WiFi-Based Patient Care Coordination System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Healthcare providers face inefficiencies in locating and coordinating with each other within large hospital complexes, leading to inefficient patient care rounds and potential errors due to the lack of real-time location tracking and communication.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing WiFi router mapping technology and software modules to track and connect doctors, nurses, and other care team members on a digital map, enabling them to communicate and coordinate care teams efficiently, while ensuring HIPAA compliance, and allowing patients to provide real-time feedback through a mobile application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If health care providers manually locate each other within large hospital complexes, then communication between providers can occur, but time is wasted and coordination efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical location methods (physically searching for providers) with an electronic WiFi-based tracking system. Mobile devices carried by health care providers automatically transmit location data through WiFi routers, allowing real-time digital mapping and elimination of time-consuming physical searches for team members.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a centralized server as an intermediary that collects location data from multiple WiFi routers and processes it to generate real-time maps showing provider locations. This intermediary system acts as a mediator between providers' mobile devices and the care team's coordination needs, enabling efficient location awareness without direct provider-to-provider communication.
2Reliability
If health care providers round without real-time location tracking, then simpler systems are used, but coordination accuracy and team assembly capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes existing mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) serve multiple functions: they act as both clinical communication tools and location tracking devices. The same device providers use for medical documentation and patient communication also captures and transmits location data, eliminating the need for separate tracking hardware and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables providers to automatically contribute their location data through their mobile devices without requiring additional manual input or specialized equipment. The mobile device's existing WiFi capability serves the dual purpose of communication and location tracking, with the system automatically processing this data through the server to provide real-time coordination information.
3Productivity
If providers spend time seeking each other out, then more time is available for individual tasks, but overall care delivery efficiency and patient care quality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary location tracking and mapping before care rounds begin. By continuously collecting and processing WiFi location data in advance, the system prepares real-time maps that show current provider locations, allowing providers to immediately see where team members are located without needing to search or ask, thus eliminating time loss before rounding activities start.
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment includes displaying to a physician at least one of: (a)(i) a map of a hospital floor, (a)(ii) a first patient identifier, and (a)(iii) a second patient identifier, wherein (b)(i) the map displays first and second rooms of the hospital floor, (b)(ii) a first patient is assigned to the first room and the first patient identifier, (b)(iii) a second patient is assigned to the second room and a second patient identifier, and (b)(iv) a first nurse is assigned to the first room and the first patient identifier, (b)(v) and a second nurse is assigned to the second room and the second patient identifier; receiving a selection from the physician, the selection comprising at least one of the displayed first room and the displayed first patient identifier; and sending a communication from the physician to the first nurse, and not the second nurse, in response to receiving the selection.