Sanitization compliance monitoring system

• US 8,872,665 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: UltraClenz LLC (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Inventors: Snodgrass, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phung
• Application Number:
  US13/612,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20140070950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 776 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/539.12, 340/572.1, 340/539.11, 340/13.24, 340/573.5, 235/375
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/20 responsive to moisture
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/245 Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands
• 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 sanitization compliance monitoring system comprises care giver badges, patient bed beacons associated with patient beds, dispenser beacons associated with sanitization dispensers, and a central unit for wirelessly communicating with the badges.

Claims

1. A hygiene system comprising:

a patient bed having a detector for detecting the presence of a patient within the bed;

a bed beacon associated with a patient'"'"'s bed in a health care facility, the bed beacon periodically transmitting a beacon signal during times when the patient'"'"'s bed detector detects the presence of a patient within the bed using an antenna having a characteristic which changes depending on whether a patient is detected within the bed;

a user badge wearable by a healthcare worker which has at least two logic states, and which changes state from a first state indicating a hygiene compliance to a second state indicating patient exposure in response to the healthcare worker coming within a certain proximity of the bed beacon and detecting the beacon signal indicating the presence of a patient within the bed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector includes a pressure sensor in the bed.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is parasitic capacitance of the antenna.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the bed beacon transmits a bed occupancy change signal whenever there is a change in occupancy of the bed.

5. The system of claim 4, further including a monitoring unit which receives bed occupancy change signals and time stamped data indicating the time of a change of occupancy of the bed.

6. A hygiene dispenser system, comprising:

a dispenser for dispensing hygiene product;

a user badge wearable by a healthcare worker, said badge transmitting a signal;

a beacon which detects the signal transmitted by the user badge;

wherein the dispenser detects the presence of a user'"'"'s hands, and produces an activation signal, and determines whether the beacon has detected a signal transmitted by a user badge and in response dispenses hygiene product, but wherein the dispenser will inhibit dispensing of hygiene product if the beacon has not detected a signal transmitted by a user badge.