Method for facilitating communication, data access and workflow in a healthcare environment/facility

Abstract

A method and system of facilitating communication within a healthcare environment is disclosed. The healthcare environment has a directory of providers and a patient census system having patients and patient events. The method and system include a database server configured and arranged to receive and store patients and patient events from the patient census system and providers from the directory, the providers automatically mapped to patients based on predetermined criteria. Patient events are recorded in the patient census system and automatically pushed to the providers mapped to the respective patient in real-time. Preferably, the patient events are pushed to mobile device carried by providers, wirelessly and in real-time. Providers may manage, create and assign patient events via the mobile device, which assigned providers receive and may act on or complete.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of facilitating communication within a healthcare environment, the healthcare environment having a directory of providers and a patient census system having patients and patient events, the method comprising:
 automatically mapping providers in the directory with patients in the patient census system; and   pushing patient events recorded in the patient census system to the providers mapped to the respective patient in real-time.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the patient events are pushed to providers wirelessly to a mobile device of each provider. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing a database server and storing the mapping of providers and patients in the database server. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising creating a patient event with a mobile device and pushing the patient event to the patient census system and other providers mapped to that patient. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of automatically mapping providers to patients comprises forming an organizational team of providers and associating the patients with the organizational team. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of automatically mapping providers to patients comprises automatically assigning a provider to a patient based on a role assigned to the provider. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of automatically mapping providers to patients comprises automatically assigning a provider to a patient based on the shift of the provider. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , pushing an activity feed to the providers in real-time. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , subscribing to an activity feed and pushing an activity feed to the provider in real-time, wherein the activity feed comprises patient events belonging to particular type of patient event. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the activity feed is selected from the group consisting essentially of pharmacy feed, laboratory feed, radiology feed, reports feed, and/or vitals feed. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein an alert caused by pushed events to the mobile devices of the providers is silenced when the provider is within a space where they should not be disturbed. 
     
     
         12 . The method of claim ii, further comprising placing a transmitter within the space and detecting if the mobile device is within a predefined range of the transmitter. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising responding to a patient event by physically bumping the mobile device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , detecting the pattern of bumps and sending one of a selection of predefined messages based on the pattern of bumps detected. 
     
     
         15 . A system for facilitating communication within a healthcare environment, the healthcare environment having a directory of providers and a patient census system having patients and patient events, the system comprising:
 a database server configured and arranged to receive and store patients and patient events from the patient census system and providers from the directory, the providers automatically mapped to patients based on predetermined criteria; and   an application server configured and arranged to push patient events to providers mapped to the patients in real-time;   wherein the database server and application server are implemented in a networked computer environment communicatingly connected to the directory and the patient census system, the networked computer environment comprising a computer having a processor, a memory and a storage.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the database server and application server are configured and arranged to run on a virtual server. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising a middleware server and a parser configured and arranged to query or receive updates from the patient census system and transmit resulting data to the database server. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the patient events are pushed to a plurality of mobile devices providers wirelessly to a mobile device of each provider. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising a mobile device application configured and arranged to run on a mobile device possessed by a provider, the mobile device application configured and arranged to receive patient events pushed by the app server. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the mobile device application is further configured and arranged to create and send patient events to other providers. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the database server is further configured and arranged to tag patient events for inclusion in an activity feed of patient events that a provider can subscribe to receive push notifications. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the patient events may be tagged for inclusion in an activity feed selected from the group consisting essentially of a pharmacy feed, laboratory feed, radiology feed, reports feed, and vitals feed. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the predefined criteria for automatically mapping providers to patients include mapping patients to providers based on organizational team the provider is assigned to. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the predefined criteria for automatically mapping providers to patients include mapping patients to providers based on the role assigned to the provider. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein an alert caused by pushed events to the mobile devices of the providers is silenced when the provider is within a space where they should not be disturbed. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , further comprising a transmitter placed within the space designated as a do not disturb zone and the mobile device is further configured and arranged to detect if the mobile device is within a predefined range of the transmitter. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the mobile device is further configured and arranged to detect being physically bumped. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the mobile device is further configured and arranged to respond to a patient event with a predefined message in response to being physically bumped. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the mobile device is further configured and arranged to send one of a selection of predefined messages based on the pattern of bumps detected.