JP7553108B2 - Bed transfer information system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bed transfer information system, and is particularly suitable for use in a system that provides information regarding bed transfers for people residing in a multi-bed room with multiple beds.

Generally, in multi-bed rooms in hospitals, nursing homes, etc., where there are multiple beds, the areas where each bed is located are often partitioned off with curtains to provide privacy for the occupants. It is also known that partitioning the areas where each bed is located with soundproof curtains not only provides privacy but also reduces the transmission of noise (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Here, sources of noise include sounds from the occupants talking, and sounds from medical or nursing equipment used in the treatment and care of the occupants.

However, when installing soundproof curtains between beds, if the curtains are left open or if there are gaps above, below, left or right of the curtains, there is a problem in that noise transmission cannot be sufficiently suppressed.

JP 2013-220207 A

The present invention was made to solve these problems, and aims to make some of the multiple multi-bed rooms in a facility as quiet as possible.

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, by analyzing, for each bed, the sounds collected by multiple sound collecting sensors installed in each area where each bed is located in a multi-bed room, high sound pressure time periods in which the sound pressure is at or above a predetermined level are detected, and for each bed, it is determined whether at least one of the occurrence frequency and total duration of the high sound pressure time periods per predetermined period is greater than a threshold value. Then, based on the determination result, a message recommending the patient to move to another bed is output.

According to the present invention configured as described above, when a patient moves to a different bed in response to a message recommending a change of bed, it is possible to gather people in the same room for whom at least one of the frequency and total duration of high sound pressure periods is not greater than a threshold, i.e., relatively quiet people, and it is possible to make some of the multiple multi-bed rooms in the facility as noise-free as possible. This reduces the likelihood that occupants of those rooms will be bothered by noise.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of each device provided in the bed transfer information providing system according to the present embodiment and their installation locations. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a management device according to the present embodiment; FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an analysis result of sound pressure of audio data. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a message notification screen displayed on a display of the management device.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the devices provided in the bed transfer information system according to this embodiment and their installation locations. In the following embodiment, the bed transfer information system will be described as being applied to a hospital, but the system can be applied to any facility with a multi-bed room, such as a nursing home, where multiple beds exist in one room.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hospital to which the bed transfer information system according to this embodiment is applied has multiple hospital rooms RM1, RM2, ... (in the following description, they will be referred to as hospital rooms RM when no particular distinction is made). These hospital rooms RM are multi-bed rooms with multiple beds in one room. That is, the first hospital room RM1 has four beds BD11-BD14. The second hospital room RM2 has four beds BD21-BD24. Note that the number of beds shown here is an example and is not limited to this.

In the area where each bed BD11-BD14, BD21-BD24, ... (in the following explanation, referred to as bed BD when no distinction is made) is located in each hospital room RM1, RM2, ..., microphones MC11-MC14, MC21-MC24, ... (in the following explanation, referred to as microphone MC when no distinction is made) which are sound collection sensors are installed. For example, the microphones MC are installed on the handrails or frame of the bed BD, or on the walls or shelves near the beds.

Here, the area in which a bed BD exists (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as the area of a bed BD) means the area in which one bed BD exists, and refers to an exclusive area of a size that can be distinguished from the areas of adjacent beds BD. In addition to the existence of the bed BD, medical equipment may also be installed within the area of one bed BD. Audio equipment such as a television or radio may also be placed there.

The microphone MC has a sensitivity such that, for example, when a person speaks at a normal volume in the area of the bed BD where the microphone MC is located, the sound pressure of the input voice is equal to or higher than a predetermined level (e.g., 60 dB), and when a person speaks at a normal volume in the area of another bed BD, the sound pressure of the input voice is less than the predetermined level. When a microphone MC with a sensitivity adjustment function is used, the sensitivity is set as described above.

The microphone MC has a wireless transmission function such as a wireless LAN. In addition, an access point AP1, AP2, ... (in the following explanation, referred to as an access point AP when no particular distinction is made) is installed in each hospital room RM1, RM2, ..., which wirelessly receives the voice data transmitted from the microphone MC. Each access point AP is connected to the management device 1 via a communication network such as a wired LAN, and transmits the voice data received from the microphone MC to the management device 1.

Each microphone MC is assigned a unique ID, and audio data together with the ID is transmitted from the microphone MC to the management device 1 via the access point AP. As the ID set in the microphone MC, for example, identification information of the bed BD (e.g., bed number) can be used. In the following, the ID set in this microphone MC will be described as a bed ID.

The microphone MC present in the area of the bed BD to which the hospitalized patient is assigned always has its sound collection function turned on, and constantly collects sound within the area of the bed BD. As a result, the sound data collected by each microphone MC with its sound collection function turned on is transmitted from each microphone MC to the management device 1 via the access point AP. The management device 1 records the sound data transmitted from each microphone MC, and uses this recorded sound data to perform the processing described below.

Note that, although an example has been described here in which voice data collected by the microphone MC is transmitted to the management device 1 via the access point AP, this is not limiting. For example, hospitals often have nurse call systems in which a trunk line or the like connects nurse call handsets located near each bed to a nurse call master unit installed in the nurse station. In this case, the trunk line of this nurse call system may be used to transmit voice data to the management device 1. The nurse call master unit may also be used as the management device 1.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the management device 1. As shown in Fig. 2, the management device 1 of this embodiment has, as its functional configuration, a voice acquisition unit 11, a voice recording unit 12, a sound pressure analysis unit 13, a threshold determination unit 14, and an analysis result notification unit 15. In addition, the management device 1 of this embodiment has, as a storage medium, a patient data storage unit 10.

The above-mentioned functional blocks 11 to 15 can be configured using any of hardware, DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and software. For example, when configured using software, the above-mentioned functional blocks 11 to 15 are actually configured with a computer's CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and are realized by the operation of a program stored in the RAM or ROM. The program may also be stored in other recording media such as a hard disk or semiconductor memory.

The patient data storage unit 10 stores data related to hospitalized patients who use beds BD. The patient data storage unit 10 stores table data that associates the identification information (bed ID) of the bed BD used by the patient with the patient's name. The patient data storage unit 10 also stores voice data collected by a microphone MC in association with the bed ID. Note that, although a configuration is shown here in which the table data and voice data are stored in the same patient data storage unit 10, they may also be stored in separate storage media.

The voice acquisition unit 11 acquires voice data transmitted via an access point AP from multiple microphones MC installed in each area where each bed BD is located. The voice recording unit 12 associates the voice data acquired by the voice acquisition unit 11 with the bed ID transmitted together with the voice data and stores it in the patient data storage unit 10. As described above, collected voice data is constantly transmitted to the management device 1 from a microphone MC whose voice collection function is turned on, and this voice data is sequentially recorded in the patient data storage unit 10 as time-series data.

The sound pressure analysis unit 13 analyzes the voice data for each bed BD stored in the patient data storage unit 10 (voice collected by multiple microphones MC installed in each area where each bed BD is located) for each bed BD, and detects a time period during which the sound pressure is at or above a predetermined level (e.g., 60 dB) (hereinafter referred to as a high sound pressure time period). Figure 3 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of the analysis result of the sound pressure of the voice data stored in association with one bed ID. In Figure 3, the horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is sound pressure. The sound pressure analysis unit 13 detects high sound pressure time periods 31, 32 during which the sound pressure is at or above 60 dB during the series of times during which the voice data is recorded.

The threshold determination unit 14 determines for each bed BD whether at least one of the occurrence frequency per specified period and the total duration of the high sound pressure time periods detected by the sound pressure analysis unit 13 is greater than a threshold value. The specified period is, for example, one day. In this case, the occurrence frequency per specified period refers to the number of times that a high sound pressure time period occurs during one day. Furthermore, the total duration per specified period refers to the total number of hours that a high sound pressure time period occurs during one day. The threshold determination unit 14 determines for each bed BD at least one of whether the occurrence frequency per specified period of the high sound pressure time periods is greater than a threshold number of times and whether the total duration per specified period of the high sound pressure time periods is greater than a threshold time.

Based on the result of the determination, the analysis result notification unit 15 outputs a message recommending bed transfer for any bed. That is, the analysis result notification unit 15 outputs a message recommending bed transfer for beds determined by the threshold determination unit 14 to be greater than the threshold or not greater than the threshold. When determining whether or not both the occurrence frequency and the total duration per specified period are greater than the threshold, a message recommending bed transfer is output for beds determined to be greater than the threshold for both the occurrence frequency and the total duration or not greater than the threshold.

Here, the analysis result notification unit 15 compares the number of beds BD that are determined by the threshold determination unit 14 to be greater than the threshold among the multiple beds BD present in one hospital room RM with the number of beds BD that are determined not to be greater than the threshold, and based on the comparison result, determines whether to recommend transfer for a bed BD determined to be greater than the threshold or a bed BD determined not to be greater than the threshold.

Specifically, if the number of beds BD determined by the threshold determination unit 14 to be greater than the threshold is less than the number of beds BD determined to not be greater than the threshold, it is determined that the beds BD determined to be greater than the threshold are to be recommended to be transferred. On the other hand, if the number of beds BD determined by the threshold determination unit 14 to be greater than the number of beds BD determined to not be greater than the threshold, it is determined that the beds BD determined to not be greater than the threshold are to be recommended to be transferred.

When the number of beds BD determined by the threshold determination unit 14 to be greater than the threshold is equal to the number of beds BD determined not to be greater than the threshold, for example, it is randomly determined which bed BD is recommended for transfer. Alternatively, a message may be output indicating both as transfer candidates, and the medical staff may select which bed to actually transfer to.

The message recommending a bed change is output, for example, by displaying it on a display provided in the management device 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a message notification screen displayed on the display of the management device 1. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the names of hospitalized patients are displayed for each hospital room RM1, RM2, ... by referring to the table data stored in the patient data storage unit 10, and a message indicating that a bed change is recommended is displayed in the patient display area corresponding to the bed BD for which a bed change is recommended.

As explained in detail above, in this embodiment, the sound collected by multiple microphones MC installed in each area where each bed BD is located in the hospital room RM is analyzed for each bed BD to detect high sound pressure time periods when the sound pressure is above a predetermined level, and it is determined for each bed BD whether at least one of the occurrence frequency per predetermined period and the total duration of the high sound pressure time period is greater than a threshold value. Then, for beds BD determined to be greater than the threshold value or not, a message recommending transfer is output.

According to this embodiment, which is configured in this manner, when a patient is moved to a different bed in response to a message recommending a change of bed, it is possible to gather people in the same hospital room RM, in which at least one of the frequency of occurrence and total duration of high sound pressure periods is not greater than a threshold, i.e., people who are relatively quiet, and it is possible to make some of the hospital rooms RM1, RM2, ... in the hospital as noise-free as possible. This makes it possible to reduce the possibility that patients in those some of the hospital rooms RM will be bothered by noise.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which sound within the area of the bed BD is constantly collected from the microphone MC with its sound collection function turned on, and at least one of the frequency of occurrence and total duration of high sound pressure periods per day is analyzed, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, sound collected from the microphone MC during a limited period of time in a day may be analyzed to analyze at least one of the frequency of occurrence and total duration of high sound pressure periods during that period. In this case, the period for which sound is collected can be determined arbitrarily. For example, it can be the period from wake-up time to bedtime set by the hospital. Alternatively, the period for which sound collection is targeted may be the time period during which visitors are permitted.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which a message recommending changing beds was displayed based on the results of the judgment by the threshold judgment unit 14, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, instead of or in addition to a message recommending changing beds, a numerical value related to at least one of the occurrence frequency and total duration of high sound pressure periods analyzed by the threshold judgment unit 14 may be displayed.

In addition, the above embodiments are merely examples of how the present invention can be implemented, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted in a limiting manner. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from its spirit or main characteristics.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Management device 10 Patient data storage unit 11 Voice acquisition unit 12 Voice recording unit 13 Sound pressure analysis unit 14 Threshold determination unit 15 Analysis result notification unit

Claims (3)

a sound pressure analysis unit that analyzes, for each bed, sounds collected by a plurality of sound collection sensors installed in each area where each bed is located in a multi-bed room where a plurality of beds are located, and detects a high sound pressure period when the sound pressure is equal to or higher than a predetermined level;
a threshold value determination unit that determines, for each bed, whether or not at least one of an occurrence frequency per predetermined period and a total duration of the high sound pressure time period detected by the sound pressure analysis unit is greater than a threshold value;
A bed transfer information providing system characterized by comprising an analysis result notification unit that outputs a message recommending transfer of any bed based on the judgment result by the threshold judgment unit. The bed transfer information system according to claim 1, characterized in that the analysis result notification unit compares the number of beds determined by the threshold determination unit to be greater than the threshold value and the number of beds determined not to be greater than the threshold value among the multiple beds present in one multi-bed room, and determines whether to recommend transfer for the beds determined to be greater than the threshold value or the beds determined not to be greater than the threshold value based on the comparison result. The bed transfer information provision system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the analysis result notification unit outputs a value related to at least one of the occurrence frequency and the total time length instead of or in addition to the message recommending the bed transfer.