Nurse call system

Abstract

To provide a nurse call system that transmits, with simple operation, a call signal from a slave unit to a portable terminal of a nurse on duty.SOLUTION: A nurse call system 10 has: slave units 1 installed on respective beds; a master unit 3 installed in a nurse station; a plurality of portable terminals 5 carried by nurses and provided with RFID transmission means having nurse IDs registered therein; a controller 4 controlling communication between devices; a card reader 8 that reads information on the IDs from the portable terminals 5; a nurse information storage unit that stores the association between the nurses and the portable terminals 5; a slave unit / portable terminal storage unit that stores the association between the slave units 1 and the portable terminals 5; and a call-enabled terminal storage unit that stores call-enabled portable terminals 5 on the basis of the information on nurses on duty read by the card reader 8. When a call occurs from the slave unit 1, the controller 4 grasps the portable terminal 5 to which a call signal is transmitted on the basis of the information in the slave unit / portable terminal storage unit and the call-enabled terminal storage unit, and transmits the call signal to the portable terminal 5 and the master unit 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a nurse call system that enables a hospitalized patient to call a nurse. [Background technology]

[0002] Nurse call systems equipped with portable terminals carried by nurses so that nurses can respond to calls from patients even when they are not at the nursing station are becoming widespread. In such nurse call systems equipped with portable terminals, it is necessary to change the call destination of the portable terminal every time a nurse changes shifts from the day shift to the night shift, etc., and if there is an error in this operation, a call may be made to an unused portable terminal. To reduce mistakes in changing operations, for example, in Patent Document 1, a card reader that reads RFID tags is attached to the handset, and when the nurse's RFID tag is read and the call button on the handset is pressed and held, the parent unit determines that this is a registration operation for the mobile device carried by the nurse, and registers the mobile device of the nurse who performed the registration operation as the call destination of the handset that was pressed and held. In addition, a validity period is set for this registration, and the registration is cancelled after a certain period of time has passed. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-6414 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the setting mode of the mobile terminal of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, only nurses who came to work and registered could be called. However, this setting mode not only required the nurse to go around to many beds to register them when coming to work, but also required the nurse to go around to the beds again to register them if the nurse continued working after the set time had passed. In addition, there was a problem that the nurse would be called if the set time was still continuing even after the working hours had ended.

[0005] In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a nurse call system in which a call signal from a handset is sent only to the mobile terminal of the nurse on duty with a simple operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a nurse call system having a handset installed at each bed so that patients can call nurses, a parent unit installed at a nurse's station so that nurses can respond to calls from the handset, a plurality of portable terminals carried by nurses to respond to calls from patients, and a controller that controls communication between the devices. In order to manage the arrival and departure of nurses at work, the system has an RFID transmission means carried by the nurse to which a nurse ID is registered, an ID reading means for reading information from the held-up RFID transmission means, a nurse information storage unit for storing an association between the nurse ID and the extension number of the portable terminal, a handset / portable storage unit for storing an association between the handset and the portable terminal, and a callable terminal storage unit for reading the portable terminal carried by the nurse who has come to work from the nurse information storage unit based on the information of the nurses who have arrived at work and left work read by the ID reading means, and storing the portable terminal as a callable portable terminal. When a call is made by the handset, the controller selects a portable terminal to send a call signal based on the information in the handset / portable storage unit and the callable terminal storage unit, and sends the call signal to the selected portable terminal and the parent unit. According to this configuration, when the attendance information of the nurse is received, a call signal is sent by operating the handset to the mobile terminal of the nurse who is at work. Therefore, there is no need to separately operate the mobile terminal to enable or disable the call.

[0007] Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the above configuration, the handset / portable storage unit stores a plurality of portable terminals in association with each handset. According to this configuration, a call signal is sent to a number of specific mobile terminals that have been set in advance in response to a call from the handset, allowing for a quick response and preventing a situation in which a call from a patient is left unattended.

[0008] Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the above configuration, the parent unit is installed in multiple wards, the nurse information memory unit stores the association between the nurses and the wards, and the control unit transmits a call signal from the child unit to a mobile terminal of a nurse associated with the ward to which the child unit belongs. With this configuration, even if the nurse call system is installed across multiple wards, call signals are not transmitted across wards, allowing nurses to concentrate on the patients in their own wards.

[0009] Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the above configuration, the parent units are installed in a plurality of wards, the RFID transmitting means has ward information, and the control unit transmits a call signal from the child unit to a mobile terminal of a nurse associated with the ward to which the child unit belongs. According to this configuration, since the ward information is registered in the RFID transmission means, the ward to which a nurse belongs can be changed by changing the registered ward information, making it easy for nurses to provide support to other wards.

[0010] Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the above configuration, when a nurse carrying a mobile terminal stored in the mobile information storage unit as the call destination for the handset that has been called is not on duty and there is no mobile terminal to send a call signal to, the control unit changes the call signal to the parent unit to a signal that performs a specific call operation that causes the parent unit to recognize that the call destination is only the parent unit, and causes the parent unit to notify that the call to the mobile terminal will not be made. According to this configuration, if there is no mobile terminal to which the call signal is sent, the call operation of the parent unit is changed to a specific operation, so that the nurse can recognize that the mobile terminal will not be called and it is possible to prevent the call from being left unattended.

[0011] Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the above configuration, the RFID transmission means is built into the mobile terminal. According to this configuration, the nurse does not need to carry a separate RFID transmission means. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the present invention, when the attendance information of a nurse is received, a call signal is sent by operating the handset to the mobile terminal of the nurse who is at work. Therefore, there is no need to separately operate the mobile terminal to enable or disable the call. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a nurse call system according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a controller. [Diagram 3] 11 is an explanatory diagram of information stored in a callable terminal storage unit based on ID information read by a card reader. FIG. [Figure 4] 13 shows another embodiment of the nurse call system, in which (a) shows the information transmitted by the RFID transmission means, and (b) shows the information grasped by the controller from the read information and stored in the callable terminal memory unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a nurse call system according to the present invention. The nurse call system 10 includes a handset 1 installed at each bed in a hospital for a patient to call a nurse, a corridor light 2 for announcing a call from a patient in front of the hospital room, a base unit 3 installed at a nurse station for responding to a call from a patient, a controller 4 for controlling communication between devices, and a mobile terminal 5 carried by each nurse. The system also includes base stations 6 installed at appropriate intervals in the hospital for communicating with the mobile terminal 5, a PBX (switchboard) 7 for managing communication of the mobile terminal 5, and a card reader 8 as an ID reading means. Furthermore, G1 indicates the first ward, G2 indicates the second ward, and one master unit 3 is installed in both the first ward G1 and the second ward G2. The card reader 8 reads the ID information of nurses who clock in and out, and is composed of a first card reader 8a that manages clocking in and a second card reader 8b that manages clocking out. The corridor light 2, the base unit 3, the control unit 4, and the PBX 7 are connected to a network N that constitutes a LAN within the hospital, and the devices communicate with each other via the network N.

[0015] The handset 1 is composed of a call grip button 1a for calling and a plate handset 1b that is installed on the wall and has a calling function and is equipped with a microphone 11 and a speaker 12. The call grip button 1a is connected to the plate handset 1b, and the plate handset 1b is connected to the corridor light 2 for each hospital room by a transmission line L1. The corridor light 2 has an indicator light 21 that issues a notification when the handset 1 is operated to make a call, and a patient information display unit 22 that displays patient information. The base unit 3 has a handset 31 for answering calls, a first display unit 32 consisting of an LCD for displaying a list of patient information, and a second display unit 33 for displaying the patient information of the caller. The first display unit 32 is equipped with a touch panel and also serves as an operation unit 35 for performing various input operations and display changes.

[0016] 2 shows a functional block diagram of the control unit 4. The control unit 4 includes a nurse information storage unit 41 that stores nurse information such as a nurse ID, a portable terminal (extension number) carried by the nurse, and the ward to which the nurse belongs, a handset / portable storage unit 42 that stores the portable terminal 5 to which a call signal is to be sent for each handset 1, a callable terminal storage unit 43 that stores the portable terminals 5 that can be called based on the nurse's attendance information, a control unit CPU 44 that controls calls and communication between devices, a control unit communication IF 45 that connects to the network N, a card reader communication IF 46 that communicates with the card reader 8, and the like.

[0017] The portable terminal 5 used has a built-in RFID function, and may be, for example, a smartphone. That is, the portable terminal 5 also serves as an RFID transmission means for having the nurse's ID information read by the card reader 8. The nurse carries his / her own portable terminal 5, and clocks in by holding the portable terminal 5 over the first card reader 8a when clocking in, and clocks out by holding the portable terminal over the second card reader 8b when clocking out.

[0018] The nurse call system 10 configured as above operates as follows. However, here, the operation of the control unit 4 in response to the nurse's clock-in / clock-out operation, which is the main part of the invention, and the calling operation by the operation of the handset 1 will be mainly described. When a nurse clocks in by holding the portable terminal 5 over the first card reader 8a, the nurse's ID information is read from the RFID embedded in the portable terminal 5 and transmitted to the control device 4. The read ID information is transmitted to the control unit 4, and when a call is made to the handset 1 to which the portable terminal 5 is linked (the handset 1 associated in the handset / portable memory unit 42) under the control of the control unit CPU 44, the handset 1 is registered as the destination portable terminal 5 to which the call signal is sent.

[0019] Figure 3 specifically illustrates this registration, showing the associated information that the control unit 4 grasps from the information read by the first card reader 8a. If the read RFID information (nurse ID) is "000000001," the control unit 4 reads the associated information from the nurse information storage unit 41 based on the read ID information. At this time, information such as that shown in Figure 3 is read. In Figure 3, it is understood that the nurse whose information was read (who has arrived at work) carries a mobile terminal 5 with extension number 101, belongs to ward code 01 (first ward G1), and belongs to the nursing team Team A. Then, this attendance information is stored in the call-enabled terminal storage unit 43 as a terminal for which a call signal can be transmitted.

[0020] The nurse team indicates the team to which a patient belongs when multiple nurses are assigned to each team, and the nurses who make up the team are registered separately for each team and stored in the control device 4, etc. When a nurse who was on duty holds the mobile terminal 5 over the second card reader 8b to be clocked out, the mobile terminal information of the clocked out nurse is deleted from the callable terminal storage unit 43.

[0021] In this way, the portable terminal 5 of the nurse who has come to work is registered, and a call operation is performed in response to a call made by the patient operating the handset 1. When a call is made by a patient in the first ward G1, a call signal is sent from the handset 1 to the control unit 4 via the corridor light 2. Upon receiving the call signal, the control unit 4 transmits a call signal under the control of the control unit CPU 44 to the base unit 3 in the first ward G1 and to the portable terminals 5 associated with the handset 1 that are stored in the callable terminal storage unit 43. At this time, if there are multiple portable terminals 5 associated with the handset 1, the call signal is sent to those multiple portable terminals 5. The base unit 3 and the mobile terminal 5 that have received the call signal perform a call notification operation such as sounding an alarm, and a communication path is established between the device that first responds and the handset 1. When the handset 1 in the second ward G2 is operated to make a call, a call signal is transmitted to the base unit 3 in the second ward G2 and the mobile terminal 5 of the nurse belonging to the second ward G2.

[0022] However, when there are fewer nurses on duty at night, etc., there may be a case where there is no portable terminal 5 available to transmit a call signal when a call is made to the handset 1. In that case, when the control machine CPU 44 recognizes from the information in the handset / portable storage unit 42 and the callable terminal storage unit 43 that there is no portable terminal 5 available to transmit a call signal, it transmits a call signal to the base unit 3 with information attached to the effect that the portable terminal 5 will not be called. The base unit 3 receiving this call signal changes the ring tone to a specific tone different from the normal tone, and displays on both the first display unit 32 and the second display unit 33 that there is no call to the mobile terminal 5. This specific call behavior different from the normal one makes the nurse at the nurse station aware that she or he must respond to the call.

[0023] In this way, the mobile terminal 5 of the nurse who is actually working is set as the call target by the nurse's clock-in operation, so a call is not made to a nurse who is not at work by operating the slave unit 1. Therefore, there is no need to perform a separate setting operation for the mobile terminal 5 to allow or disallow calling. Furthermore, even if the nurse call system 10 is installed across multiple wards, call signals are not transmitted across wards, allowing nurses to concentrate on the patients in their own wards. Furthermore, if a call signal is not sent to the mobile terminal 5, the call operation of the base unit 3 is changed to a specific operation, so that the nurse can recognize that the mobile terminal 5 will not be called, preventing the call from being left unattended.

[0024] Incidentally, here, when a call notification is not sent to the mobile terminal 5 in response to a call from the handset 1, the ring tone of the base unit 3 is changed and a notification to that effect is displayed on the first display unit 32 and the second display unit 33; however, it is also acceptable to only change the ring tone or only display the notification.

[0025] Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the nurse call system 10, where Fig. 4(a) shows the information transmitted by the RFID transmission means, and Fig. 4(b) shows the information that the controller 4 stores in the callable terminal storage unit 43 from the read information. The configuration of the nurse call system 10 remains the same as in the above embodiment, but the information registered in the RFID transmission means is different. As shown in Figure 4, the information transmitted from the portable terminal 5, which is the RFID transmission means, is "0000001" and "02", and the control unit 4, which obtains this information from the first card reader 8a, determines that the nurse ID is "0000001" and the ward to which the nurse belongs is "02". Based on this information, related information is read from the nurse information storage unit 41. Note that in this embodiment, the nurse information storage unit 41 does not register information about the ward to which the nurse belongs.

[0026] Based on the read RFID information, the information shown in Fig. 4(b) is stored in the callable terminal storage unit 43. As shown in Fig. 4(b), it is understood that a nurse belonging to ward code 02 (second ward G2) carrying a mobile terminal 5 with extension number 101 has come to work. It is also understood that the nurse does not belong to a nursing team. After the information of the mobile terminal 5 is stored in the callable terminal memory unit 43, the operation of the nurse call system 10 is the same as that described above. For example, when a patient in the second ward G2 calls, a call signal is sent to the nurse registered in the second ward G2, and the nurse registered in the first ward G1 is not called.

[0027] In this way, since ward information is registered in addition to the nurse ID in the mobile terminal 5, the ward to which the nurse belongs can be changed by changing the registered ward information. This makes it easy for nurses to provide support to other wards, and allows for smooth response to the ward to which they are being supported.

[0028] Although the RFID transmission means is built into the mobile terminal 5, it may be separated from the mobile terminal 5 using an IC card or the like, or may be carried separately by the nurse. In addition, the control unit 4 is provided with a callable terminal memory unit 43 and the control unit 4 controls the calls to the mobile terminal 5, but the callable terminal memory unit 43 may be provided in the base unit 3 and the base unit 3 may control the calls to the mobile terminal 5. [Explanation of symbols]

[0029] 1... Handset, 2... Corridor light, 3... Base unit, 4... Control unit, 5... Mobile terminal (RFID transmission means), 8 (8a, 8b)... Card reader (ID reading means), 10... Nurse call system, 41... Nurse information storage unit, 42... Handset / mobile storage unit, 43... Callable terminal storage unit, 44... Control unit CPU.

Claims

1. A nurse call system having a handset installed at each bed so that patients can call nurses, a base unit installed at a nurse's station so that nurses can respond to calls from the handset, a plurality of portable terminals carried by nurses to respond to calls from patients, and a controller for controlling communication between the devices, An RFID transmission means in which a nurse ID is registered and carried by the nurse in order to manage the attendance and leaving of the nurse; ID reading means for reading information of the RFID transmission means held up therebetween; A nurse information storage unit that stores an association between a nurse ID and an extension number of the mobile terminal; a slave / mobile storage unit that stores an association between the slave and the mobile terminal; and a callable terminal storage unit that reads the mobile terminal carried by the nurse who has come to work from the nurse information storage unit based on the information of the nurse who has come to work and left the work read by the ID reading means, and stores the mobile terminal as a callable mobile terminal, A nurse call system characterized in that when a call is made by the handset, the control unit selects the mobile terminal to send a call signal to based on information in the handset / mobile memory unit and the callable terminal memory unit, and sends a call signal to the selected mobile terminal and the parent unit.

2. 2. The nurse call system according to claim 1, wherein the handset / portable storage unit stores a plurality of the portable terminals in association with each of the handset units.

3. The parent unit is installed in a plurality of wards, and the nurse information storage unit stores associations between nurses and wards, 3. The nurse call system according to claim 2, wherein the control unit transmits a call signal from the handset to the mobile terminal of a nurse associated with the ward to which the handset belongs.

4. The base unit is installed in a plurality of hospital wards, and the RFID transmission means includes hospital ward information; 2. The nurse call system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit transmits a call signal from the handset to the mobile terminal of a nurse associated with the ward to which the handset belongs.

5. When a nurse carrying the mobile terminal stored in the mobile information storage unit as the call destination is not on duty and there is no mobile terminal to transmit a call signal to the child unit, the control unit changes the call signal to the parent unit to a signal for performing a specific call operation that makes the parent unit recognize that the call destination is only the parent unit, 5. The nurse call system according to claim 1, wherein the base unit notifies the user that a call to the portable terminal is not being made.

6. 2. The nurse call system according to claim 1, wherein the RFID transmission means is built into the mobile terminal.

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