Patient care and health information management systems and methods

Abstract

Streamlined and integrated patient care and health information management systems and methods for reducing the need for costly, near constant patient monitoring by providing system components that allow healthcare professionals to view the most important data for a number of patients in varying physical locations in a seamless manner are disclosed. Various components of the system can be used to monitor patients; measure, record, and track vital signs; and coordinate patient care in an automated fashion. Patients that have a achieved a relatively stable condition during a recovery process, but who still require or would benefit from near constant, or frequent vital sign monitoring can be provided with one or more body worn vital sign sensors. These patient worn sensors can track vital sign and other information about patients, including patient movement, activity, and sleep patterns.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for coordinating patient care, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a computer system, patient information collected by a patient-worn mobile sensor associated with a patient;   identifying, by the computer system, a patient event for the patient by identifying that the received patient information meets a pre-defined condition;   accessing, by the computer system, caregiver information indicating a plurality of caregivers associated with the patient;   identifying a first caregiver associated with the patient using the accessed caregiver information;   sending, by the computer system, a first patient care alert message for the first caregiver in response to identifying the patient event, wherein the first patient care alert message includes a patient identifier for the patient, and an indication of the patient event;   determining that a specified time period has elapsed since the sending of the first patient care alert message without a predetermined response event having occurred; and   in response to determining that the specified time period has elapsed:
 identifying a second caregiver associated with the patient using the accessed caregiver information; and 
 sending, by the computer system, a second patient care alert message for the second caregiver, wherein the second patient care alert message includes the patient identifier for the patient, and the indication of the patient event. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second patient care alert message includes an indication that the first caregiver did not respond to the patient event. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second patient care alert message includes an indication of the amount of time elapsed between sending of the first patient care alert message and sending of the second patient care alert message. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the first caregiver includes determining that the first caregiver is within a first proximity of a location of the patient, and identifying the second caregiver includes determining that the second caregiver is within a second proximity of the location of the patient. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the first caregiver includes:
 identifying an event type for the patient event;   accessing caregiver information for the first caregiver indicating a plurality of event types that the first caregiver is qualified to handle; and   using the accessed caregiver information and the event type for the patient event to determine that the first caregiver is qualified to handle the patient event.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein sending the second patient care alert message is performed in response to a determination that the patient event requires immediate attention. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined response event includes receiving, at the computer system, a message from a computing device indicating that the patient event has been addressed. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein sending the first patient care alert message for the first caregiver includes causing the first patient care alert message to be displayed on a bedside monitor located within visual proximity of the first caregiver. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second patient care alert message has a heightened alert state compared to the first patient care alert message. 
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more data processing apparatus cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, at a computer system, patient information collected by a patient-worn mobile sensor associated with a patient;   identifying, by the computer system, a patient event for the patient by identifying that the received patient information meets a pre-defined condition;   accessing, by the computer system, caregiver information indicating a plurality of caregivers associated with the patient;   identifying a first caregiver associated with the patient using the accessed caregiver information;   sending, by the computer system, a first patient care alert message for the first caregiver in response to identifying the patient event, wherein the first patient care alert message includes a patient identifier for the patient, and an indication of the patient event;   determining that a specified time period has elapsed since the sending of the first patient care alert message without a predetermined response event having occurred; and   in response to determining that the specified time period has elapsed:
 identifying a second caregiver associated with the patient using the accessed caregiver information; and 
 sending, by the computer system, a second patient care alert message for the second caregiver, wherein the second patient care alert message includes the patient identifier for the patient, and the indication of the patient event. 
   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the second patient care alert message includes an indication that the first caregiver did not respond to the patient event and an indication of the amount of time elapsed between sending of the first patient care alert message and sending of the second patient care alert message. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein identifying the first caregiver includes determining that the first caregiver is within a first proximity of a location of the patient, and identifying the second caregiver includes determining that the second caregiver is within a second proximity of the location of the patient. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein identifying the first caregiver includes:
 identifying an event type for the patient event;   accessing caregiver information for the first caregiver indicating a plurality of event types that the first caregiver is qualified to handle; and   using the accessed caregiver information and the event type for the patient event to determine that the first caregiver is qualified to handle the patient event.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein sending the second patient care alert message is performed in response to a determination that the patient event requires immediate attention. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein sending the first patient care alert message for the first caregiver includes causing the first patient care alert message to be displayed on a bedside monitor located within visual proximity of the first caregiver.