System and methods for monitoring caregiver performance

• US 8,564,445 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2012
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Proacticare LLC
• Original Assignee: Proacticare LLC
• Inventors: Dring, Barton, Ross, John
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US13/411,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20120161979A1
• Time in Patent Office: 596 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/561, 340/562, 340/539.1, 340/539.12, 600/587, 600/595
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/043 in a linear array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1126 using a particular sensing technique
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/447 specially adapted for aiding the prevention of ulcer or pressure sore development, i.e. before the ulcer or sore has developed
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• 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

Systems and methods for monitoring the performance of a caregiver are disclosed. The systems may be configured to monitor the movement of each subject in a network of subjects. One such system includes a plurality of strips adhered in spaced-apart relation on a mattress pad, upon which a subject is positioned. One or more transmitter is provided coupled to the plurality of strips. A processor is connected to the one or more transmitter. The processor is provided with operating software to record and report caregiver activity or both caregiver activity and subject activity.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a subject comprising:

a plurality of beds;

an active capacitance sensor associated with each bed of the plurality of beds;

a data collection transmitter associated with each bed of the plurality of beds, wherein the active capacitance sensor communicates sensor status data to the data collection transmitter;

a central processor wirelessly connected to each data collection transmitter associated with each bed of the plurality of beds;

a program, wherein the program instructs the central processor to receive the sensor status data from each data collection transmitter associated with each bed of the plurality of beds, the sensor status data communicated using a predefined protocol;

a database, wherein the database receives the sensor status data from the central processor and stores the sensor status data to further interpret the sensor status data and generate a report; and

a timer included within the program that periodically checks the database to determine if one or more new data collection transmitters needs to be added to the database.

2. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 1, wherein the central processor communicates with each data collection transmitter associated with each bed of the plurality of beds by using a program thread according to the predefined protocol.

3. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 2, wherein a log interval timer is set up when the program thread is created.

4. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 3, wherein a message is sent to the data collection transmitter requesting a current status of the active capacitance sensor when a log interval timer event occurs.

5. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 1, wherein the data collection transmitter performs a general status check to determine if any problems have occurred with the active capacitance sensor.

6. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 1, wherein the predefined protocol is one selected from the group comprising of:

RS232, multi-drop RS485, Ethernet, Bluetooth, ZigBee, 802.15.4 and WiFi.

7. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 1, wherein the predefined protocol uses an 8-bit address and a 16-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check.

8. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 1, wherein the program instructs the data collection transmitter to receive the sensor status data from each sensor associated with each data collection transmitter in a sequential order.

9. The system for monitoring a subject according to claim 1, wherein the database is a standard SQL relational database.