Hygiene monitoring system

• US 7,408,470 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2006
• Issued: 08/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Wildman, Timothy D., Gallant, Dennis J., Hausman, Phill
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu; Julie
• Application Number:
  US11/339,378
• Publication Number:
  US 20060132316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 2005/1218 Table mounted; Dispensers integrated with the mixing tap
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A method is provided for monitoring hygiene compliance.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring hygiene compliance, comprising:

detecting an encounter between a person and a movable object,

determining whether the encounter results in contamination of the person,

generating an indication signal indicative of whether the person is contaminated, and transmitting at least a portion of the indication signal over a wireless communications channel.

2. A method of monitoring hygiene compliance, comprising:

detecting an encounter between a person and a movable object,

determining whether the encounter results in contamination of the person, and

generating an indication signal indicative of whether the person is contaminated, wherein the indication signal generates a visual indication.

3. A method of monitoring hygiene compliance, comprising:

detecting an encounter between a person and a movable object,

determining whether the encounter results in contamination of the person,

generating an indication signal indicative of whether the person is contaminated, and storing instances of information relating to encounters in a memory over time.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising monitoring encounters and indications and generating a second indication signal indicative of compliance with a predetermined policy.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting number of encounters information to a hospital billing system.

6. A method of monitoring hygiene compliance, comprising:

detecting an encounter between a person and a movable object,

determining whether the encounter results in contamination of the person,

generating an indication signal indicative of whether the person is contaminated, and monitoring changes in location of the person and the object.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining whether a change in location of a person or object results in contamination of the person or object.

8. A method of monitoring hygiene compliance of a person or movable object, the method comprising:

receiving information relating to a contamination zone,

receiving information uniquely identifying an item,

receiving information indicative of a location of the item,

receiving an item type indicator indicative of whether the item is a person or a movable object,

assigning a status of ‘

contaminated’

to the item if the location information indicates entry of the item into the contamination zone,

receiving information relating to a cleaning device,

evaluating the information relating to the cleaning device and the information relating to the item, including the item type indicator, to determine whether to change the status of the item,

storing instances of status information in a memory over time, and

evaluating stored instances of status information to determine compliance with a predetermined hygiene policy.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising assigning a status of ‘

decontaminated’

to the item based on the location of the item.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising assigning a status of ‘

decontaminated’

to the item based on information received from the cleaning device.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising assigning a status of ‘

decontaminated’

to the item if the location information indicates that the item is not in the contamination zone.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating an alert if the status of the item is ‘

contaminated’

.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising evaluating instances of status information periodically at preset time intervals.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating a compliance rating for the item based on the evaluating of stored instances of status information.

15. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions for monitoring hygiene executable by a computing device to:

access a predetermined hygiene policy,

receive usage information indicative of use of a cleaning device to clean an item,

receive identification information uniquely identifying an item,

receive location information indicative of a location of an item,

receive contact information indicative of an instance of contact between a first item and a second item,

evaluate the usage information, identification information, location information, and contact information to detect compliance or non-compliance with the hygiene policy, and

generate an output indicative of such compliance or non-compliance.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first item is a person and the second item is an object.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first item is a person and the second item is a person.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first item is an object and the second item is an object.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising storing the usage information, identification information, location information and contact information in memory and monitoring at least one of the usage information, identification information, location information and contact information over a period of time.

20. A method of monitoring hygiene compliance of a person and a movable object, the method comprising:

receiving information relating to a contamination zone,

receiving information uniquely identifying a person,

receiving information uniquely identifying a movable object,

receiving information indicative of a location of the person and the movable object,

assigning a status of ‘

contaminated’

to the person if the location information indicates entry of the person into the contamination zone,

assigning a status of ‘

contaminated’

to the movable object if the location information indicates entry of the person into the contamination zone,

receiving information relating to a cleaning device,

evaluating the information relating to the cleaning device, the information relating to the person, and the information relating to the movable object to determine whether to change the status of one or both of the person and the movable object,

storing instances of status information in a memory over time, and

evaluating stored instances of status information to determine compliance with a predetermined hygiene policy.