System and method for clinical workforce management interface

Abstract

A system and related techniques generate and present a clinical workforce management interface to assign nurses, technicians, therapists and others in a hospital or other clinical setting. According to embodiments, the interface may present components including an aggregate patient population profile which lists individual patients in a unit, as well as the projected workload capacity the care for those patients represents as well as an assignment bar depicting the continuity of provider assignments for that patient over a shift, 24 hour, or other period. The workforce management interface may likewise present a counterpart provider population profile which lists available care providers in a unit, as well as their capacity ratings, skill sets, shifts or other schedule and other data characterizing available clinical stuff. According to embodiments of the invention in one regard, a charge nurse or other staff manager may visually or graphically view and manipulate the provider-to-patient assignments, for instance by dragging and dropping icons or other visual elements to perform assignments. According to embodiments of the invention in another regard, compliance monitoring functions such as maintaining mandated patient to nurse or other provider ratios may be automatically performed, and the staff manager may be alerted when those or other ratios or criteria violate limits.

1 . A system for generating an interface for managing clinical workforce operations, comprising: 
 a first interface to receive a patient population profile and a care provider population profile;    a second interface to an assignment engine, the assignment engine receiving the patient population profile and care provider population profile to process care provider-to-patient assignment information; and    a presentation layer, the presentation layer communicating with the assignment engine to generate an interactive display of coverage information for the patient population based on the provider-to-patient assignment information.    
     
     
         2 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the care provider population profile comprises a list of care providers and associated care provider schedules, care provider skill sets and care provider capacity ratings.  
     
     
         3 . A system according to  claim 2 , wherein care provider schedule information may be graphically manipulated to satisfy patient population coverage requirements.  
     
     
         4 . A system according to  claim 3 , wherein the graphical manipulation comprises dragging and dropping a care provider identifier object on a patient identifier object.  
     
     
         5 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the presentation layer generates an alert upon detection of a coverage exception.  
     
     
         6 . A system according to  claim 5 , wherein the coverage exception comprises at least one of a skill set mismatch, a care provider over capacity condition, and a patient coverage gap.  
     
     
         7 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the presentation layer comprises a graphical user interface.  
     
     
         8 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the coverage information comprises at least one of aggregate care provider capacity information, expandable assignment views and compliance information.  
     
     
         9 . A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the display of coverage information comprises an assignment bar, the assignment bar representing coverage for a patient over a scheduled period.  
     
     
         10 . A system according to  claim 9 , wherein the assignment bar comprises a coverage gap indicator.  
     
     
         11 . A method for generating an interface for managing clinical workforce operations, comprising: 
 receiving a patient population profile and a care provider population profile;    processing care provider-to-patient assignment information based on the patient population profile and care provider population profile; and    generating an interactive display of coverage information for the patient population based on the care provider-to-patient assignment information.    
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein the care provider population profile comprises a list of care providers and associated care provider schedules, care provider skill sets and care provider capacity ratings.  
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 12 , further comprising graphically manipulating care provider schedule information to satisfy patient population coverage requirements.  
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the graphically manipulating comprises dragging and dropping a care provider identifier object on a patient identifier object.  
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 11 , further comprising generating an alert upon detection of a coverage exception.  
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 15 , wherein the coverage exception comprises at least one of a skill set mismatch, a care provider over capacity condition, and a patient coverage gap.  
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein the generating a display comprises generating a display via a graphical user interface.  
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein the coverage information comprises at least one of aggregate care provider capacity information, expandable assignment views and compliance information.  
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein the display of coverage information comprises an assignment bar, the assignment bar representing coverage for a patient over a scheduled period.  
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 19 , wherein the assignment bar comprises a coverage gap indicator.  
     
     
         21 . An interactive graphical display of clinical coverage information, the interactive graphical display being generated by a method comprising: 
 receiving a patient population profile and a care provider population profile;    processing care provider-to-patient assignment information based on the patient population profile and care provider population profile; and    generating an interactive display of coverage information for the patient population based on the care provider-to-patient assignment information.    
     
     
         22 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 21 , wherein the care provider population profile comprises a list of care providers and associated care provider schedules, care provider skill sets and care provider capacity ratings.  
     
     
         23 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 22 , wherein the method further comprises graphically manipulating the care provider schedule information to satisfy patient population coverage requirements.  
     
     
         24 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 23 , wherein the graphically manipulating comprises dragging and dropping a care provider identifier object on a patient identifier object.  
     
     
         25 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 21 , wherein the method further comprises generating an alert upon detection of a coverage exception.  
     
     
         26 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 25 , wherein the coverage exception comprises at least one of a skill set mismatch, a care provider over capacity condition, and a patient coverage gap.  
     
     
         27 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 21 , wherein the generating a display comprises generating a display via a graphical user interface.  
     
     
         28 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 21 , wherein the coverage information comprises at least one of aggregate care provider capacity information, expandable assignment views and compliance information.  
     
     
         29 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 21 , wherein the display of coverage information comprises an assignment bar, the assignment bar representing coverage for a patient over a scheduled period.  
     
     
         30 . An interactive graphical display according to  claim 29 , wherein the assignment bar comprises a coverage gap indicator.