Medical identification system and method of identifying individuals, medical items, and associations therebetween using same

• US 8,662,388 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ICU Medical Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hospira Incorporated (Pfizer Inc.)
• Inventors: Belkin, Anatoly S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marshall, Christle
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Claude J
• Application Number:
  US13/290,254
• Publication Number:
  US 20120111938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 705/2, 705/3, 349/86
• US Class Current: 235/380
• 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

An assembly and method of identifying and visually associating individuals and medical equipment includes a computing device having a software algorithm that determines a unique combination of one or more human cognitive identifiers to avoid confusion and displays the determined selection on an electronic skin located on the individual or medical equipment so that identities and associations amongst individuals and equipment can be understood readily.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a patient in a medical facility, the steps comprising:

Sorting with an algorithm patient information received by a computing device;

Identifying similarities of patient attributes;

Selecting a combination of human cognitive identifiers associated with a patient with the algorithm in software of the computing device such that the selected combination of human cognitive identifiers has no similarity to identifiers of other patients having similar attributes;

Placing the combination of human cognitive identifiers on at least one medium to identify the patient; and

Placing the same human cognitive identifiers on a plurality of medical devices associated with the patient.

2. The method of identifying a patient of claim 1 wherein the combination of human cognitive identifiers are selected from a group consisting of shapes, colors, fonts, line pattern, icon, shading, symbols, background and border.

3. The method of identifying a patient of claim 1 wherein the combination of human cognitive identifiers are selected by the algorithm in software of the computing device by identifying attributes of a plurality of patients and selecting the combination of identifiers based on the attributes of the plurality of patients.

4. The method of identifying a patient of claim 1 wherein the medium is selected from the group consisting of a wrist band, badge, electronic skin, electronic medical record and prescription label.

5. The method of identifying a patient of claim 1 wherein the medium is an electronic skin on a medical device that is in communication with the computing device.

6. The method of identifying a patient of claim 5 wherein the electronic skin is electrically connected to the computing device to provide an electrical communication path.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing device is selected from the group consisting of a central processing unit, a controller, a remote controller, a hand held device, a wired scanning device, a wireless scanning device, a barcode reader, and a radio frequency identifier.

8. The method of identifying a patient of claim 1 wherein identifiers are placed on a plurality of medium.

9. The method of identifying a patient of claim 8 wherein the computing device is electrically and operatively connected to each device that places the combination of identifiers on the plurality of medium.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of medium are a plurality of electronic skins.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of electronic skins are associated with a plurality of medical devices such that each medical device has a unique identifier.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of electronic skins are associated with a plurality of caregivers such that each caregiver has a unique identifier.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of electronic skins are associated with a plurality of patients such that each patient has a unique identifier.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the plurality of medical devices are associated with a single patient.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the plurality of caregivers are associated with a single patient.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the plurality of electronic medical devices are associated with a single caregiver.

17. A medical identification assembly comprising:

a computing device having software with an algorithm that;

sorts through information associated with patients and caregivers;

identifies similarities of patient and caregiver attributes;

and determines a combination of identifiers associated with a patient or a caregiver;

a medical device associated with the patient or caregiver wherein the combination of identifiers has no similarity to identifiers of other patients or caregivers having similar attributes;

an electronic skin on the medical device and in communication with the computing device; and

wherein said electronic skin generates the combination of identifiers in response to a control signal from the computing device to indicate that the medical device and the patient or caregiver are associated.

18. A medical identification assembly comprising:

a computing device having software with an algorithm that

sorts information associated with a patient or caregiver;

identifies similarities of patient or caregiver attributes;

and determines a unique combination of human cognitive identifiers associated with a patient wherein the combination of identifiers has no similarity to identifiers of other patients having similar attributes;

a first medical device associated with and connected to the patient;

a second medical device associated with and connected to a caregiver; and

an electronic skin on each of the first medical device and the second medical device, the electronic skin being in communication with the computing device and in response to a control signal from the computing device generating the combination of identifiers on each of the first medical device and the second medical device to indicate that the patient and the caregiver are associated.