Patent Grant
9700247
The present disclosure is related to patient support apparatuses, such as hospital beds, stretchers, and the like. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a patient support apparatus that can verify the identity of a person or an object and/or monitor the person's vital signs.
In healthcare, efforts are often needed to make sure that the patients under care are receiving the proper therapy, medication and/or treatments. To do so, the patient's identity and/or the identity of the person providing or overseeing the therapy, treatment, or medication delivery, may need to be verified. If the patient is to receive medication, the healthcare professional may need to confirm the identity of the medication and/or other details of the patient's prescription and dosing regimen, prior to dispensing the medication to the patient.
The present application discloses one or more of the features recited in the appended claims and/or the following features which, alone or in any combination, may comprise patentable subject matter:
According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus includes a support frame configured to support a patient in a plurality of positions including a horizontal position; a siderail coupled to the support frame; a first sensing device supported by the siderail; a second sensing device supported by the siderail, the second sensing device being a different type of sensing device than the first sensing device; and a control module in communication with the first sensing device and the second sensing device to verify the identity of a person based on first identity information received by the first sensing device and second identity information received by the second sensing device, the first identity information being different than the second identity information.
In some embodiments, the control module may be in communication with the first sensing device to verify the identity of a medication based on medication identity information received by the first sensing device. In some embodiments, the patient support apparatus may include a display supported by the siderail, where the display may be in communication with the control module to display content relating to a medication whose identity has been verified by the control module and to display content relating to a person whose identity has been verified by the control module. The content relating to the medication may include one or more of dosing information relating to the medication and a digital image of the medication. The content relating to the person may include one or more of prescription information relating to the person and a digital image of the person. The control module may be configured to send data relating to a medication verified by the control module to an electronic medical records system. The control module may be configured to send an alert to a healthcare communication system if the control module is unable to verify the identity of the medication.
In some embodiments, the first sensing device may include a non-biometric sensor and the second sensing device may include a biometric sensor, and the control module may be configured to verify the identity of the person based on non-biometric data received from the first sensing device and biometric data received from the second sensing device. In some embodiments, the first sensing device may include a barcode reader, the second sensing device may include a fingerprint reader, and the control module may be configured to verify the identity of the person based on fingerprint data received from the fingerprint reader and barcode data received from the barcode reader.
In some embodiments, the first sensing device may include a radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor, the second device may include one of a camera and a microphone, and the control module may be configured to verify the identity of the person based on RFID data received from the RFID sensor and one of facial recognition data received from the camera, barcode data received from the camera, and voice data received from the microphone.
In some embodiments, the control module may be configured to send data relating to a person verified by the control module to an electronic medical records system. The control module may be removably coupled to the siderail. The control module may be configured to send an alert to a healthcare communication system if the control module is unable to verify the identity of the person.
According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus includes a support frame configured to support a patient in a plurality of positions including a horizontal position; a siderail coupled to the support frame; a sensing device supported by the siderail; and a control module in communication with the sensing device to verify the identity of a person based on first identity information received by the sensing device and second identity information received by the sensing device, the first identity information being different from the second identity information. The sensing device may include a camera, the first identity information may include barcode data, the second identity information may include biometric data, and the control module may be configured to verify the identity of the person based on the barcode data and the biometric data.
According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus includes a support frame configured to support a patient in a plurality of positions including a horizontal position; a siderail coupled to the support frame; a docking area defined in the siderail to removably support a barcode reader; and a communication link to couple the barcode reader to a control module of the patient support apparatus when the barcode reader is positioned in the docking area. In some embodiments, the barcode reader may be a handheld device. The barcode reader may be coupled to the docking area by a tether.
In some embodiments, the control module may be configured to receive identification information from the barcode reader and may verify the identity of one or more of a medication, a patient, and a caregiver based on the identification information received from the barcode reader. The control module may be configured to send an alert to a healthcare communication system if the control module is unable to verify the identity of the medication, the patient, or the caregiver.
According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus includes a support frame configured to support a patient in a plurality of positions including a horizontal position; a siderail coupled to the support frame; a pulse oximeter module supported by the siderail, where the pulse oximeter module includes a communication port to connect a pulse oximetry sensor apparatus to the pulse oximeter module; and a display to display pulse oximetry data obtained by the pulse oximetry sensor apparatus from a patient positioned on the patient support apparatus. In some embodiments, the pulse oximeter module may be integrated with the siderail. The pulse oximeter module may be removably coupled to the siderail. The communication port and the display may be positioned on different sides of the pulse oximeter module. The communication port and the display may be positioned on opposite sides of the pulse oximeter module so that when the pulse oximeter module is installed in the siderail, the display faces a caregiver positioned adjacent the patient support apparatus and the communication port faces a person positioned on the patient support apparatus. The display may display pulse oximetry data comprising both graphical and textual data.
In some embodiments, the patient support apparatus may include a control module to communicate the pulse oximetry data from the patient support apparatus to an electronic medical records system. The control module may determine based on the pulse oximetry data whether a person is positioned on the patient support apparatus. The control module may be configured to initiate, modify, or terminate an electronically-controlled function of the patient support apparatus, or to generate an alert or an alarm, in response to the pulse oximetry data. The control module may be configured to verify the identity of the patient based on the pulse oximetry data.
Additional features, which alone or in combination with any other feature(s), including those listed above and those listed in the claims, may comprise patentable subject matter and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.
The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures in which:
Referring now to
In the embodiment of
The illustrative patient support apparatus 100 is embodied as, for example, a hospital bed, a stretcher, or a similar device that can support a person in a horizontal position and/or one or more non-horizontal positions. The illustrative patient support apparatus 100 is of a type that is typically used in hospitals and/or other facilities in which health care is provided. However, aspects of this disclosure can be applied to any type of person support apparatus or similar structure, including but not limited to beds, mattresses, cushions, tables, stretchers, chairs, wheelchairs and other similar structures, whether or not all of the features of the illustrated patient support apparatus 100 are included in such structure, and whether or not such person support structure includes other features not mentioned herein.
The patient support apparatus 100 has a base 110, which is movably supported by wheels or casters 116, 118 (view of one caster obstructed in
The frame 112 supports a support surface 114 (e.g., a mattress), which, in turn, may support a patient positioned thereon. The support surface 114 may include a number of air bladders, foam, a combination thereof and/or other suitable materials. In embodiments where the support surface 114 includes air bladders, the inflation and deflation of the air bladders may be electronically-controlled, based on, for example, user and/or sensor inputs.
The electronically-controlled features and functions of the patient support apparatus 100 are managed by a patient support system 900, which is described further below with reference to
Referring now to
The illustrative display 220 is embodied as a touch screen display, but may be embodied as any suitable type of interactive display, in other embodiments. In response to inputs received by one or more of the sensing devices 214, 216, 218, information about the person whose identity has been verified by the control unit 212 based on the sensor inputs, and/or information about medication whose identity has been verified by the control unit 212 based on the sensor inputs, is displayed on the display 220. For instance, as shown, a digital image 222 of a caregiver is displayed in response to a determination by the control unit 212 that the caregiver's identity has been verified based on a combination of the sensor inputs (e.g., RFID data transmitted by a tag worn by the caregiver and detected by the RFID sensor 214, voice data captured by the microphone 216, barcode data printed on a tag or ID card carried by the caregiver and scanned by the barcode reader/camera 218, and/or facial recognition data detected by the camera 218). The caregiver's identity may be verified by the control unit 212 executing computer logic to match each of the multiple sensor inputs to corresponding data stored in one or more computer systems, such as a hospital personnel database. Similarly, in the case where the sensing devices 214, 216, 218 may be used to detect identifying information of a patient, the identity data (e.g., bar code, facial features, voice data, and/or RFID data) may be matched against patient information that may be stored in, for example, a hospital admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) system.
A medication container or packaging having a barcode (e.g., a two-dimensional or three-dimensional bar code or Quick Response (QR) code), may similarly be scanned by the sensing device 218. In such event, the control unit 212 may verify the identity of the medication (e.g., the medication type and dosage form) by matching the medication identification data (e.g., bar code data) received by the sensing device 218 to information stored in a medication database (such as a “global” medication database that may be maintained by an external entity or service, such as a pharmacy or healthcare network). Such a database may be accessed by the control unit 212 via a connection to a hospital communication network and/or a secure connection to an external network such as the Internet. Once the control unit 212 has verified a medication, information such as the medication name and dosage form may be presented to the caregiver on the display 220, so that the caregiver can input corresponding information about a dose of medication actually dispensed to the patient at the point of care. As shown in
Referring now to
Referring to
As shown in
Referring now to
In
In some embodiments, vital signs data collected by the sensing device 518, or the lack thereof, may be used to determine whether a person is present or absent from the patient support apparatus 100. For instance, if the control unit 510 is receiving vital signs data, it may be inferred that a patient is positioned on the patient support apparatus 100, and vice versa. In response, the control unit 510 may automatically update the configuration of the patient support apparatus 100. For instance, if the control unit 510 infers from the vital signs data that a patient is present on the patient support apparatus 100, the control unit 510 may initiate a patient weighing function, a pressure relief function, or some other electronically-controllable feature or function of the patient support apparatus 100, or may evaluate the vital signs data and issue an alert to inform healthcare personnel if it appears from the vital signs data that the patient may need assistance. Likewise, if the control unit 510 infers from the absence of vital signs data that the patient has exited the patient support apparatus 100, the control unit 510 may terminate or suspend a bed feature or function that was previously in use, or may issue an alert to inform healthcare personnel of the patient's status.
In some embodiments, the vital signs data collected by the sensing device 518 may be used to verify the identity of the patient. For instance, a sampling of such vital signs data captured over time by the sensing device 518 may reveal a vital signs “signature” that can be compared to vital signs signatures of a number of different persons, which may be stored in a hospital or healthcare database. If the patient's vital signs signature is found to match a stored vital signs signature, the patient may be identified. If a match is not found, another form of identification may be requested by the patient support apparatus 100.
Referring now to
Referring now to
In some embodiments, at block 818, the configuration or status of an electronically-controllable function or feature of the patient support apparatus 100 may be modified or updated, or an alarm or an alert may be issued (e.g., to a nurse call system) based on the verification of the person's identity, whether such verification is made by biometric sensors, vital signs signatures, or otherwise. For example, if the person is a caregiver, the available bed functions or features may be updated to reflect only those functions or features that the caregiver is able to activate, based on the caregiver's role or access privileges. If the person is a patient, the configuration of the bed functions or features may be configured based on aspects of the patient's medical condition, which may be known to the patient support apparatus 100 through an interface with an EMR system or based on vitals signs data collected at the patient support apparatus 100 from, e.g., a pulse oximeter or other physiological sensor.
At block 820, the patient support apparatus 100 determines whether medication identifying information has been received by one of the identity verification sensing devices. For instance, the patient support apparatus 100 determines whether a barcode scanned by, e.g., the barcode reader 136, 314 relates to a medication. If medication identifying information has not been received, then at block 826, the updated patient information (e.g., the fact that the patient's identity has been verified and any resulting changes to the bed features or functions) may be transmitted to an EMR system or other healthcare system as needed. If medication identifying information has been received at block 820, then at block 822 the patient support apparatus 100 determines whether the medication is verified for the person whose identity was verified at block 814. For instance, if the person whose identity was verified at block 814 is a caregiver, then at block 822 the patient support apparatus 100 determines whether the caregiver is authorized to dispense the medication. To do so, the patient support system 900 may interface with a hospital personnel database, for example, via the hospital communication network 950. If the person whose identity was verified at block 814 is a patient, then the patient support apparatus 100 determines whether the patient's physician has authorized the dispensing of the identified medication to the patient and if so, in what amount. To do so, the patient support system 900 may interface with a hospital EMR system or prescription medication database, for example, via the hospital communication network 950.
If the identified medication is not verified for the identified person (e.g., a caregiver or patient), then the patient support apparatus 100 may send an alert to a healthcare communication system or display a notification at a point of care location, as needed. If the identified medication is verified for the identified person, then at block 824 medication dispensing information may be displayed and/or received at the patient support apparatus 100. For instance, in a first loop of the method 800, a caregiver's identity may be verified at block 814, and at block 822, the caregiver may be approved to dispense a medication identified at block 820. Then, at block 824, information about the medication may be displayed to the caregiver at the patient support apparatus 100. For example, a digital image of the type of medication associated with a barcode received at block 820 may be displayed, so that the caregiver can visually verify that the medication is correct. At block 826, information relating to the caregiver authorization and/or the medication authorization may be sent to an appropriate healthcare system (such as a hospital workflow tracking system) at block 826.
In a second or subsequent loop of the method 800, a patient's identity may be verified at block 814, and at block 822, the patient may be approved to receive the medication identified at block 820. Then, at block 824, the display (e.g., the display 220) may permit the caregiver to enter data relating to the medication actually dispensed and received by the identified patient, as described above. At block 826, the patient support apparatus 100 may send the newly received information about the medication actually dispensed to the patient to the patient's medical record or to a healthcare system (e.g., an EMR system), as needed.
Referring now to
In the illustrative patient support system 900, the patient support apparatus control system 910 is in communication with the electronically-controllable features and functions of the patient support apparatus 100 as mentioned above, and with one or more other computing systems 952, 954, 958, 964 via the hospital communication network 950. Portions of the patient support apparatus control system 910 may be local to the patient support apparatus 100, however, some portions thereof may be distributed across one or more of the other computing systems 952, 954, 958, 964. For instance, in some cases, identity verification algorithms and/or databases may be located on one or more other computing systems 964.
In general, the patient support apparatus control system 910 includes at least one computing device (such as an embedded device, a desktop computer, a portable computer, a wall-mounted unit, or a server, for example) that includes one or more processors or processor cores (e.g., microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, etc.) 912, memory 914, and an input-output subsystem 916. For instance, portions of the control system 910 may be embodied in one or more physical control units of the patient support apparatus 100 and/or any type of computing device including a point of care device such as a “nurse's station” or “patient station” of a nurse-call system, a server, a network of computers, or a combination of computers and/or other electronic devices.
The I/O subsystem 916 typically includes, among other things, an I/O controller, a memory controller, and one or more I/O ports. In some embodiments, the I/O subsystem 916 may include a CAN bus and/or other types of communication links. The processor 912 and the I/O subsystem 916 are communicatively coupled to the memory 914. The memory 914 may be embodied as any type of suitable computer memory device (e.g., volatile memory such as various forms of random access memory).
The I/O subsystem 916 is communicatively coupled to a number of hardware and/or software components including user interface/controls 918 (e.g., any of the user controls described above), an identity verification module 920 (which includes a person identity verification module 922 and a medication identity verification module 924), a patient monitoring module 926 (which includes a vital signs monitoring module 928 and a patient presence/absence monitoring module 930), one or more frame/deck/surface control module(s) 932 (which control features of the bed frame, deck or support surface of the patient support apparatus 100, as mentioned above), one or more machine-readable storage media 934 (which may store patient data 936 and/or bed data 938), one or more sensing devices 940 (e.g., the biometric sensing devices and/or non-biometric sensing devices described above), one or more readers/receiver(s) 924 (e.g., RFID receivers, wireless communication transceivers, etc.), a display 944 (e.g., any of the displays described above), and a communication interface 946.
The storage media 934 may include one or more hard drives or other suitable data storage devices (e.g., flash memory, memory cards, memory sticks, and/or others). In some embodiments, portions of the modules 920, 926, 932 may reside at least temporarily in the storage media 934. Portions of these modules 920, 926, 932 may be copied to the memory 914 during operation of the patient support apparatus control system 910, for faster processing or other reasons.
The hospital communication network 950 may communicatively couple the person support apparatus control system 910 to one or more hospital or healthcare facility computer systems, for example. Accordingly, the communication interface 946 may include one or more wired or wireless network interface cards or adapters, for example, as may be needed pursuant to the specifications and/or design of the particular system 900.
Computing systems in communication with the hospital communication network 950 may include, for example, a healthcare communication system 952 (e.g., a patient-nurse communication system or “nurse call” system), a locating and tracking system 954 (e.g., a system that monitors the location of caregivers, patients, and/or equipment in a healthcare facility), an EMR system 958, and other system(s) 964 (e.g., an admission, transfer and discharge system, hospital workflow system, etc.). The patient support system 900 may include other components, sub-components, and devices not illustrated in
In more detail, the identity verification module 920 processes identity data received by the sensing devices 940 and/or readers/receivers 942. If the identity data relates to a person, the person identity verification module 922 verifies the received identity data. For example, the person identity verification module 922 may access person identity data 966, and compare the received identity data to corresponding data stored in a person identity database, depending on the data type of the identity data. If the identity data is received from a fingerprint reader, for example, the person identity verification module 922 compares the received fingerprint data to data stored in a fingerprints database 968. Similarly, the person identity verification module 922 compares received voice data to stored voice recordings 970, compares received ID codes (e.g., RFID codes or barcodes) to stored ID codes 972, compares received digital images (e.g., facial features) to stored images 974, and compares received vitals signs signatures to stored vital signs signatures 976, in order to verify a person's identity. Likewise, if the received identity data relates to a medication, the medication identity verification module 924 compares the received identity information (e.g., barcode) to medication data 978, in order to verify the identity of the medication. The identity verification module 920 or portions thereof may be embodied as software stored and executed locally, e.g., at a siderail-mounted control unit of the patient support apparatus, or portions thereof may be distributed across one or more of the other systems 952, 954, 958, 964 connected to the hospital communication network 950.
When a person's identity is verified, the person (e.g., a caregiver or a patient) may be associated with the patient support apparatus 100 as described above. To do this, the identity verification module 920 may communicate with the locating/tracking system 954 to obtain identifying information about the patient support apparatus 100 and create an association between the person identity data and the identifying information for the patient support apparatus 100. Such information about the person and the patient support apparatus 100, and the association therebetween, may be stored in the storage media 934, e.g., in a patient data structure 936 and/or a bed data structure 938.
When a patient's identity is verified, the identity verification module 920 may access or update medical records 960 and/or prescription data 962 that are associated with the identified patient, as described above. Similarly, when a medication is identified, the identity verification module 920 may access or update the prescription data 962.
The patient monitoring module 926 receives data from vital signs monitoring devices such as the pulse oximetry device described above and/or other physiological sensors. As mentioned above, such vital signs data may be used to determine the presence or absence of a patient on the patient support apparatus 100, or to identify the patient by comparison to the vital signs signatures 976. Accordingly, a vital signs monitoring module 928 receives the vital signs data from the physiological sensors 940 and evaluates the comparison of the received data to the stored vital signs signatures 976, to determine whether there is a match. A presence/absence monitoring module 930 monitors the vital signs data or lack thereof and draws therefrom inferences as to whether the patient is present or absent on the patient support apparatus 100. For example, the module 930 may compare the level and/or frequency of the vital signs signals to one or more threshold values or ranges of values and based on that comparison, determine whether the patient is likely present or absent.
Embodiments in accordance with the disclosure may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored using one or more machine-readable media, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine. For example, a machine-readable medium may include any suitable form of volatile or non-volatile memory.
Modules, data structures, and the like defined herein are defined as such for ease of discussion, and are not intended to imply that any specific implementation details are required. For example, any of the described modules and/or data structures may be combined or divided into sub-modules, sub-processes or other units of computer code or data as may be required by a particular design or implementation of the system 900.
In the drawings, specific arrangements or orderings of schematic elements may be shown for ease of description. However, the specific ordering or arrangement of such elements is not meant to imply that a particular order or sequence of processing, or separation of processes, is required in all embodiments. In general, schematic elements used to represent instruction blocks or modules may be implemented using any suitable form of machine-readable instruction, and each such instruction may be implemented using any suitable programming language, library, application programming interface (API), and/or other software development tools or frameworks. Similarly, schematic elements used to represent data or information may be implemented using any suitable electronic arrangement or data structure. Further, some connections, relationships or associations between elements may be simplified or not shown in the drawings so as not to obscure the disclosure. Although certain illustrative embodiments have been described in detail above, variations and modifications exist within the scope and spirit of this disclosure as described and as defined in the following claims.
The present application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/613,961, filed Mar. 21, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety.
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