Facial Template Verification for Patient Identity During Procedures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Patient misidentification during medical procedures can lead to errors such as transfusion, medication, and surgical errors, often due to similarities in names, inaccurate birth dates, concealed identities, or errors in computerized systems, leading to potential harm and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing facial recognition technology to confirm patient identity by comparing facial templates before and during procedures, integrating with surgical tools to ensure correct patient selection and tool placement, and providing visual and audible alerts for mismatches.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional identification methods (name, birth date, wristband) are used, then the identification process is simple and quick, but patient misidentification errors occur due to name similarities, inaccurate data, or concealed identities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical/manual identification methods (wristband checking, name verification) with an optical/facial recognition system. The facial recognition system captures images of the patient's face and compares them against stored facial templates to automatically verify identity, eliminating reliance on manual data entry and wristband verification while significantly improving identification accuracy.
2Reliability
If facial recognition technology is implemented, then patient identification accuracy is enhanced, but the system complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing and storing facial templates of patients during the registration process before actual medical procedures. These pre-stored templates are then quickly compared against real-time facial images during patient verification, reducing computational complexity during critical moments while maintaining high reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates simplified digital copies of patient facial features in the form of facial templates during registration. These templates serve as reference copies that can be quickly compared against live facial images, reducing the computational burden during verification while maintaining high identification accuracy and reliability.
3Productivity
If manual patient verification is used, then the process is fast and requires minimal technology, but errors occur due to human factors such as non-conscious patients or clothing that conceals identity
Solution Approach 1:
The facial recognition system enables self-service verification where the patient's own facial features serve as the identification mechanism. The system automatically captures and compares facial images without requiring patient participation beyond presenting their face, eliminating dependencies on patient consciousness, cooperation, or visible identification elements like wristbands or names.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure provides a system that may receive an identification of a first patient; may receive a first template that includes first multiple locations associated with a face of the first patient and associated with the identification of the first patient; may determine second multiple locations associated with a face of a current patient; may determine a second template of the face of the current patient based at least on the second multiple locations associated with the face of the current patient; may determine if the first template matches the second template; if the first template matches the second template, may provide an indication that the current patient has been correctly identified as the first patient; and if the first template does not match the second template, may provide an indication that the current patient has not been identified.