog having a dog
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/8216 Tampering detector
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/8973 Mounting aids, guides and assistors

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating automated navigation in a healthcare facility. The navigation system comprises: a healthcare information system configured to have access to at least patient information, healthcare resource information and healthcare facility information; and an identification device provided to a patient in the healthcare facility, configured to communicate at least the current location of the patient to the hospital information system. The identification device and the healthcare information system interact with each other for generating and providing at least navigation information to the patient.

Claims

1. A system for assisting a patient in navigating within a healthcare environment, the system comprising:

a healthcare information system configured to have access to at least patient information, healthcare resource information and healthcare facility information; and

an identification device configured to be provided to a patient in the healthcare facility, and further configured to communicate at least a current location of the patient to the hospital information system, the identification device comprising a memory, and the memory of the identification device configured to store a healthcare facility map,

wherein the identification device and the healthcare information system are configured to interact with each other to generate and provide at least navigation information to the patient, and

wherein the identification device is configured to retrieve the healthcare facility map from its memory upon losing communication with the hospital information system.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the healthcare information system is configured to generate and communicate the healthcare facility map to the identification device.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the identification device is a configurable device configured to initiate the interaction by querying the healthcare information system for navigation information corresponding to a destination.

4. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the navigation information includes:

distance and direction to the destination from the current location of the patient, the destination being a desired healthcare resource or healthcare facility.

5. The system in accordance with claim 4, wherein the healthcare information system is configured to generate the navigation information with reference to the current location of the patient.

6. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the identification device includes a Radio frequency identification tag (RFID) based tracking device, Global positioning system (GPS) based tracking device, Infrared (IR) based tracking device and barcode based tracking device.

7. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the identification device further comprises a display configured to convey the navigation information to the patient.

8. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the identification device is further configured to communicate an emergency situation of the patient to the hospital information system.

9. The system in accordance with claim 8, wherein the healthcare information system is configured to identify a nearest emergency patient care room to the patient'"'"'s, current location and communicate the same to the patient.

10. The system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the healthcare information system is further configured to communicate the patient information to the nearest emergency room and establish a communication between the patient and emergency room.

11. The system in accordance with claim 10, wherein the healthcare information system is further configured to convey any relevant information corresponding to the destination to the identification device.

12. The system in accordance with claim 11, wherein the healthcare information system is a server configured to be associated with a database and a processor.

13. An automated navigation method in a healthcare environment wherein an identification device is provided to a patient in a healthcare facility of the healthcare environment, and wherein the identification device is configured to interact with a healthcare information system, store a healthcare facility map in a memory and identify a current location of the patient, the method comprising:

generating navigation information for the patient with reference to the current location of the patient;

communicating the navigation information to the identification device; and

retrieving the healthcare facility map from the memory of the identification device upon losing communication with the hospital information system.

14. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the identification device is configured to have a unique identification number specific to the patient.

15. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the identification device further comprises a password.

16. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the step of generating navigation information comprises:

accessing a database having patient information, healthcare resource information, healthcare facility information, and the healthcare facility map.

17. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the step of generating navigation information further comprises:

obtaining destination information, indicating the destination to which the patient needs to be navigated.

18. The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein the step of generating navigation information further comprises:

generating distance and direction for a patient to navigate to the destination.

19. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the step of communicating the navigation information to the identification device comprises:

communicating the navigation information to the identification in text, audio and image format.

20. A non-transitory machine readable, medium or media having recorded thereon instructions configured to instruct an apparatus comprising a server and an identification device for automatically navigating in a healthcare facility, wherein the identification device is provided to a patient in a healthcare facility, and wherein the identification device is configured to interact with the server and store a healthcare facility map in a memory of the identification device, the machine readable medium or media comprising:

a routine for obtaining the current location of a patient in a healthcare facility from the identification device;

a routine for generating navigation information to a destination, for the patient with reference to the current location of the patient;

a routine for communicating the navigation information to the identification device; and

a routine for retrieving the healthcare facility map from the memory of the identification device upon losing communication with the server.