Systems and methods for healthcare facility contactless communication

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing communications within a healthcare facility are provided. An audio communication channel is provisioned between a clinician video conferencing unit and a pillow speaker. A video communication channel is provisioned between the clinician video conferencing unit and a room-mounted video conferencing unit. The pillow speaker and room-mounted video conferencing unit are both located inside a room at the healthcare facility while the clinician video conferencing unit is located outside of the room, such as in the hallway, at a nurse's station, or external to the facility. The audio communication channel and the video communication channel are concurrently maintained during a contactless video conference session.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for clinician and patient contactless communication, comprising:
 receiving, by a communication management computing system from a clinician video conferencing unit, a request for a video conference, wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned external of a hospital room of a patient, wherein a pillow speaker is positioned within the hospital room at a first location, wherein a room-mounted video conferencing unit is separate from the pillow speaker and positioned within the hospital room at a second location, wherein the pillow speaker comprises a microphone and a speaker, and wherein the room-mounted video conferencing unit comprises a video camera;   provisioning, by the communication management computing system, an audio communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the pillow speaker; and   provisioning, by the communication management computing system, a video communication channel between the video camera of the room-mounted video conferencing unit and the clinician video conferencing unit for real-time video display of the patient to the clinician on the clinician video conferencing unit.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned proximate to an entrance of the hospital room. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the hospital room is within a healthcare facility and the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned external of the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned within a physician's office. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit comprises a video camera, and the method further comprises:
 provisioning, by the communication management computing system, a video feed from the video camera of the clinician video conferencing unit to the room-mounted video conferencing unit for real-time video display on the room-mounted video conferencing unit.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 activating, by the communication management computing system, the video camera of the room-mounted video conferencing unit and the video camera of the clinician video conferencing unit responsive to receiving a request for the video feed from the room-mounted video conferencing unit.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein provisioning the audio communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the pillow speaker comprises activating the microphone and the speaker of the pillow speaker without the patient physically contacting the pillow speaker. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the room-mounted video conferencing unit integrated with an in-room informational display computing system. 
     
     
         9 . A healthcare video conferencing system, comprising:
 a clinician video conferencing unit, wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned external to a hospital room;   a room-mounted video conferencing unit, wherein the room-mounted video conferencing unit is positioned at a first location within the hospital room;   a pillow speaker comprising a microphone and a speaker, wherein the pillow speaker is separate from the room-mounted video conferencing unit and is positioned within the hospital room at a second location; and   a communication management computing system comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores instructions which when executed cause the processor to:
 provide an audio communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the pillow speaker; and 
 provide a video communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the room-mounted video conferencing unit. 
   
     
     
         10 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 9 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned proximate to an entrance of the hospital room. 
     
     
         11 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 9 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is a positioned within a physician's office. 
     
     
         12 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 9 , wherein the hospital room is within a healthcare facility, and the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned external of the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         13 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 9 , wherein the audio communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the pillow speaker is provided without the patient physically contacting the pillow speaker. 
     
     
         14 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 9 , wherein audio from the patient is collected from the microphone of the pillow speaker and provided to the clinician video conferencing unit, and wherein video of the patient is collected from the video camera of the room-mounted video conferencing unit and provided to the clinician video conferencing unit. 
     
     
         15 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 14 , wherein audio from the clinician is collected from the microphone of the clinician video conferencing unit and provided to the speaker of the pillow speaker and wherein video of the clinician is collected from the video camera the clinician video conferencing unit and provided to the room-mounted video conferencing unit. 
     
     
         16 . The healthcare video conferencing system of  claim 15 , further comprising a tablet computing device, wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is integrated with the tablet computing device. 
     
     
         17 . A method for clinician and patient contactless communication, comprising:
 receiving a request for a video conference from a clinician video conferencing unit, wherein a pillow speaker is positioned within a hospital room, wherein a room-mounted video conferencing unit is separate from the pillow speaker and positioned within the hospital room, wherein the pillow speaker comprises a microphone and a speaker, and wherein the room-mounted video conferencing unit comprises a video camera; and   concurrently maintaining an audio communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the pillow speaker and a video communication channel between the clinician video conferencing unit and the room-mounted video conferencing unit.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned either in a hallway proximate to an entrance of the hospital room or at a nurse's station. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the hospital room is within a healthcare facility and the clinician video conferencing unit is positioned external of the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the clinician video conferencing unit is integrated with a tablet computing device.