# US 2014/0195257 A1 · Method And System For Workflow Modification

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- Number: US 2014/0195257 A1
- Document ID: US20140195257A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/798,138
- Filed: 2013-03-13
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2009-04-05
- Assignees: Awarepoint Corporation
- Inventors: Matthew R. Perkins; Wei Geng; Brian Wicks
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140195257A1

## CPC

- G06Q 10/063114: {Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group}
- G06Q 30/04: Billing or invoicing
- G16H 40/20: for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA

## Abstract

A system and method for workflow modification in a facility is disclosed herein. The system comprises a sensors, communication devices and a location engine. The location engine is configured to determine a location of at least one object or person, determine a first workflow from at least one location of the object or the person, and determine a departure from the first workflow.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for workflow modification in a facility, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of signals at a plurality of sensors from a plurality of communication devices, each of the plurality of communication devices associated with an object or a person, each of the plurality of sensors positioned at a plurality of locations in a facility for real-time location tracking of persons and/or objects;
transmitting the plurality of signals to a location engine;
determining at the location engine a location of at least one object or person;
determining a first workflow from at least one location of the object or the person; and
determining a departure from the first workflow.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting an alert upon determining a departure from the first workflow.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 wherein the first workflow is at least one of a series of locations, a series of states, a series of dwell times, a series of interactions, a series of milestones, or a series of detected events.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3 wherein the series of milestones is at least one of a physician call, an EMS call, an arrival/sign-in, a nurse saw, a doctor saw, an entered department, a departed department, a bed request, a bed check, a bed ready, a fully registered, a triaged, a quick registered, a disposition ordered, and a floor report.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3 wherein the series of milestones is at least one of case created, a check-in, a ready for pre-op, a pre-op declined, a pre-op accepted, an arrived pre-op room, a ready for pre-op nurse, a patient prepped, a left pre-op, an inpatient ready, an ED ready, an arrived OR, a procedure start, a procedure end, a ready for PACU, a ready for ICU, a ready for post-op, a PACU decline, a post-op declined, a PACU accepted, a post-op accepts OR and a departed OR.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 wherein the role of each object associated with each of the plurality of communication devices is maintained and tracked by the location engine.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 wherein the object is selected from the group of a patient, a nurse, a physician, housekeeping member, a technician, a transport, a room, a fix location asset, and a moveable asset.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 wherein each of the communication devices operates on at least one of the communication protocols selected from ZIGBEE, BLUETOOTH, BLUETOOTH low energy, WiFi, Low-power WiFi, Low Frequency (LF), Ultrasound and Infrared communication formats.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 wherein the location engine is a context aware location engine.

### Claim 10

A method for workflow modification in a facility, the method comprising:
knowing a first workflow a priori;
receiving a plurality of signals at a plurality of sensors from a plurality of communication devices, each of the plurality of communication devices associated with an object or a person, each of the plurality of sensors positioned at a plurality of locations in a facility for real-time location tracking of persons and/or objects;
transmitting the plurality of signals to a location engine;
determining at the location engine a location of at least one object or person;
determining a departure from the first workflow; and
determining a second workflow.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method according to claim 10 further comprising comparing the second workflow with the first workflow that is known a priori, to detect a change in the first workflow over a predetermined time period.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method according to claim 11 further comprising modifying the first workflow to accommodate the detected changes to the first workflow over the predetermined time period.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method according to claim 11 further comprising transmitting an alert upon detecting changes to the first workflow over a predetermined time period.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1 wherein the first workflow is at least one of a series of locations, a series of states, a series of dwell times, a series of interactions, a series of milestones, or a series of detected events.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method according to claim 14 wherein the series of milestones is at least one of a physician call, an EMS call, an arrival/sign-in, a nurse saw, a doctor saw, an entered ED, a departed ED, a bed request, a bed check, a bed ready, a fully registered, a triaged, a quick registered, a dispo ordered, and a floor report.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method according to claim 14 wherein the series of milestones is at least one of case created, a check-in, a ready for pre-op, a pre-op declined, a pre-op accepted, an arrived pre-op room, a ready for pre-op nurse, a patient prepped, a left pre-op, an inpatient ready, an ED ready, an arrived OR, a procedure start, a procedure end, a ready for PACU, a ready for ICU, a ready for post-op, a PACU decline, a post-op declined, a PACU accepted, a post-op accepts OR and a departed OR.

### Claim 17

A system for workflow modification in a facility, the system comprising:
a plurality of sensors positioned at a plurality of locations in a facility for real-time location tracking of persons and/or objects;
a plurality of communication devices, each of the plurality of communication devices associated with an object or a person, each of the plurality of communication devices configured to transmit a signal to at least one of the plurality of sensors; and
a location engine in communication with the plurality of sensors, the location engine configured to determine a location of at least one object or person, determine a first workflow from at least one location of the object or the person, and determine a departure from the first workflow.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The system according to claim 17 wherein the location engine is configured to transmit an alert upon determining a departure from the first workflow.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The system according to claim 17 wherein the standard workflow is at least one of a series of locations, a series of states, a series of dwell times, a series of interactions, a series of milestones, or a series of detected events.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The system according to claim 19 wherein the series of milestones is at least one of a physician call, an EMS call, an arrival/sign-in, a nurse saw, a doctor saw, an entered ED, a departed ED, a bed request, a bed check, a bed ready, a fully registered, a triaged, a quick registered, a dispo ordered, and a floor report.

### Claim 21 (depends on 19)

The system according to claim 19 wherein the series of milestones is at least one of case created, a check-in, a ready for pre-op, a pre-op declined, a pre-op accepted, an arrived pre-op room, a ready for pre-op nurse, a patient prepped, a left pre-op, an inpatient ready, an ED ready, an arrived OR, a procedure start, a procedure end, a ready for PACU, a ready for ICU, a ready for post-op, a PACU decline, a post-op declined, a PACU accepted, a post-op accepts OR and a departed OR.

### Claim 22 (depends on 17)

The system according to claim 17 wherein the object is selected from the group of a patient, a nurse, a physician, housekeeping member, a technician, a transport, a room, a fix location asset, and a moveable asset.

### Claim 23 (depends on 17)

The system according to claim 17 wherein the facility is a hospital and the plurality of workflow stages of patient under tracking comprises at least one of a patient arrival stage, a patient in preparation for a medical procedure, a patient in a medical procedure stage, a patient in post-medical procedure stage, and a patient departure.

### Claim 24 (depends on 17)

The system according to claim 17 wherein the location engine is configured to maintain and track workflow specific usage information about each of a plurality of locations in the facility.