Portable Medical Device Utilization Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional scheduling approaches for portable medical devices lack detailed usage cycle analysis, leading to inefficiencies such as underutilization or overstocking, as they rely on conservative estimates of device availability without tracking specific states like recharging and cleaning times.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that monitor and analyze the time spent in various states of portable medical devices, such as recharging and cleaning, to identify inefficiencies and provide corrective actions, using a processing device with memory and input/output capabilities to determine and display optimum times and suggest actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conservative estimates of device availability are used for scheduling, then device availability is ensured, but device utilization decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated tracking of device states (available, configured, delivered, returned, cleaning, recharging) and uses this feedback data to dynamically adjust scheduling estimates. This replaces static conservative estimates with real-time data-driven scheduling, allowing devices to be scheduled more aggressively while maintaining availability through actual state monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables automated self-monitoring of device states through sensors and communication modules that automatically report device status without manual intervention. This self-service capability provides accurate, real-time availability information, eliminating the need for conservative manual estimates and enabling more efficient scheduling.
2Productivity
If detailed usage cycle analysis is implemented, then device utilization improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The usage cycle is segmented into distinct states (available, configured, delivered, returned, cleaning, recharging), with each state tracked independently. This segmentation allows for detailed analysis of time spent in each phase, identifying specific bottlenecks without requiring complex overall analysis, thereby improving utilization while managing system complexity through structured breakdown.
Solution Approach 2:
A centralized server acts as an intermediary that collects state data from multiple devices, processes the information, and generates scheduling recommendations. This intermediary handles the complexity of data aggregation and analysis centrally, allowing individual devices to remain relatively simple while the system as a whole achieves sophisticated utilization optimization.
3Reliability
If time spent in recharging and cleaning states is reduced, then device availability increases, but resource requirements may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively scheduling device maintenance (cleaning and recharging) before they are needed, based on predicted availability requirements. This allows devices to be prepared in advance for their next assignment, reducing idle time and ensuring availability without requiring excessive inventory buffers.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters by optimizing the timing and duration of recharging and cleaning cycles based on actual usage patterns and demand forecasts. By dynamically adjusting these parameters rather than using fixed schedules, the system minimizes time lost to maintenance while ensuring devices are ready when needed, thereby improving availability without increasing inventory.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for improving utilization of portable medical devices by a practitioner. The method comprises: determining a plurality of states within a test cycle that are to be monitored, at least one of the states corresponding to when a device is in the possession of a patient and at least two of the states corresponding to when the device is in the possession of the practitioner; monitoring the time one or more devices are in one of the states; determining that the time spent in the one state by one device or the average time spent in the one state by more than one device is greater than an optimum time; and providing an indication that the time spent in the one state by the one device or the average time spent in the one state by the more than one portable medical device is greater than the optimum time.