Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing program

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program that can monitor the relationship between operations carried out by a staff member and stress that the staff member undergoes.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus includes: an acquisition unit 211 that acquires over time operation information on the operations carried out by a staff member in a nursing-care facility and mental information representing a mental state of the staff member; a determination unit 212 that determines the emotions of the staff member at each time on the basis of the acquired mental information; and an output nit 214 that outputs the determined emotions of the staff member and the operation information in association with the time.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, due to improvements in living standards, sanitation, and medical care, the trend of people living longer has become prominent. As a result, combined with a declining birth rate, societies are aging with a high aging rate. In such aging societies, an increase in care recipients such as those requiring nursing care and care, such as due to illness, injury, and aging, is expected. In nursing and care facilities, staff such as nurses and care workers provide care for care recipients (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Staff who have suffered excessive stress may not be able to properly care for care recipients. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to monitor the relationship between the work carried out by staff and the stress borne by the staff.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program capable of monitoring the relationship between the work carried out by staff and the stress borne by the staff.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The above problems of the present invention are solved by the following means.

[0007] (1) An information processing apparatus including: an acquisition unit that acquires over time business information related to the work of the staff in a nursing care facility and mental information representing the mental state of the staff; a determination unit that determines the emotion of the staff at each time based on the acquired mental information; and an output unit that outputs by associating in time the determined emotion of the staff with the business information.

[0008] (2) The information processing apparatus according to (1) above, further including a detection unit that detects a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff, and when a predetermined change is detected, the output unit outputs change information related to the change.

[0009] (3) The information processing apparatus according to (1) above, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the mental information of each of the plurality of staff included in a unit, the determination unit determines the emotion of the unit obtained by summarizing the emotions of each of the plurality of staff at each time, and the output unit outputs the determined emotion of the unit.

[0010] (4) The information processing apparatus according to (1) above, wherein the mental information includes voice information related to the voice of the staff.

[0011] (5) The information processing apparatus according to (1) above, wherein the business information includes at least information related to the total working hours of the staff and information related to the number of night shifts of the staff.

[0012] (6) The information processing apparatus according to (5) above, wherein the business information further includes information related to the content of the work of the staff.

[0013] (7) An information processing method including: step (a) of acquiring over time business information related to the work of the staff in a nursing care facility; step (b) of acquiring over time mental information representing the mental state of the staff; step (c) of determining the emotion of the staff at each time based on the acquired mental information; and step (d) of outputting by associating in time the determined emotion of the staff with the business information.

[0014] Step (a) of obtaining over time the business information regarding the work of the staff in the nursing care facility, step (b) of obtaining over time the mental information representing the mental state of the staff, step (c) of determining the emotion of the staff at each time based on the obtained mental information, and step (d) of associating and outputting over time the determined emotion of the staff with the business information. An information processing program for causing a computer to execute the process including these steps.

Effect of the Invention

[0015] In the information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing program according to the present invention, the emotion of the staff and the business information are associated and output over time. Therefore, it becomes possible to monitor the relationship between the work undertaken by the staff and the stress borne by the staff.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016] The advantages and features provided by one or more embodiments of the present invention are more fully understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to define the limitations of the present invention.

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.

[0018] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions are omitted. Also, the dimensional ratios in the drawings are exaggerated for the convenience of explanation and may be different from the actual ratios.

[0019] <Embodiment> [Configuration of Information Processing System 1] (Overall Configuration) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a detection unit 10 installed in the room of a target person 70.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system 1 includes a plurality of detection units 10, a server 20, an administrator terminal 30, one or more staff terminals 40, and a voice collection unit 46. These are communicably connected to each other via a network 50 such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a telephone network, or a data communication network, either by wire or wirelessly. The network 50 may include a relay device such as a repeater, bridge, router, or cross-connect that relays communication signals. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the staff terminal 40 is communicably connected to the detection unit 10, the server 20, and the administrator terminal 30 via a network 50 such as a wireless LAN including an access point 51 (for example, a LAN conforming to the IEEE802.11 standard).

[0021] The information processing system 1 is disposed at an appropriate location according to the target person 70. The target person 70 is, for example, a patient who requires nursing care due to illness or injury, a person requiring care due to a decline in physical ability due to old age, a person living alone, or a patient hospitalized in a hospital facility. In particular, from the perspective of enabling early detection and early response, the target person 70 may be a person who requires the detection when a predetermined unfavorable event such as an abnormal state occurs to that person. The information processing system 1 is preferably disposed in buildings such as elderly welfare facilities, hospitals, and households according to the type of the target person 70. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system 1 is disposed in a building of a nursing care facility where a plurality of target persons 70 reside.

[0022] The detection unit 10 is arranged, for example, in each living room which is the observation area of the subject 70. In the example shown in FIG. 1, four detection units 10 are respectively arranged in the living rooms of Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. C, and Mr. D who are the subjects 70. The observation area of the detection unit 10 includes the bed 60. The staff 80 who provides care or nursing etc. (for example, care) for the subject 70 each carry a staff terminal 40 which is a mobile terminal. However, the position, number, etc. of each component provided in the information processing system 1 are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1. For example, the server 20 does not have to be arranged in the nurse station and may be an external server unit connected to the network 50.

[0023] (Detection unit 10) FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the detection unit 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the detection unit 10 includes a control unit 11, a communication unit 12, a camera 13, a call button unit 14, and a voice input / output unit 15, and these are interconnected by a bus.

[0024] The control unit 11 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and memories such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory), and controls and performs arithmetic processing on each part of the detection unit 10 according to a program. Note that the control unit 11 may further include an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) as a memory.

[0025] The communication unit 12 is an interface circuit (for example, a LAN card etc.) for communicating with other devices such as the server 20, the administrator terminal 30, or the staff terminal 40 via the network 50.

[0026] The camera 13 is disposed, for example, on the ceiling of a living room or the upper part of a wall, and captures an area including the bed 60 of the subject 70 as an observation area, and outputs a captured image (image data). Hereinafter, the image captured by the camera 13 is also simply referred to as a "captured image". The captured image includes an image including the subject 70. The captured image includes still images and moving images. The camera 13 is a near-infrared camera, but instead, a visible light camera may be used, or these may be used in combination.

[0027] The control unit 11 recognizes the actions of the subject 70 from the captured image captured by the camera 13. The actions to be recognized include "getting up" from the bed 60, "getting out of bed" from the bed 60, "falling" from the bed 60, and "falling" to the floor surface or the like.

[0028] The control unit 11 detects an image silhouette (hereinafter referred to as a "human silhouette") from a plurality of captured images (moving images). The human silhouette can be detected, for example, by extracting a range of pixels with relatively large differences by the time difference method of extracting differences between images with photographing times before and after. The human silhouette may be detected by the background difference method of extracting the difference between the captured image and the background image. The difference between getting up, getting out of bed, falling, and tumbling is recognized from the posture of the subject 70 (for example, standing position, sitting position, lying on the side, etc.) detected from the detected human silhouette and the relative position with respect to the furnishings in the living room such as the bed 60. These recognitions may be performed by a program processed by the CPU of the control unit 11, or may be performed by an embedded processing circuit. Also, without being limited to this, all or most of these recognitions may be performed on the server 20 side, and the control unit 11 may only transmit the captured image to the server 20. When the control unit 11 recognizes any action, it transmits a notification indicating that an event has occurred to the server 20 or the like.

[0029] The care call unit 14 includes a push-button type switch, and detects a care call when the switch is pushed by the target person 70. A care call is also called a nurse call. Instead of the push-button type switch, a voice microphone may be used to detect the care call. When the switch of the care call unit 14 is pushed, that is, when a care call is detected, the control unit 11 transmits a notification (care call notification) indicating that there is a care call to the server 20 or the like via the communication unit 12 and the network 50.

[0030] The voice input / output unit 15 is, for example, a speaker and a microphone, and enables a voice call by transmitting and receiving voice signals to and from a staff terminal 40 or the like via the communication unit 12. Note that the voice input / output unit 15 may be connected to the detection unit 10 via the communication unit 12 as an external device of the detection unit 10.

[0031] Further, the detection unit 10 may further include a Doppler shift type body movement sensor that transmits and receives microwaves in the direction of the bed 60 and detects the Doppler shift of the microwaves generated by the body movement (e.g., breathing movement) of the target person 70. With this body movement sensor, when the body movement of the chest (up and down movement of the chest) accompanying the breathing movement of the target person 70 is detected, and the disturbance of the period in the body movement of the chest or the amplitude in the body movement of the chest that is below a preset threshold value is detected, it is recognized as a minute body movement abnormality.

[0032] The detection unit 10 may further include a sensor that detects the living environment of the target person 70, such as the temperature, pressure, and humidity in the living room of the target person 70. The detection unit 10 may include a sensor that detects the temperature, pressure, and humidity in a facility other than the living room of the target person 70, and may also include a sensor that detects the temperature, pressure, and humidity outside the facility.

[0033] Staff 80 is a person who conducts various responses to the target person 70 according to the work. The work may include medical work and care work. Here, when the work of the staff 80 is care work for the target person 70, the response content regarding each event will be described. When an event "getting up" is determined and the determination is within a predetermined time (the getting-up time set in the facility (for example, 7 to 8 am)), morning care is performed. This morning care includes face washing, toothbrushing assistance, denture wearing, dressing assistance, etc. Also, in the case of the event of "getting out of bed", wheelchair transfer and walking assistance may be required. In addition, as regular (scheduled) events other than the events determined by the detection unit 10, there are fluid intake, meal assistance, excretion assistance, wheelchair transfer, walking assistance, and position change (pressure ulcer prevention). These regular events may be set so that the care call unit 14 or the like generates an alert at a regular time.

[0034] Events widely include events for which the staff 80 should respond to the target person 70. For example, events include events (referred to as the first event) for which the staff 80 should respond when a report (notification) is made to the staff 80, events (referred to as the second event) for which the staff 80 should respond at a fixed time, and events (referred to as the third event) for which the staff 80 should respond when noticed. The first event includes, for example, care calls, as well as getting up, getting out of bed, falling, tumbling, and micro body movement abnormalities. The second event includes, for example, wheelchair transfer during meals, bathing, dressing, and taking a walk. The third event includes, for example, excretion care by the oral request of the target person 70, body temperature measurement when fever is suspected, response when vomiting, and response when dementia symptoms occur.

[0035] The detection unit 10 transmits (outputs) information on the detected event (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "event information"), Doppler shift, living environment, and photographed images to the server 20.

[0036] (Server 20) Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the server 20.

[0037] Server 20 includes a control unit 21, a communication unit 22, and a storage unit 23. Here, Server 20 corresponds to a specific example of the information processing apparatus of the present invention. In the present embodiment, this Server 20 associates the business information related to the work of Staff 80 with the emotion of Staff 80 over time and outputs it.

[0038] Server 20 may be provided in the same building as the living room for the target person 70, or may be provided in a remote location and be connectable via a network. For example, Server 20 may be a cloud server virtually constructed by a plurality of servers arranged on a network such as the Internet. Each component is communicably connected to each other by a bus. Since the control unit 21 and the communication unit 22 have the same functions as the control unit 11 and the communication unit 22 of the detection unit 10, respectively, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted. The specific functions of the control unit 21 will be described later.

[0039] The storage unit 23 stores the information processing program according to the present embodiment. The above components of Server 20 are controlled by the control unit 21 according to a program. The storage unit 23 stores, for example, staff terminal operation logs, system detection histories, reporting logs, the life rhythm of the target person 70, care achievements (care records), the attributes of the care facility, the staff composition of the care facility, and the attributes of the target person 70.

[0040] Figs. 5A to 5F show an example of the information stored in the storage unit 23. Fig. 5A is an example of the information related to the staff terminal operation log, the system detection history, and the reporting log. This information is the information obtained at a predetermined care facility (facility ID 999). This information includes the history of specific actions of the target person 70 detected by the information processing system 1 (referred to as an action detection log or an event), the notification to the staff terminal 40, and the response log of the staff 80.

[0041] FIG. 5B shows an example of the daily rhythm of the subject 70 recorded by the information processing system 1. The daily rhythm includes information on, for example, sleep and waking.

[0042] FIG. 5C shows an example of the care performance data recorded by the operation on the staff terminal 40.

[0043] FIG. 5D shows an example of the attributes of the nursing care facility. The attributes of the facility include information on, for example, the facility type, the capacity, the location, and the occupancy rate (the number of residents / the capacity). This attribute of the facility is input, for example, by the administrator 90 or the like through the administrator terminal 30.

[0044] FIG. 5E shows an example of the staff composition of the nursing care facility, and FIG. 5F shows an example of the attributes of the subject 79 living in the nursing care facility.

[0045] The storage unit 23 further stores business information related to the work of the staff 80. The business information is information representing at least one of the amount and the content of the work of the staff 80. The business information preferably includes, for example, at least information on the total working hours of the staff 80 and information on the number of night shifts of the staff 80. This makes it easier to grasp the working conditions in which the staff 80 is likely to feel stress. The business information preferably further includes information on the content of the work. The content of the work is, for example, direct care work and indirect work. The direct care work is, for example, direct care work for the subject 70 such as morning care and evening care. The indirect work is, for example, work such as document preparation.

[0046] Figures 6A and 6B represent an example of business information. Figure 6A shows the login and logout history at the staff terminal 40. From this history, for example, the total working hours, normal overtime hours, number of night shifts, and overtime hours at the end of night shifts of each staff member 80 can be calculated. Figure 6B shows the detection history of multiple people in the living rooms of each subject 70. From this detection history, for example, the time of direct care work of each staff member 80 can be calculated.

[0047] The storage unit 23 may further store the captured image, the Doppler shift of the subject 70, and voice information. The voice information is information regarding the voice of the staff member 80 acquired over time by the voice collection unit 46.

[0048] Each of the above-mentioned information may be stored outside the storage unit 23 of the server 20, for example, stored in various storages such as a cloud server connected to the server 20 via a network. Also, each of the above-mentioned information is not limited to the form of being constructed as one database, and may be stored distributed in a plurality of databases associated with each other.

[0049] The server 20 determines (identifies) which subject 70 the events such as getting up, getting out of bed, falling, and nurse call recognized by the detection unit 10 are related to, using the event information and the captured image received from the detection unit 10 alone or in cooperation with the detection unit 10. This determination is made by determining the subject 70 (i.e., the occupant of the living room) associated with the living room number where the detection unit 10 that recognized the event is installed. Note that when the subject 70 carries an IC tag, the determination may be made by reading this IC tag with an RFID reader provided in each living room. Note that when there are multiple subjects 70 in one living room in an adjacent room or the like, the subject 70 may be determined by arranging the detection unit 10 for each bed 60.

[0050] When the server 20 receives the event information from the detection unit 10, it notifies the staff 80 of the occurrence of the event and instructs the handling of the event by sending an event notification including the name, room number of the person 70 who caused the event, and the details of the event to the staff terminal 40.

[0051] (Administrator terminal 30) FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the administrator terminal 30. The administrator terminal 30 is a so-called PC (Personal Computer), and includes a control unit 31, a communication unit 32, a display unit 33, and an input unit 34, which are interconnected by a bus.

[0052] The control unit 31 has a configuration similar to that of the control unit 11 of the detection unit 10, and includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, etc.

[0053] The communication unit 32 is an interface for various local connections such as a wired communication network interface according to a standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and a wireless communication interface according to a standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), IEEE802.11, etc., and communicates with each terminal connected to the network 50.

[0054] The display unit 33 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays various information.

[0055] The input unit 34 includes a keyboard, a numeric keypad, a mouse, etc., and inputs various information.

[0056] The administrator terminal 30 is used as a terminal for the administrator 90. The administrator 90 is, for example, a manager who oversees the staff 80.

[0057] The administrator terminal 30 receives instructions regarding the analysis and output of care information from the administrator 90, etc., and sends the received instructions to the server 20.

[0058] (Staff terminal 40) FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the staff terminal 40. The staff terminal 40 includes a control unit 41, a wireless communication unit 42, a display unit 43, an input unit 44, and an audio input / output unit 45, which are interconnected by a bus.

[0059] The control unit 41 has the same configuration as the control unit 11 of the detection unit 10 and includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, etc.

[0060] The wireless communication unit 42 is capable of wireless communication using standards such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (registered trademark), and wirelessly communicates with each device via the access point 51 or directly.

[0061] The display unit 43 and the input unit 44 are, for example, a touch panel type display, in which a touch sensor as the input unit 44 is superimposed on the display surface of the display unit 43 composed of liquid crystal or the like. Various instructions for the staff 80 are notified by the display unit 43 and the input unit 44. Also, the display unit 43 and the input unit 44 display an operation screen with an event notification, accept various operations such as input of acceptance response to an event or input of care records through the operation screen. When the dementia symptom of the target person 70 occurs, for example, the staff 80 inputs to the staff terminal 40 via the input unit 44 which target person 70 and what kind of dementia symptom has occurred. The staff 80 may input the date and time of onset of the dementia symptom.

[0062] The audio input / output unit 45 is, for example, a speaker and a microphone, and enables voice calls by the staff 80 with other staff terminals 40 via the wireless communication unit 42. The staff terminal 40 can be configured by a portable communication terminal device such as a tablet computer, a smartphone, or a mobile phone.

[0063] (Audio collection unit 46) The voice collection unit 46 collects the voices of each staff member 80 during business hours. The voice collection unit 46 includes, for example, a microphone or the like. The voice collection unit 46 may be provided in an intercommunication system (Inter Communication System).

[0064] [Functions of the control unit 21] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the control unit 21. The control unit 21 functions as an acquisition unit 211, a determination unit 212, a detection unit 213, and an output unit 214 by reading a program stored in the storage unit 23 and executing processing.

[0065] The acquisition unit 211 acquires over time business information related to the work of the staff member 80 and mental information representing the mental state of the staff member 80. The acquisition unit 211 acquires, for example, business information including information related to the total working hours of each staff member 80 and information related to the number of night shifts of each staff member 80. The mental information includes, for example, voice information of each staff member 80 collected by the voice collection unit 46. The acquisition unit 211 acquires, for example, business information and mental information from the storage unit 23.

[0066] The determination unit 212 determines the emotion of the staff member 80 at each time based on the mental information acquired by the acquisition unit 211. The determination unit 212 determines, for example, the emotion of the staff member 80 at each time by using a predetermined algorithm. The determination unit 212 may determine the emotion of the staff member 80 using statistics or may determine the emotion of the staff member 80 using a machine learning model. The emotion of the staff member 80 is, for example, fear, anger, joy, and a normal state of mind.

[0067] FIG. 10 shows an example of the emotions of the staff members 80 (staff IDs 001, 002, 004) at each time determined by the determination unit 212. The determination unit 212 determines, for example, the emotion of the staff member 80 at predetermined time intervals. The predetermined time interval is, for example, one minute.

[0068] The detection unit 213 detects a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff member 80 based on the emotion of the staff member 80 determined by the determination unit 212. For example, the detection unit 213 detects an increase in the time during which the staff member 80 has a negative emotion such as anger.

[0069] The output unit 214 outputs the emotion of the staff member 80 determined by the determination unit 212 and the business information in association with each other over time. For example, the output unit 214 outputs the emotion of the staff member 80 and the business information by transmitting the emotion of the staff member 80 and the business information to the administrator terminal 30 via the communication unit 22. The administrator terminal 30 causes, for example, the received emotion of the staff member 80 and the business information to be displayed on the display unit 33.

[0070] FIG. 11 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 33. In this screen, the emotion and business information of the staff member 80 (staff ID 003) from January 2021 to May 2023 are shown in association with each other on a monthly basis. For example, from around November 2021 to around August 2022, the time during which the staff member 80 has an angry emotion has increased. During the same period, the total working hours and indirect business hours of this staff member 80 have increased. Therefore, the administrator 90 or the like can infer from this screen that the staff member 80 is under excessive stress due to the increase in the total working hours or the increase in the indirect business hours.

[0071] Details will be described later, but in the information processing system 1 of the present embodiment, in this way, since the emotion of the staff member 80 and the business information are output in association with each other over time, it is possible to monitor the relationship between the business handled by the staff member 80 and the stress borne by the staff member 80. Therefore, it becomes easier for the administrator 90 or the like to infer the causal relationship between the business handled by the staff member 80 and the stress borne by the staff member 80.

[0072] When the detection unit 213 detects a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff 80, the output unit 214 further outputs change information regarding this change. For example, the output unit 214 outputs the change information by transmitting the change information to the administrator terminal 30 via the communication unit 22. The administrator terminal 30 causes, for example, the received change information to be displayed on the display unit 33. An alert screen is displayed on the display unit 33, for example. The administrator 90 or the like who has confirmed the alert screen conducts an interview with the staff 80 himself or herself or the supervisor of the staff 80, and considers adjustments to the workload of the staff 80 and transfers between departments, etc. Thereby, it is possible to reduce the stress load caused by work. The administrator terminal 30 that has received the change information may be configured to emit a predetermined alert sound.

[0073] Note that the detection unit 10, the server 20, the administrator terminal 30, and the staff terminal 40 may include components other than the above-described components, or may not include some of the above-described components.

[0074] [Operation of Server 20] Next, the operation of the server 20 in the information processing system 1 will be described.

[0075] FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server. This flowchart can be executed by the control unit 21 according to a program stored in the storage unit 23 of the server 20.

[0076] First, the control unit 21 acquires the work information and mental information of each of the staff 80 over time (step S101). For example, the control unit 21 reads and acquires the work information and mental information stored in the storage unit 23. The control unit 21 may acquire the work information and mental information at predetermined time intervals. Alternatively, the control unit 21 may acquire all the work information and mental information stored at each time at once.

[0077] Subsequently, the control unit 21 determines the emotion of the staff 80 at each time based on the mental information acquired in the process of step S101 (step S102) After that, the control unit 21 outputs by associating in time the emotion of the staff 80 determined in the process of step S102 and the business information acquired in the process of step S101 (step S103).

[0078] Next, the control unit 21 determines whether or not a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff 80 has been detected (step S104). When a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff 80 is not detected (step S104: NO), the control unit 21 determines whether or not to end the process (step S106). When it is determined to end the process (step S106: YES), the control unit 21 ends the process. When it is determined not to end the process (step S106: NO), the control unit 21 returns to the process of step S101.

[0079] When a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff 80 is detected (step S104: YES), the control unit 21 outputs change information (step S105) and proceeds to the process of step S106.

[0080] [Functions and Effects of Server 20 and Information Processing System 1] In the server 20 and the information processing system 1 according to the present embodiment, the emotion of the staff 80 and the business information are output by being associated in time. Therefore, it becomes possible to monitor the relationship between the work that the staff 80 is in charge of and the stress that the staff 80 bears. Hereinafter, this will be described.

[0081] When the stress that the staff 80 bears increases, there is a possibility that the staff 80 may not be able to appropriately care for the target person 70. Inappropriate care for the target person 70 causes physical and mental damage to the target person 70. In addition, inappropriate care for the target person 70 may damage the brand image and social credibility of the nursing care facility, etc., and there is a possibility that the facility may not be able to continue. The administrator 90 etc. grasp the work situation of the staff 80 and prevent the occurrence of inappropriate care. However, there is a possibility that the administrator 90 etc. may not be able to notice inappropriate care.

[0082] On the other hand, by using the information processing system 1, an administrator 90 or the like can monitor the relationship between the work carried out by the staff 80 and the stress borne by the staff 80 over time. In particular, since the work information includes information regarding the total working hours, the number of night shifts, and the content of the work, it becomes easier to grasp at which points of the work the staff 80 is feeling stress. Therefore, at an early stage, it is possible to consider adjusting the work of the staff 80 and transferring them to other departments, etc., and to improve the work status of the staff 80. Alternatively, an administrator 90 or the like can also judge the care skills of the staff 80 and provide necessary education, etc. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the stress borne by the staff 80 and prevent the occurrence of inappropriate care for the target person 70.

[0083] <Modification example> FIG. 13 shows another example of the emotions of the staff 80 output by the control unit 21. The control unit 21 may output the emotions of a unit including a plurality of staff 80.

[0084] FIG. 13 shows the emotions of each of Unit 1F-A, Unit 1F-B, Unit 2F-A, Unit 2F-B, Unit 2F-C, Unit 2F-D, Unit 3F-A, Unit 3F-B, Unit 3F-C, and Unit 3F-D on January 1, 2023. Each of Units 1F-A to 3F-D belongs to, for example, five staff 80. The information processing system 1 determines, for example, the emotion of the unit as either "Good", "Needs attention", or "Bad". For example, "Good" is a state in which many of the plurality of staff 80 belonging to the unit have emotions of calmness or joy. For example, "Bad" is a state in which many of the plurality of staff 80 belonging to the unit have emotions of anger or fear. For example, "Needs attention" is a state between "Good" and "Bad".

[0085] The control unit 21 determines the emotion of the unit, for example, as follows.

[0086] First, the control unit 21 acquires the mental information of each of the plurality of staff members 80 included in the unit. Next, the control unit 21 determines the emotion of each of the plurality of staff members 80 at each time. For example, the control unit 21 determines the emotion that the staff member 80 has over the longest period of time during a day as the emotion of the staff member 80 for that day. Subsequently, the control unit 21 summarizes the emotions of each of the plurality of staff members 80 and determines the emotion of the unit. For example, the control unit 21 determines the emotion that the largest number of the plurality of staff members 80 belonging to the unit have on that day as the emotion of the unit for that day. The control unit 21 may determine the emotion of the unit by using, for example, the average value or the median value of the mental information of each of the plurality of staff members 80 belonging to the unit.

[0087] FIG. 14 shows other examples of the emotions of the staff member 80 output by the control unit 21. In addition to the emotion of the unit, the control unit 21 may output the emotion of each of the staff members 80 belonging to the unit. FIG. 14 shows the emotion of Unit 1F-A from January 2021 to May 2023, and the emotions of two staff members 80 (Staff ID 003, Staff ID 005) belonging to Unit 1F-A.

[0088] When a predetermined change in the emotion of the unit is detected, the control unit 21 may output change information regarding this change. For example, when compared with the past emotion of the unit, if negative emotions such as anger increase and, furthermore, the period during which the emotion of the unit is negative is long, the control unit 21 outputs the change information. For example, the control unit 21 outputs the change information as follows.

[0089] First, the control unit 21 calculates the average number of staff members 80 with angry feelings within the unit during a predetermined past period. Next, the control unit 21 determines whether the period during which the number of staff members 80 with angry feelings has increased by 2σ (σ: standard deviation) from this average number exceeds the threshold period. When it is determined that the threshold period has been exceeded, the control unit 21 outputs change information. The change information is transmitted to, for example, the administrator terminal 30. The administrator terminal 30 that has received the change information causes an alert screen to be displayed on the display unit 33. As a result, the administrator 90 or the like can be made aware of the changes in each unit at an early stage. Further, by displaying the feelings of each staff member 80 belonging to the unit on the display unit 33 or the like, it becomes easier for the administrator 90 or the like to identify which staff member 80 within the unit is stressed.

[0090] The configuration of the information processing system 1 described above has described the main configuration in explaining the features of the above-described embodiment, and is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims. Also, it does not exclude the configurations provided in a general information processing system.

[0091] For example, the mental information may be information other than the voice information of the staff member 80. For example, the mental information may be information regarding the vital signs of the staff member 80 or the like.

[0092] Also, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the server 20 outputs the feelings and work information of the staff member 80 by transmitting them to the administrator terminal 30. However, the server 20 may output the feelings and work information of the staff member 80 by transmitting them to the staff terminal 40, or may output the feelings and work information of the staff member 80 by transmitting them to an external display device or the like.

[0093] Also, part or all of the functions of the server 20 may be provided in the administrator terminal 30, the staff terminal 40, or the detection unit 10.

[0094] Further, the detection unit 10, the server 20, the administrator terminal 30, and the staff terminal 40 may each be configured by a plurality of devices, or any one of the devices may be included in another device and configured as a single device.

[0095] In addition, some steps of the above-described flowchart may be omitted, and other steps may be added. Also, a part of each step may be executed simultaneously, or one step may be divided into a plurality of steps and executed. Further, the execution order of each step may be changed.

[0096] Moreover, the means and methods for performing various processes in the information processing system 1 according to the above-described embodiment can be realized by either a dedicated hardware circuit or a programmed computer. The above program may be provided, for example, by a computer-readable recording medium such as a USB memory or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-ROM, or may be provided online via a network such as the Internet. In this case, the program recorded on the computer-readable recording medium is usually transferred and stored in a storage unit such as a hard disk. Also, the above program may be provided as a single application software, or may be incorporated as a single function into the software of a device such as the detection unit.

[0097] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated in detail, the disclosed embodiments are created for the purpose of illustration and exemplification only and are not limiting. The scope of the present invention should be construed by the language of the appended claims.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0098] 1 Information processing system, 10 Detection unit, 11 Control unit, 12 Communication unit, 13 Camera, 14 Call bell unit, 15 Audio input / output unit, 20 Server, 21 Control Unit, 22 Communication Unit, 23 Memory Unit, 30 Administrator Terminal, 31 Control Unit, 32 Communication Unit, 33 Display Unit, 34 Input Unit, 40 Staff Terminal, 41 Control Unit, 42 Wireless Communication Unit, 43 Display Unit, 44 Input Unit, 45 Audio Input / Output Unit, 46 Audio Collection Unit, 50 Network, 51 Access Point, 60 Bed, 70 Subject, 80 Staff, 90 Administrator.

Claims

1. An acquisition unit that acquires over time business information related to the work of the staff in a nursing care facility and mental information representing the mental state of the staff; A determination unit that determines the emotion of the staff at each time based on the acquired mental information; An output unit that associates and outputs the determined emotion of the staff with the business information over time An information processing apparatus comprising.

2. It has a detection unit that detects a predetermined change in the emotion of the staff, When a predetermined change is detected, the output unit outputs change information regarding the change. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The acquisition unit acquires the mental information of each of the plurality of the staff included in the unit, The determination unit determines the emotion of the unit obtained by summarizing the emotions of each of the plurality of the staff at each time, The output unit outputs the determined emotion of the unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

4. The mental information includes voice information regarding the voice of the staff. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

5. The business information includes at least information regarding the total working hours of the staff and information regarding the number of night shifts of the staff. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

6. The business information further includes information regarding the content of the work of the staff. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5.

7. Step (a) of acquiring over time business information related to the work of the staff in a nursing care facility; Step (b) of acquiring over time mental information representing the mental state of the staff; Step (c) of determining the emotion of the staff at each time based on the acquired mental information; Step (d) of associating and outputting the determined emotion of the staff with the business information over time An information processing method comprising.

8. Step (a) of acquiring over time business information related to the work of the staff in a nursing care facility; Step (b) of acquiring over time mental information representing the mental state of the staff; Step (c) of determining the emotion of the staff at each time based on the acquired mental information; Step (d) of associating and outputting the determined emotion of the staff with the business information over time An information processing program for causing a computer to execute a process comprising.

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