Patient Flow

Bed Management Systems used in healthcare are commonly called ADT (Admission Discharge Transfer) systems and utilize the HL7 ADT standard.  ADT systems simply report on the current state of the hospital (which patients are in which beds).  ADT systems don’t commonly manage how many beds are “open” (available) for a patient to be transferred into.

Enhanced data collection systems would refer to systems that supplement the ADT information such as whether the bed is open (cleaning accomplished) and if the bed has the staffing or equipment that allows for a patient to be transferred. 

Dashboards are commonly either active reporting systems or passive displays.   The kind of dashboards that we are most interested in are passive dashboards that show the state of the hospital.  These passive dashboards would be like the type found in a Mission Control environment or the type found in the airport that display arriving and departing information.

Operations Management (Engineering) has also been looking at improving patient flow in hospitals by using Process Control methods.  

Simulations have a long track record in the academic literature for being applied to healthcare.  Most of the literature seems to focus around Emergency Department simulations, as this seems to be the most problem area and the most publicly aware area.  Most of these simulations are created by manually collecting data and creating a discrete event simulation system.  There are several problems with this approach, such as the seasonal dynamics of patient flow, changes in the healthcare system, etc.  In many cases the simulation is obsolute by the time it is completed.

Project: Collation of simulations in the academic literature and summary of the limitations addressed. 

One of the areas that hasn’t been pursued very much in patient flow research or application has been the approach of prediction in managing patient placement.  There is still very little literature published about which algorithms are best suited for which aspect of patient flow and also which data is required for the most accurate predictions.  

Project: 

Patient flow management and analysis using location tracking
http://www.google.com/patents/US20090315735
Abstract – A patient flow system and method manages patients in a medical facility by tagging patients, medical staff, and medical assets with wireless locator tags, and assigning a patient flow pattern to each patient. As the patient moves throughout the medical facility, the patient tag sends location information to a management computer to track the patient’s progress through the patient flow pattern. The patient’s next state is determined by analyzing the patient’s location as well as the patient’s current and previous states.
Priority Date: Apr 10, 2006

System and method for tracking patient flow 
http://www.google.com/patents/US20050209886
Abstract – The invention provides a system and method for tracking the progress of patient in a healthcare or medical facility, including an emergency room or department. The system requires minimal additional input of data from busy facility personnel or administrators. Tracking of patients is accomplished using RFID tags with unique identification numbers attached to individual patient charts, and determining the presence of the charts and the time deposited in a chart rack or holder at various stations in the facility through RFID interrogators that detect the RFID tags on the charts when they are placed in the rack. The system monitors the time a patient chart remains at a particular station, and can provide alerts when patient charts remain longer than a certain period of time. The system also stores the data collected over a period of time and can provide reports on patient flow through the facility.
Priority Date: Feb 5, 2004

Automated patient flow management system
http://www.google.ca/patents/US20090281825
Abstract – A patient flow management system includes a means for identifying a patient as the patient approaches an examination area. When the patient is identified, a patient encounter screen, which provides both patient data and medical procedure data, is provided in the examination area, thereby decreasing the need for paper charts and increasing the efficiency of the facility. The system can also include a timer for determining an amount of time that a patient has been left in an examination room, and kiosks for checking into an appointment and providing identifying tokens to the patient.
Priority Date: 9 May 2008

Enterprise-wide hospital bed management dashboard system
http://www.google.ca/patents/US7774215
Abstract – An integrated health care delivery network with enabling software and network technology to maximize bed resources, manage varying census levels, and avoid patient diversions through real-time monitoring, automation and communication, is disclosed. Preferably, the present invention is embodied in a bed management/census control dashboard (BMD) system that interfaces with and complements existing Admission/Discharge/Transfer (ADT) systems. The BMD system is an easy-to-use business intelligence application that is designed to allow administrators, clinicians and managers to easily access, analyze and display real-time patient and bed availability information from ancillary information systems, databases and spreadsheets. It enables users to see trends and relationships in hospital (bed) management data directly from their desktop personal computers.
Priority Date: 7 Sept 2001

Managing patient bed assignments and bed occupancy in a health care facility
https://www.google.ca/patents/US7720695
Abstract – An integrated health care delivery network with enabling software and network technology to maximize bed resources, manage varying census levels, and avoid patient diversions through real-time monitoring, automation and communication, is disclosed. Preferably, the present invention is embodied in a bed management system that interfaces with and complements existing Admission/Discharge/Transfer (ADT) systems. The bed management system is an easy-to-use business intelligence application that is designed to allow administrators, clinicians and managers to easily access, analyze and display real-time patient and bed availability information from ancillary information systems, databases and spreadsheets. It enables users to see trends and relationships in hospital (bed) management data directly from their desktop personal computers.
Priority Date: 7 Sep 2001