Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-30
2001-07-03
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S572800, C340S870030, C340S870030, C340S870030, C340S005800, C340S005810
Reexamination Certificate
active
06255951
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to identification bracelets and more particularly to a disposable bracelet having an embedded electronic memory and a reusable transceiver which is releasably attachable to the bracelet for receiving data from a remote source to be stored in the memory and transmitting data stored in the memory to a remote receiver.
Throughout time accurate patient identification has been a paramount concern in administering medication to, and performing medical procedures on, a patient. Years ago patient identification was relatively simple as local doctors would provide all types of medical care for essentially every person within a small community and knew each patient personally.
However, in today's medical environment, patient identification is a much more arduous task for many reasons. First, literally hundreds of patients are examined and treated on a daily basis in large modern medical facilities, each doctor or nurse interacting with as many as twenty or more patients within a single day. With such high traffic unaided positive patient identification is nearly impossible for any doctor or nurse.
Second, many medical facilities are expansive including specialized departments which are spread out throughout the facility, many departments being on different floors or even in different buildings. For example, diagnostic examination, imaging, surgery, recovery, etc., areas are all usually separate and staffed by different personnel. As a patient is moved from one department to another, even if personnel within one department can visually identify a patient, personnel in another department may not be able to identify the patient.
Third, many patients are admitted into a medical facility for a period which is longer than a single shift. Where facility personnel changes during a patient's stay, unaided patient identification would be nearly impossible.
Fourth, in many cases medical personnel cannot rely on a patient for correct identification. Some patients might be experiencing severe trauma, be under the influence of medication or be asleep, thereby making positive identification verification impossible.
For years the standard for patient identification has been to place an identification bracelet on each patient's wrist. One bracelet includes a clear plastic sleeve having first and second ends and a paper strip. Information including a patient's name, an identification number and perhaps primary appearance characteristics (e.g. eye color, hair color, height, weight, etc.), are printed on a viewing surface of the strip. The strip is inserted in the sleeve with the viewing surface observable through the sleeve. The two ends of the sleeve are integrally joined using a mechanical fastener thereby forming a ring around the patient's wrist. These bracelets are designed to be removed only by cutting so that once a bracelet is placed on a patient, the bracelet cannot mistakenly be placed on another patient. In addition, these bracelets are inexpensive enough that they are disposable.
While these bracelets are helpful, often it is difficult to read information from the paper strips within the sleeves as the sleeves often hinder viewing, the paper strips slide inside the sleeve and can even become folded or crimped within the sleeve.
Recently, new plastic materials and new printing methods have been developed which enable printing directly on plastic surfaces. In addition, new adhesives have been developed which are used to fasten bracelet ends together. This new technology has facilitated single piece bracelets wherein identification material is printed directly on a viewing surface of a plastic strap and the strap is secured around a patient's wrist using an adhesive.
A patient's bracelet is used by all medical facility personnel to identify a patient. Prior to administering a medication a nurse or doctor reads the patient's name from the bracelet and compares the patient's name with the name of the patient for whom the medication was dispensed. The patient's name is usually printed either on a medication order or on a paper enclosed with the medication in a container or bag.
In addition, prior to performing any medical or diagnostic procedure, facility personnel also use the bracelet to identify a patient. For example, a person recording an electrocardiogram (EKG) to be sent to a computerized storage system will often be instructed to provide, via a keyboard, a patient's name and identification number from the bracelet. Both the name and number are often requested as a misspelling of the name is a fairly common mistake and the identification number provides redundant identification.
For the purpose of this explanation, printed plastic bracelets will be described as printed bracelets. While printed bracelets have improved identification, printed bracelets have a number of important shortcomings. First, only a small amount of information can be printed on a bracelet. In this regard, unless a person viewing identification information has a medical history file in his/her possession, the person cannot identify immediate medical status of a patient (e.g. medication to be administered, time to administer medication, recent medical procedures, symptoms, etc.).
Second, information on a plastic bracelet cannot automatically be transferred to electronic instrumentation such as an EKG machine, an imaging machine, etc. where a medical instrument requires patient information, the information must be manually provided by facility personnel.
Third, each time a patient must be identified, the doctor, nurse or orderly identifying the patient must pick up the patient's wrist and rotate the wrist or the bracelet to a position wherein the identification information is observable. While this simple procedure is not in and of itself difficult for a person to perform or extremely bothersome to a patient; when the procedure must be performed a dozen or more times each day, the cumulative effect can be both bothersome to the patient and burdensome to the person who has to identify the patient.
Fourth, once information has been printed on the bracelet, the information cannot be changed and additional information cannot be added. This may not be important during short stays at a medical facility because printed information likely will not change appreciably over a short period. However, during a long stay at a facility, some printed information, in particular primary appearance characteristics (e.g. weight, etc.), may change and therefore should be updated.
One way in which to transfer identifying information from a bracelet to a medical instrument is to provide identifying information in bar code form. Bar codes, however, also have short-comings. While a bar code provides a machine readable format, only a limited amount of information can be represented by a bar code. This is because bar codes typically require as much space per represented character than the conventional alphabet. While smaller codes are possible, smaller codes are extremely difficult to read. In addition, practically, only a certain length of bar code is possible given the natural curve of a patient's wrist and the requirement that the code be essentially flat during scanning. In addition, like conventional printing, bar codes cannot be modified and therefore bracelet information cannot be modified after a bar is printed. Because a bar code cannot be read unless it is essentially flat, a bar code, to a greater extent than conventional print, requires special placement of a patient's wrist to read represented information. Furthermore, non-contact bar code reading devices are relatively expensive and often it takes several attempts to read a code accurately.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,805 describes an identification device including a memory “button” or chip which may be embedded within a bracelet, the bracelet worn by a patient. Identification information
Pham Toan
Quarles & Brady LLP
Wu Daniel J.
LandOfFree
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