Notification system

Abstract

To enable a patient to grasp that a medical worker enters a sickroom to perform an operation while the patient is absent, when the patient returns to the sickroom after the medical worker leaves the room.SOLUTION: A notification system includes: a patient absence detection section 13 for detecting absence of a patient in a sickroom; an entering / leaving determination section 14 for determining entering / leaving of a medical worker in the sickroom; and an entering / leaving notification section 15 for notifying a bedside display unit 6 or the like of a fact that the medical worker performs entering / leaving after the leaving is determined when it is determined that the medical worker enters and leaves the sickroom during a period of detection of the absence of the patient. When the medical worker enters the sickroom of the patient to perform a task during absence of the patient, the patient is notified of the entering / leaving of the medical worker in the sickroom. Thus, after the temporary absence in the sickroom, the patient can grasp that the medical worker enters the sickroom during his / her absence.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an alarm system, and is particularly suitable for use in a system that notifies patients based on information detected in the patient's hospital room. [Background technology]

[0002] Generally, when a hospitalized patient is absent, a medical professional may enter the patient's room to prepare for nursing care or replenish supplies. When this happens, the patient may feel mental stress when returning to the room after the medical professional has finished their work and left. Because the patient cannot know what has happened in the room while they were absent, it is difficult to quickly relieve the mental stress.

[0003] There is a known technology in which the belongings of a hospitalized patient are registered as objects to be monitored, and when it is detected that the patient has left a specified location, monitoring of the objects to be monitored is started with a camera, and when a change in the position of the objects to be monitored is detected, a notification is sent to devices such as a nurse call master unit, a hallway light, a mobile phone for nurses, or a mobile phone for hospitalized patients (see, for example, Patent Document 1).However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 monitors the previously registered belongings when the patient is absent, and sends a notification when there is a movement, and cannot be used to solve the above-mentioned problems. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-162240 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and has as its object to enable a patient who returns to a hospital room after a medical professional has left the room to know that a medical professional has entered the patient's room to perform work while the patient is not there. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention detects the absence of a patient in a hospital room and determines whether medical personnel have entered or left the room. If it is determined that medical personnel have entered and left the hospital room during the period in which the absence of the patient is detected, then after the determination of the medical personnel's leaving the room is made, the fact that the medical personnel have entered and left the room is notified to an equipment that the patient can confirm. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention configured as described above, when a medical professional enters a patient's room while the patient is absent to prepare for nursing care or replenish supplies, the medical professional's entry and exit is notified to the patient after it is determined that the medical professional has left the room. Therefore, a patient who is temporarily absent from the room can know that a medical professional has entered the room while the patient is absent. This prevents a patient who returns to the room after the medical professional has left from feeling the change in the room and experiencing mental stress. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example arrangement of a bedside display, a patient tag, a medical staff tag, and a tag reader. [Diagram 3] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a nurse call parent unit. FIG. [Figure 4] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a bedside display, a patient tag, a tag reader, and an input terminal. [Diagram 5]13 is a block diagram showing another example of the functional configuration of the nurse call master unit. FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of the overall configuration of the notification system according to the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an alarm system according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the alarm system of this embodiment is configured using a nurse call system, and is equipped with a nurse call master unit 1, a controller 2, a corridor light 3, a wall-embedded slave unit 4, a hand-held slave unit 5, a bedside display 6, a patient tag 7, a medical staff tag 8, and a tag reader 9.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of the bedside display 6, the patient tag 7, the medical staff tag 8, and the tag reader 9. FIG. 2 shows a certain hospital room 101 and a corridor 102 nearby it. Four beds are arranged in the hospital room 101, and four patients are admitted. Of these, one patient 201 and one medical staff 202 are illustrated in the corridor 102. For convenience, the patient 201 and the medical staff 202 are illustrated in close proximity to each other, but in reality they are located at such a distance that they cannot see each other. The patient 201 leaves the hospital room 101 for necessary purposes, and then returns to the hospital room 101 after the necessary matters at another place are completed.

[0011] The patient tag 7 is a wireless transmitter carried by the patient 201, and for example, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag is used. Patient information is recorded in the patient tag 7. The patient information may be any information that can uniquely identify an individual patient, and for example, a patient ID or a tag ID linked to the patient ID is used.

[0012] The medical worker tag 8 is a wireless transmitter carried by the medical worker 202, and may be, for example, an RFID tag. Medical worker information is recorded on the medical worker tag 8. The medical worker information may be any information that can uniquely identify each medical worker 202, and may be, for example, a medical worker ID or a tag ID linked to the medical worker ID.

[0013] The tag reader 9 is installed near the entrance / exit of the hospital room, and when the patient tag 7 approaches within a predetermined distance, it reads the patient information recorded on the patient tag 7 and supplies the read patient information to the control unit 2. In addition, when the medical staff tag 8 approaches within a predetermined distance, the tag reader 9 reads the medical staff information recorded on the medical staff tag 8 and supplies the read medical staff information to the control unit 2. This tag reader 9 corresponds to the "sensor installed near the entrance / exit of the hospital room" in the claims.

[0014] Bedside display 6 is installed near each bed arranged in patient room 101. This bedside display 6 corresponds to "device that can be confirmed by the patient" in the claims. Various information transmitted from nurse call master unit 1 via control unit 2, corridor light 3, and wall-embedded slave unit 4 is displayed on bedside display 6. One of the displayed pieces of information includes information to inform the patient that medical staff have entered or left the patient's room while the patient was absent.

[0015] The nurse call master unit 1 is installed, for example, in a nurse center, and performs a predetermined notification process when a nurse call is received from a patient (nurse call slave unit). This notification process includes displaying the patient information of the patient who made the call on the display screen and outputting a predetermined ring tone from the speaker. The nurse call master unit 1 of this embodiment also performs a process to notify the patient that a medical staff member has entered or left the hospital room (the details of this process will be described later).

[0016] The control unit 2 is placed between the nurse call master unit 1 and the corridor light 3, and controls the sending and receiving of calls and data. The control unit 2 is also connected to a tag reader 9 via the hospital network, and notifies the nurse call master unit 1 of information read by the tag reader 9. As described above, the information read by the tag reader 9 is the patient information recorded in the patient tag 7 and the medical staff information recorded in the medical staff tag 8.

[0017] The corridor light 3 is connected between the control unit 2 and the wall-embedded handset 4, and transfers the call signal sent from the wall-embedded handset 4 or hand-held handset 5 (hereinafter, sometimes collectively referred to as nurse call handset 4, 5) to the nurse call main unit 1 via the control unit 2. The corridor light 3 also receives data sent from the nurse call main unit 1 from the control unit 2 and transfers it to the wall-embedded handset 4. The corridor light 3 is installed outside near the entrance to each patient room in the hospital. The corridor light 3 is equipped with a display device, and when a patient in the patient room uses the nurse call handset 4, 5 to make a nurse call, it displays that the call has been made.

[0018] The wall-embedded handset 4 is embedded in the wall of each bedside in the patient's room. The wall-embedded handset 4 is equipped with a call button that allows the patient to make a nurse call call, a microphone and speaker that the patient uses when talking to a medical professional, and connection terminals for connecting the hand-held handset 5 and the bedside display 6. When a patient operates the call button on the wall-embedded handset 4 to make a nurse call call, the wall-embedded handset 4 outputs a call signal to the corridor light 3. The wall-embedded handset 4 also receives the call signal output from the hand-held handset 5 and transfers it to the corridor light 3. The wall-embedded handset 4 does not necessarily have to be equipped with a call button.

[0019] The hand-shaped handset 5 is connected to the wall-embedded handset 4. The hand-shaped handset 5 is equipped with a call button that allows the patient to make a nurse call call, and a microphone and speaker that the patient uses when talking to medical staff. When the patient operates the call button on the hand-shaped handset 5 to make a nurse call call, the hand-shaped handset 5 outputs a call signal to the wall-embedded handset 4. Note that the configuration of the hand-shaped handset 5 is not limited to this. For example, it may be one that does not have a microphone and speaker (a grip-push button).

[0020] The bedside display 6 is connected to the wall-embedded handset 4. As described above, the bedside display 6 displays information transmitted from the nurse call master unit 1 via the control unit 2, the corridor light 3, and the wall-embedded handset 4. In this embodiment, in particular, the bedside display 6 displays information to inform the patient that medical staff have entered or left the hospital room while the patient was absent.

[0021] Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the nurse call master unit 1. As shown in Fig. 3, the nurse call master unit 1 includes, as its functional configuration, a patient information acquisition unit 11, a medical staff information acquisition unit 12, a patient absence detection unit 13, an entry / exit determination unit 14, and an entry / exit notification unit 15.

[0022] The above-mentioned functional blocks 11 to 15 can be configured by any of hardware, DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and software. For example, the above-mentioned functional blocks 11 to 15 are realized by the operation of a program stored in a storage medium such as a RAM, a ROM, a hard disk, or a semiconductor memory under the control of a microcomputer configured with a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, etc.

[0023] The patient information acquisition unit 11 acquires the patient information read from the patient tag 7 by the tag reader 9. When the patient 201 who was in the hospital room 101 in Fig. 2 leaves the hospital room 101, the patient tag 7 carried by the patient 201 approaches the tag reader 9 near the entrance and the patient information recorded in the patient tag 7 is read by the tag reader 9. The patient information read by the tag reader 9 is transmitted to the nurse call master unit 1 via the control unit 2 and acquired by the patient information acquisition unit 11.

[0024] Furthermore, when a patient 201 who has been outside the hospital room 101 enters the hospital room 101, the patient tag 7 carried by the patient 201 approaches the tag reader 9 near the entrance and the patient information recorded in the patient tag 7 is read by the tag reader 9. The patient information read by the tag reader 9 is transmitted to the nurse call master unit 1 via the control unit 2 and acquired by the patient information acquisition unit 11.

[0025] The medical worker information acquisition unit 12 acquires medical worker information read from the medical worker tag 8 by the tag reader 9. In Fig. 2, when a medical worker 202 enters a hospital room 101 from outside, the medical worker tag 8 carried by the medical worker 202 approaches the tag reader 9 near the entrance and the medical worker information recorded in the medical worker tag 8 is read by the tag reader 9. The medical worker information read by the tag reader 9 is transmitted to the nurse call master unit 1 via the control unit 2 and acquired by the medical worker information acquisition unit 12.

[0026] Furthermore, when medical worker 202 leaves hospital room 101, medical worker tag 8 carried by medical worker 202 approaches tag reader 9 near the entrance and the medical worker information recorded on medical worker tag 8 is read by tag reader 9. The medical worker information read by tag reader 9 is transmitted to nurse call master unit 1 via control unit 2 and acquired by medical worker information acquisition unit 12.

[0027] For convenience, the patient information acquisition unit 11 and the medical worker information acquisition unit 12 are described separately here, but this configuration is not essential. For example, instead of the patient information acquisition unit 11 and the medical worker information acquisition unit 12, a tag information acquisition unit that acquires patient information and medical worker information transmitted from the tag reader 9 via the control machine 2 may be provided, and the acquired ID may be used to determine whether the information is patient information or medical worker information.

[0028] The patient absence detection unit 13 detects that the patient is absent from the hospital room based on the patient information acquired by the patient information acquisition unit 11 (patient information detected by the tag reader 9 installed near the entrance / exit of the hospital room when the patient enters and leaves the room). For example, based on the timing when the patient is in the hospital room, the patient absence detection unit 13 sets an exit flag when the patient information acquisition unit 11 acquires the patient information an odd number of times (n+1 times: n=0, 1, 2, . . . ) and resets the exit flag when the patient information acquisition unit 11 acquires the patient information an even number of times (n+2 times). The patient absence detection unit 13 then determines that the patient is absent from the hospital room during the period when the exit flag is set.

[0029] The reference timing when the patient is in the hospital room can be grasped by various methods. For example, a medical staff member can visually confirm that the patient is in the hospital room, and at that timing, another medical staff member at the nurse center can operate the nurse call master unit 1 to reset the exit flag of the patient absence detection unit 13. Alternatively, the exit flag of the patient absence detection unit 13 can be reset at a timing when it is almost certain that the patient is in the hospital room. An example of the timing when it is almost certain that the patient is in the hospital room is the time period between the bedtime and the wake-up time determined in the hospital. Note that the content described here is an example, and is not limited to this.

[0030] The entry / exit determination unit 14 determines whether a medical worker has entered or left a hospital room based on the medical worker information acquired by the medical worker information acquisition unit 12 (medical worker information detected by the tag reader 9 installed near the entrance / exit of the hospital room when the medical worker enters and leaves the room). For example, the entry / exit determination unit 14 sets an entry flag when the medical worker information acquisition unit 12 acquires the medical worker information an odd number of times (n+1), based on the timing when the medical worker is outside the hospital room, and resets the entry flag when the medical worker information acquisition unit 12 acquires the medical worker information an even number of times (n+2). The entry / exit determination unit 14 determines that the medical worker has entered the hospital room when the entry flag is set, and that the medical worker has left the hospital room when the entry flag is reset.

[0031] The reference timing when the medical staff is outside the hospital room can be grasped by various methods. For example, when the medical staff is in the nurse center where the nurse call master unit 1 is installed, the entrance flag of the entrance / exit determination unit 14 can be reset by operating the nurse call master unit 1. Alternatively, the entrance flag of the entrance / exit determination unit 14 can be automatically reset at a timing when it is almost certain that the medical staff is outside the hospital room. An example of a timing when it is almost certain that the medical staff is outside the hospital room is a time period outside the medical staff's working hours. Note that the content described here is an example, and is not limited to this.

[0032] When the entry / exit determination unit 14 determines that a medical staff member has entered and left a hospital room during a period in which the absence of a patient is detected by the patient absence detection unit 13, the entry / exit notification unit 15 notifies the patient's bedside display 6 of the entry and exit of the medical staff member after determining that the medical staff member has left the room. That is, the entry / exit notification unit 15 transmits information indicating that the medical staff member has entered and left the room (hereinafter referred to as entry / exit notification information) to the bedside display 6 via the control unit 2, the corridor light 3, and the wall-embedded sub-unit 4, and causes the entry / exit notification information to be displayed on the bedside display 6.

[0033] As a result, when a patient returns to his or her hospital room, the entry / exit notification information is displayed on the bedside display 6 installed near the patient's bed. Therefore, a patient who is temporarily away from the hospital room can know from the entry / exit notification information that a medical staff member has entered the room while the patient was absent. This prevents a patient who returns to the hospital room after the medical staff member has left the room from feeling a change in the room and experiencing a mental stress.

[0034] Here, the patient who has confirmed the entry / exit notification information operates the bedside display 6 to erase the display of the entry / exit notification information. After the entry / exit notification unit 15 transmits the entry / exit notification information, when the absent patient returns to the hospital room, the patient information acquisition unit 11 acquires the patient information (even-numbered acquisition). The entry / exit notification unit 15 may automatically erase the display of the entry / exit notification information by transmitting instruction information to the bedside display 6 to erase the display of the entry / exit notification information a predetermined time after the patient information acquisition unit 11 acquires the patient information after transmitting the entry / exit notification information.

[0035] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the patient carries an RFID patient tag 7 and the tag reader 9 installed near the entrance of the hospital room detects the patient's entry and exit, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the patient's entry and exit may be detected by an infrared sensor installed at the entrance of the hospital room. Alternatively, the patient may carry a transmitter, and the patient's location may be identified by measuring the radio wave intensity received from the transmitter by repeaters installed in various places in the hospital.

[0036] In the above embodiment, the medical staff carries an RFID medical staff tag 8, and the tag reader 9 installed near the entrance of the hospital room detects the entrance and exit of the medical staff, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a near field communication (NFC) tag may be used. Alternatively, the medical staff may carry a transmitter, and the position of the medical staff may be identified by measuring the radio wave intensity received from the transmitter by repeaters installed in various places in the hospital.

[0037] As another example, an input terminal may be installed in a patient room for operation by a medical staff member, and entry and exit of the medical staff member into the patient room may be determined based on the medical staff member's input of performed task information into the input terminal. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, an input terminal 10 with a touch panel is installed on a wall of the patient room near the entrance and exit of the room. This input terminal 10 is used by the medical staff member to input the details of the performed task after the medical staff member performs the task in the patient room. The input performed task information includes not only the task details but also information about the medical staff member who performed the task. The performed task information input into the input terminal 10 is transmitted to the nurse call master unit 1 via the control unit 2.

[0038] In this example, the nurse call master unit 1 is configured as shown in Figure 5. In Figure 5, the same reference numerals as those in Figure 3 have the same functions, so duplicated explanations will be omitted here. The nurse call master unit 1 shown in Figure 5 includes an implementation task information acquisition unit 16 and an entry / exit determination unit 14' instead of the medical staff information acquisition unit 12 and the entry / exit determination unit 14.

[0039] The performed task information acquisition unit 16 acquires performed task information input from the input terminal 10. The entry / exit determination unit 14' determines that the medical staff has entered and left the hospital room based on the performed task information acquisition unit 16 acquiring the performed task information (the medical staff inputting the performed task information into the input terminal 10). That is, since the performed task information is input into the input terminal 10 in the hospital room after the medical staff has performed the task in the room, the input of the performed task information can be assumed to indicate that the medical staff has entered the hospital room, and can also be assumed to indicate that the medical staff has left the hospital room after the performed task information has been input.

[0040] In the above embodiment, the entry / exit notification information indicating that a medical staff member has entered or left the room is transmitted from the entry / exit notification unit 15 to the bedside display 6 for display, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the notification system is configured as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the entry / exit notification unit 15 may notify the bedside display 6 of the work information input to the input terminal 10 instead of or in addition to the entry / exit information of a medical staff member. In this way, the patient can not only know that a medical staff member has entered the room while the patient is absent, but also know what has been done in the room. This allows the patient to know the cause of the change in the room that occurred while the patient is absent.

[0041] In addition, if the input performed task information is related to the absent patient, the performed task information is displayed, whereas if it is not related to the absent patient (if the performed task information is related to a different patient), the performed task information may not be displayed.

[0042] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the entry / exit notification information and / or the performed task information is displayed on the bedside display 6, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the information may be displayed on the corridor light 3. In this case, the information may be displayed in a display area for an absent patient among display areas allocated for multiple patients hospitalized in the same room, or the information may be displayed in a shared display area separate from the display area for multiple patients.

[0043] In the above embodiment, the notification system of the present embodiment is configured using a nurse call system, but the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, as shown in Fig. 6, instead of the nurse call master unit 1, the controller 2, the corridor light 3, and the wall-embedded slave unit 4, a control device 21 may be provided, and the control device 21 may have the functional configuration shown in Fig. 3 or Fig. 5.

[0044] In addition, the above-mentioned embodiments are merely examples of the implementation of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited thereby. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist or main characteristics thereof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0045] 1 Nurse call base unit 2. Controller 3. Corridor Lights 4 Wall-mounted slave unit 5 Handheld handset 6 Bedside Indicator 7 Patient Tags 8 Healthcare worker tags 9 Tag Reader 10 Input terminals 11 Patient information acquisition department 12 Medical Professional Information Acquisition Department 13 Patient absence detection unit 14,14' Entry / Exit Judgment Section 15 Entry / Exit Notification Section 16. Operational Information Acquisition Department 21 Control device

Claims

1. a patient absence detection unit that detects that a patient is absent from a hospital room; an entry / exit determination unit that determines whether a medical worker has entered or left the hospital room; and an entry / exit notification unit that notifies a device that can be confirmed by the patient that the medical staff has entered and left the hospital room after the determination of the leaving has been made, when the entry / exit determination unit determines that the medical staff has entered and left the hospital room during a period in which the absence of the patient is detected by the patient absence detection unit. An alarm system comprising:

2. The notification system described in claim 1, characterized in that the entry / exit determination unit determines that the medical staff has entered and left the hospital room based on information detected by a sensor installed near the entrance / exit of the hospital room when the medical staff enters and leaves the room, respectively.

3. The notification system described in claim 1, characterized in that the entry / exit determination unit determines that the medical staff has entered and left the hospital room based on the medical staff inputting information about the work performed into a terminal installed in the hospital room for the medical staff to operate.

4. The notification system according to claim 3, wherein the entry / exit notification unit notifies, instead of or in addition to the entry / exit of the medical staff, the performed work information input to the terminal.

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