Electronic Patient Monitoring System and Method
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:
- a central computer configured to store and execute program code to monitor and track observations of patients within an observer'"'"'s predetermined proximity to patient within a determined time interval;
an observer transmitter/receiver (T/R) module configured to be attached to or carried by the observer and to communicate with the central computer;
an identification device configured to be attached to the patient and to communicate at least a proximity of the identification device and can include patient information to the observer T/R; and
at least one workstation configured to communicate with the central computer to receive information on the proximity of each patient to the observer T/R and observation check within the predetermined time interval.
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Abstract
An electronic patient monitoring system that includes a not easily removable patient identification and monitoring device, an observer transmitter/receiver device to communicate with the not easily removable patient identification and monitoring device when within a specified visual range of each other within a predefined time interval, and a central computer system including, at least, a computer processor, communications components and system software to communicate with the observer transmitter/receiver device at specified/predetermined time intervals to receive observer- and patient-specific information.
44 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a central computer configured to store and execute program code to monitor and track observations of patients within an observer'"'"'s predetermined proximity to patient within a determined time interval; an observer transmitter/receiver (T/R) module configured to be attached to or carried by the observer and to communicate with the central computer; an identification device configured to be attached to the patient and to communicate at least a proximity of the identification device and can include patient information to the observer T/R; and at least one workstation configured to communicate with the central computer to receive information on the proximity of each patient to the observer T/R and observation check within the predetermined time interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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a. activating a tablet with an active Bluetooth or Bluetooth low-energy transmitter/receiver (T/R) and receiving in the tablet a listing of pre-assigned patients and a patient observation time schedule; b. observing one of the pre-assigned patients and receiving in the tablet patient-specific information from an active Bluetooth or Bluetooth low-energy transmitter associated with the observed patient; c. sending the received patient-specific information from the tablet to a central computer including a time of observation of the one of the pre-assigned patients; d. determining whether any observation times in the schedule have been missed for any of the pre-assigned patients and, if so, sending alerts to at least a responsible observer and a nurses'"'"' workstation and logging the missed observation for each determined missed observation; e. determining whether there are more patients to be observed in the listing of pre-assigned patients and, if so, repeating steps b, c and d; and f. deactivating the tablet. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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a. activating a tablet with an active Bluetooth or Bluetooth low-energy transmitter/receiver (T/R) and receiving in the tablet a listing of pre-assigned patients and a patient observation time schedule; b. observing one of the pre-assigned patients and receiving in the tablet patient-specific information from an active Bluetooth or Bluetooth low-energy transmitter associated with the observed patient; c. sending the received patient-specific information from the tablet to a central computer including a time of observation of the one of the pre-assigned patients; d. determining whether any observation times in the schedule have been missed for any of the pre-assigned patients and, if so, sending alerts to the observer, at least a responsible observer and a nurses'"'"' workstation and logging the missed observation for each determined missed observation; e. collecting in the central computer patient location information from at least one fixed position T/R or a positioning system; f. calculating in the central computer inter-patient distances based on the patient location information; g. determining in the central computer whether any of the calculated inter-patient distances are less than a predetermined allowed minimum distance and, if any of the calculated inter-patient distances are less than a predetermined allowed minimum distance, sending an alert to an observer tablet and a nurses'"'"' workstation; h. determining in the central computer whether the predetermined allowed minimum inter-patient distance has been restored and, if the predetermined allowed minimum inter-patient distance has been restored, deactivating the alarm; i. determining in the central computer whether to continue collecting in the central computer patient location information from the at least one fixed position T/R or the positioning system and, if it is determined to continue collecting the information, repeating steps e-i; j. determining whether there are more patients to be observed in the listing of pre-assigned patients and, if there are more patients to be observed, repeating steps b-d; and k. deactivating the tablet. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification