Patient Verification System Using Biometric Intermediaries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical imaging technologies face challenges with wrong-patient errors, where radiologic images are mislabeled, leading to potential misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment, due to difficulties in correctly correlating radiologic medical images with patient details, especially in cases of trauma patients or those unconscious or mentally unsound.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that utilizes previous-timepoint imagery or audio recordings associated with a patient's identity to verify the correct patient during a current imaging session, using image sensors and artificial intelligence to prevent wrong-patient errors and laterality errors by comparing imaged structure attributes with intended attributes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If medical imaging systems rely on manual patient identification and demographic information matching, then the system remains simple and easy to operate, but wrong-patient errors occur frequently leading to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures patient photographs and audio recordings at the beginning of the imaging session before the actual imaging occurs. These preliminary biometric data are then used for verification against the scheduled patient's information, preventing wrong-patient errors before they can affect diagnosis or treatment decisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces biometric intermediaries (photographs and audio recordings) as a mediating verification layer between the patient and the imaging system. These biometric markers serve as an intermediary check that confirms patient identity without requiring complex real-time analysis during the imaging process itself.
2Reliability
If radiologic images are obtained without verifying patient identity through multiple modalities, then the imaging process is fast and efficient, but mislabeling errors propagate to future studies and negatively affect patient management
Solution Approach 1:
Patient verification using photographs and audio recordings is performed preliminarily before the imaging study begins. This preliminary verification ensures accurate patient identification and prevents mislabeling errors from propagating to future studies, without significantly delaying the overall imaging workflow.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses automatically captured photographs and audio recordings that require minimal manual intervention. The biometric verification process is largely self-executing, comparing captured images and audio against stored patient information, thereby reducing the time burden on technologists while maintaining high accuracy.
3Reliability
If the system presents previous images for patient verification, then wrong-patient errors are prevented, but the operator must spend additional time comparing images and verifying identity
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses automatically captured photographs and audio recordings as intermediary verification tools that reduce the operator's workload. These biometric intermediaries provide objective comparison points that make patient verification more straightforward and less burdensome for technologists.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides immediate feedback by displaying captured photographs and audio recordings alongside patient identification information. This feedback mechanism allows operators to quickly verify patient identity through multiple modalities without requiring extensive manual comparison or interpretation, thereby maintaining ease of operation while improving reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for preventing wrong-patient errors includes receiving a selection of a current imaging subject. The current imaging subject is selected for a current image acquisition session comprising capturing one or more current images of the current imaging subject utilizing at least a first image sensor system of a first imaging modality. The method includes accessing one or more previous images of a previous imaging subject. The one or more previous images depict the previous imaging subject according to at least a second imaging modality that is different from the first imaging modality. The method includes presenting the one or more previous images on a display system and, in response to determining that the previous imaging subject matches the current imaging subject based upon the one or more previous images, performing the current image acquisition session.