JP7612485B2 - Patient monitoring and nurse call systems - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a patient monitoring system and a nurse call system that monitor patients.

In hospitals and facilities, when checking on a patient's condition, a nurse or other staff member would make rounds to monitor the patient, check on the patient's condition, and obtain and record the patient's vital signs. Recording during rounds has become automated, reducing the hassle of transcription, but it was necessary to go to the patient or resident's location to obtain the information, which was extremely time-consuming.
In order to reduce the burden on nurses, a nurse call system has been proposed that allows nurses to obtain information about patients without visiting their rooms.
For example, in Patent Document 1, a nurse can operate a camera that captures images of a patient using a portable terminal carried by the nurse, and the patient's condition can be displayed on the portable terminal for monitoring.

JP 2019-162241 A

The technology of Patent Document 1 above allows a nurse to check the patient's condition from the video captured by the camera without having to make rounds.
However, if the patient was not in bed or in the room when the patrol monitoring operation was performed, the camera could not capture the patient's image, making it impossible to confirm the patient's condition. Also, vital signs were measured by the patient themselves, so there were cases where they could not be obtained.

In view of these problems, the present invention aims to provide a system that allows patients to be monitored without nurses making rounds and even when the patients are not in their rooms.

In order to solve the above problems, a patient monitoring system according to the invention of claim 1 comprises a subject information storage unit that stores face information of a patient to be monitored, a camera that images the patient, a face authentication unit that performs face authentication, a communication unit for conversing with the patient, a character conversion unit that converts the patient's voice into character, a communication unit that wirelessly communicates with the outside, a position recognition unit that recognizes its own position based on information transmitted from a position information transmitter that is installed at an appropriate position in the hospital and transmits a position signal, a map information storage unit that stores map information within the hospital, and a monitoring control unit that controls monitoring, the patient monitoring system comprising: a self-propelled robot that monitors the patient; and a patient management server that communicates with the self-propelled robot and accumulates information on the monitoring that has been performed, The ring control unit moves the self-propelled robot within the hospital, and if the face recognition unit determines that a person captured by the camera along the way is a patient registered in the subject information storage unit and meets specified conditions, monitoring is carried out, a specified message is sounded from the call unit, and the response content is sent to the patient management server as monitoring information and stored therein. Meanwhile, the patient management server has a time management unit that manages the monitoring interval, and if a patient has not been monitored for a first specified time, the time management unit instructs the monitoring control unit to find the patient and carry out monitoring, and the monitoring control unit controls the movement and carries out monitoring in accordance with the instructions .
According to this configuration, the self-propelled robot moves around to monitor the patient and obtains information such as words uttered by the patient, so nurses do not have to go to the patient to monitor them, and monitoring can be done even if the patient is not in the hospital room. The acquired patient information is stored in the patient management server, so nurses can understand the patient's condition by viewing this information. This reduces the burden on nurses to make rounds and enables smooth response to emergency situations.

In addition , the self-propelled robot operates in such a way that no patient is left unmonitored for a long period of time, making it possible to monitor patients equally and eliminating the need for nurses to give instructions to the self-propelled robot.

The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 1 , the time management unit instructs the monitoring control unit not to monitor the patient if the patient being imaged by the camera is a patient for whom a second specified time that is shorter than the first specified time has not passed since the last monitoring, and the monitoring control unit proceeds to monitoring the next patient in accordance with the instruction.
According to this configuration, monitoring is not performed frequently on the same patient, which does not inconvenience the patient and prevents unnecessary monitoring.

The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 1 or 2 , the patient management server has a text judgment unit that judges abnormalities in the patient from the acquired text information of the patient, and when the text judgment unit determines that an abnormality has occurred, it notifies a specified external party.
According to this configuration, if a patient complains of an abnormality during monitoring, it is possible to recognize the abnormality and notify the outside. Therefore, for example, by notifying a mobile device carried by a nurse, it is possible to respond without delay.

The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in any of claims 1 to 3 , the self-propelled robot has a vital information acquisition unit, and the monitoring control unit acquires vital information of the person being monitored during or after the conversation and transmits it to a patient management server.
According to this configuration, vital information of the patient can be obtained through monitoring, so that the patient's condition can be managed with a high degree of accuracy.

The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that, in the configuration described in claim 4 , the patient management server has a vital information judgment unit that compares the vital information transmitted from the self-propelled robot with vital information obtained in past monitoring of the same patient to determine whether or not an abnormality has occurred, and if it determines that an abnormality has occurred, notifies a specified external party.
This configuration allows for highly accurate judgments, since the system compares current and past vital signs to determine whether a patient is experiencing an abnormality. If an abnormality is determined to have occurred, the system notifies the outside, for example, via a mobile device carried by a nurse, enabling prompt action.

The invention of claim 6 is a nurse call system having a nurse call handset for a patient to call a nurse, a nurse call master unit for answering calls from the nurse call handset, and a portable terminal carried by a nurse to answer calls from the nurse call handset, and is equipped with a patient monitoring system described in any of claims 1 to 5 , and is characterized in that the self-propelled robot of the patient monitoring system communicates with a base station that constitutes a communication network of the portable terminal, and communicates with a patient management server via the base station.
According to this configuration, costs can be reduced by building a patient monitoring system using a nurse call system.

According to the present invention, a self-propelled robot moves around to monitor patients and obtains information such as words spoken by the patient, eliminating the need for nurses to go to the patient to monitor them, and monitoring can be performed even if the patient is not in the hospital room. The acquired patient information is then stored in a patient management server, allowing nurses to understand the patient's condition by viewing this information. This reduces the burden on nurses of making rounds and allows for smoother response to emergencies, etc.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a patient monitoring system according to the present invention, and is a configuration diagram integrated with a nurse call system. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a self-propelled robot. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a patient management server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 shows an example of a patient monitoring system according to the present invention, and shows a configuration integrated with a nurse call system.
As shown in FIG. 1, the nurse call system includes a nurse call handset 1 installed at each bed to allow patients to call a nurse, a corridor light 2 installed in each hospital room, a nurse call master unit 3 installed at a nurse's station to notify the nurse of calls made by the nurse call handset 1 and to allow the nurse to respond, a mobile terminal 4, such as a smartphone, carried by each nurse to respond to calls, a controller 5 to control communications between the devices, a self-propelled robot 6 that moves by itself and monitors patients, a base station 7 such as an access point for communication between the mobile terminal 4 and the self-propelled robot 6 and the controller 5, a switchboard 8 consisting of an IP-PBX that controls communications between the mobile terminal 4 and the base station 7 as well as communications between the self-propelled robot 6 and the base station 7, an IMES management unit 11 that provides position information to the self-propelled robot 6, and a patient management server 9 that accumulates monitored information.
The self-propelled robot 6, the base station 7, the IMES management unit 11, the patient management server 9, etc. constitute a patient monitoring system.

The IMES management unit 11 is composed of an IMES transmitter 12 that transmits an IMES signal, which is its own position signal, by applying IMES (Indoor MEssaging System) technology, and an IMES management device 13 that manages the transmission signals of each IMES transmitter 12. The IMES transmitters 12 are installed at appropriate locations within the hospital, for example, in each patient room, the nurse's station, appropriate locations in the corridors, lounges, toilets, etc.

The corridor light 2, nurse call master 3, controller 5, switchboard 8, and patient management server 9 are connected to one another by LAN wiring L1 via a HUB 15. The nurse call slave 1 is connected to the corridor light 2 for each patient room via a transmission line L2. On the other hand, the IMES transmitter 12 and the IMES management device 13 are connected to one another by a communication line L4.
Incidentally, the communication line L4 may be integrated with the LAN wiring L1.

The main equipment is explained below. The nurse call handset 1 consists of a call grip button 1a that is placed on the bed and a plate handset 1b that is installed on the wall and to which the call grip button 1a is connected. The plate handset 1b incorporates a call section (not shown) equipped with a microphone and speaker.

The corridor light 2 is installed in each patient room and has a patient information display unit 2a that displays the patient information of the patient room, and an indicator light 2b that displays the occurrence of a call from the patient in the patient room, and relays the call signal.

The nurse call base unit 3 is equipped with a first display unit 3a that displays various information including a list of patient information, a second display unit 3b that displays caller information when a call is received from the nurse call handset 1, and a handset 3c for making calls.

2 is a block diagram of the self-propelled robot 6. As shown in Fig. 2, the self-propelled robot 6 includes a camera 61 for capturing an image of a patient, a face authentication unit 62 for identifying a patient from the captured image, a subject information storage unit 63 for storing face images and patient information for identifying a patient to be monitored, a map information storage unit 64 for storing map information within the hospital, a communication unit 65 having a microphone 65a and a speaker 65b for talking with the patient, a character conversion unit 66 for converting the voice of the patient into character information, a thermal camera 67 for acquiring body temperature data, a receiving unit 68 for receiving a signal from the IMES transmitter 12, a driving unit 69 for driving a moving means such as legs or wheels for moving, a power supply unit 70 having a storage battery, a self-propelled robot CPU 71 for controlling the self-propelled robot 6, and a self-propelled robot communication unit 72 for wirelessly communicating with the patient management server 9 via the base station 7.
The self-propelled robot CPU 71 recognizes its own position from the information transmitted by the IMES transmitter 12, and controls its movement as well as monitoring.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the patient management server 9. As shown in Fig. 3, the patient management server 9 includes a monitoring information storage unit 91 that stores information about the monitoring of the patient performed by the self-propelled robot 6, a patient data storage unit 92 that stores basic data about the patient such as the patient's face image, name, hospital room, bed number, etc., a determination message storage unit 93 that stores message information for determining abnormality in the patient from messages exchanged with the patient, a patient management server CPU 95 that controls the patient management server 9, and a patient management server communication IF 96 that communicates with the self-propelled robot 6 and the outside.
The patient management server CPU 95 has the functions of a text determination unit that determines whether the patient has an abnormality from text information, a vital information determination unit that determines whether the patient has an abnormality from vital information, and a time management unit that manages the monitoring interval.

The operation of the nurse call system and patient monitoring system configured as described above is as follows: When a call is made from the nurse call handset 1, the nurse call master 3 and the mobile terminal 4 make a call, and the operation of establishing a communication path between the nurse call master 3 or the mobile terminal 4 that answers the call and the nurse call handset 1 is the same as in the past, so a description is omitted here, and the monitoring operation of the self-propelled robot 6 will be mainly described here.
Self-propelled robot 6 moves throughout a specific area of the hospital, such as a ward, or throughout the entire hospital during a determined time period under the control of self-propelled robot CPU 71. At this time, self-propelled robot CPU 71 recognizes its own current location from map information within the hospital stored in map information storage unit 64 and position information of IMES transmitter 12 received by receiving unit 68, and controls drive unit 69 so as to move along a predetermined route.

If a person enters the field of view of the camera 61 during this movement, the face of the person is captured and the face authentication unit 62 judges whether the person is a patient to be monitored. If the person is a patient to be monitored, monitoring control begins.
Specifically, if during the course of movement the patient encounters a patient relaxing with a visitor in a lounge, for example, the presence of the person is recognized from the image captured by the camera 61. At this time, the face recognition unit 62 compares the multiple face images captured by the camera 61 with the face image information in the subject information storage unit 63, and if a matching face image is found, the presence of the patient to be monitored is recognized and monitoring control begins.
When the monitoring control is started, it is first determined whether the identified patient is a patient for whom monitoring should be performed, and if so, monitoring is started.

At this time, the distinction between patients who need monitoring and those who do not is made as follows: When the self-propelled robot CPU 71 recognizes that a patient to be monitored is in front of it, it queries the patient management server 9 as to whether or not that patient should be monitored at this time.

In the patient management server 9 that receives the inquiry, the patient management server CPU 95 reads information on the date and time when the target patient was last monitored from the patient data storage unit 92 and makes a judgment.
The patient data storage unit 92 records the time when monitoring was last performed, and if a certain time (e.g., 12 hours) that is the second predetermined time has not passed since the previous monitoring, an instruction that monitoring is not possible is issued. On the other hand, if the certain time or more has passed for the patient, an instruction that monitoring is possible is issued.
Therefore, if the result of this inquiry indicates that monitoring is possible, monitoring will begin.

Monitoring that has started after receiving an instruction that monitoring is possible is carried out as follows: First, for example, a message such as "You are Mr. XX. Monitoring will begin" is announced from the speaker 65b, and after it is confirmed that the patient is a monitoring target, it is announced that monitoring will now begin.
Next, in order to check the physical condition of the patient, for example, a message such as "How are you feeling?" is sounded, and the patient's condition is checked. The voice uttered by the patient in response to this question is collected by the microphone 65a, converted into text information by the text conversion unit 66, and transmitted to the patient management server 9.

In addition, the captured video (captured image) of the patient obtained during that time is transmitted to and stored in the patient management server 9. Furthermore, the thermal camera 67 is activated during or after the conversation to measure the body temperature, which is vital information, and this is similarly transmitted and stored.
In this way, the captured image of the patient, the text information of the patient's response, and the body temperature data are transmitted as monitoring information to the patient management server 9 and stored in the monitoring information storage unit 91. At the same time, the date and time of monitoring are recorded in the patient data storage unit 92 in association with the monitored patient information.

In addition, if the patient responds to the self-propelled robot 6's question with words such as "I have a slight fever" or "My head hurts," the patient management server CPU 95 recognizes specific words in the response, determines that an abnormality has occurred, and notifies the nurse.
Specifically, the judgment statement storage unit 93 of the patient management server 9 stores statements for judging an abnormality, such as "fever,""pain,""lazy," etc., and the patient management server CPU 95 distinguishes such statements from the words uttered by the patient and judges that an abnormality has occurred. If it is judged that an abnormality has occurred, a notification is sent to, for example, the mobile terminal 4 carried by the nurse, and a statement such as "Mr. XX in room XX is complaining of an abnormality" is displayed on the mobile terminal 4.

Furthermore, the measured body temperature data is compared with past information stored in the monitoring information storage unit 91 for judgment.
The patient management server CPU 95 compares the patient's body temperature data obtained by monitoring with past body temperature data, and if there is a difference of a specified value or more, it similarly determines that an abnormality has occurred. If it determines that an abnormality has occurred, a notification is sent to the mobile terminal 4 carried by the nurse in the same manner as in the case of a determination based on text, and for example, a message such as "Vital abnormality is suspected for Ms. XX in Room XX" is displayed on the mobile terminal 4.

Here, there is a case where the self-propelled robot 6 searches for a specific patient for monitoring purposes, and such a case will be described.
As described above, the patient management server CPU 95 manages the monitoring intervals, but if there is a patient for whom new monitoring has not been performed even after a certain period of time (e.g., 24 hours), which is the first specified time, has elapsed since the last monitoring, it issues a priority instruction to the self-propelled robot 6 to search for and monitor the patient.
The self-propelled robot 6 that has received this priority instruction starts moving to search for and monitor the target patient. This search operation is continued for a certain period of time until the patient is found.

In this way, the self-propelled robot 6 moves around to monitor the patient and obtains the words spoken by the patient and the captured images of the patient, so the nurse does not have to go to the patient to monitor, and monitoring can be done even if the patient is not in the hospital room. The acquired patient information is stored in the patient management server 9, so the nurse can understand the patient's condition by viewing this information. This reduces the burden on the nurse to make rounds and enables smooth response to emergency situations.
Furthermore, if there is a patient who is not being monitored, the self-propelled robot 6 will locate that patient and perform monitoring operations, allowing for equal monitoring of patients and eliminating the need for nurses to give instructions to the self-propelled robot.
Furthermore, since re-monitoring within a short period of time is prevented, the patient is not inconvenienced and unnecessary monitoring can be prevented.
In addition, if the patient complains of an abnormality during monitoring, the patient management server 9 recognizes this and notifies the mobile terminal carried by the nurse, allowing for a prompt response.
Furthermore, vital signs can be obtained during monitoring, allowing for highly accurate management of the patient's condition.
In addition, the system can make highly accurate judgments by comparing current and past vital signs to determine whether an abnormality has occurred in the patient. If an abnormality is determined to have occurred, it can be notified to an external party, for example, a mobile device carried by a nurse, allowing for a prompt response.
In addition, a patient monitoring system can be built using part of the nurse call system, which helps reduce costs.

In the above embodiment, the patient monitoring system and the nurse call system are integrated into one system, but they may be constructed as separate systems.
Furthermore, while body temperature is measured as vital information, a heart rate sensor and a blood pressure measuring unit may also be provided to measure both pulse and blood pressure.
In addition, communication may be enabled between self-propelled robot 6 and the nurse's mobile terminal 4, so that by performing a specific operation on mobile terminal 4, it is possible to talk to the patient being monitored via self-propelled robot 6.

1: Nurse call handset, 3: Nurse call master, 4: Mobile terminal, 5: Controller, 6: Self-propelled robot, 7: Base station, 8: Switchboard, 9: Patient management server, 11: IMES management unit, 12: IMES transmitter (location information transmitter), 13: IMES management device, 61: Camera, 62: Face recognition unit, 63: Subject information storage unit, 64: Map information storage unit, 65: Call unit, 66: Character conversion unit, 67 Thermal camera (vital information acquisition unit), 68: Receiving unit, 69: Driving unit, 71: Self-propelled robot CPU (monitoring control unit, position recognition unit), 72: Self-propelled robot communication unit (communication unit), 91: Monitoring information storage unit, 92: Patient data storage unit, 93: Determination statement storage unit, 95: Patient management server CPU (statement determination unit, vital information determination unit, time management unit), 96: Patient management server communication IF.

Claims (6)

a self-propelled robot which monitors patients and which has a subject information storage unit which stores facial information of a patient being monitored, a camera which images the patient, a face authentication unit which performs face authentication, a communication unit which talks to the patient, a character conversion unit which converts the patient's voice into character, a communication unit which wirelessly communicates with the outside, a position recognition unit which recognizes its own position based on information transmitted from a position information transmitter which is installed in an appropriate position within the hospital and transmits a position signal, a map information storage unit which stores map information within the hospital, and a monitoring control unit which controls the monitoring;
A patient management server that communicates with the self-propelled robot and accumulates information on the monitoring performed,
the monitoring control unit moves the self-propelled robot within the hospital, and performs monitoring if the face authentication unit determines that a person captured by the camera during the movement is a patient registered in the subject information storage unit and satisfies a predetermined condition;
A predetermined message is sounded from the communication unit, and the response content is transmitted to the patient management server as monitoring information and stored therein,
The patient management server has a time management unit that manages a monitoring interval,
the time management unit, when a first predetermined time has elapsed without monitoring a patient, instructs the monitoring control unit to find the patient and to monitor the patient;
A patient monitoring system, characterized in that the monitoring control unit controls movement and performs monitoring in accordance with the instructions . the time management unit instructs the monitoring control unit not to monitor the patient if a second predetermined time, which is shorter than the first predetermined time, has not elapsed since the patient was last monitored;
2. The patient monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring control unit proceeds to monitor a next patient in accordance with the instruction. The patient management server has a text determination unit that determines an abnormality of a patient from the acquired text information of the patient,
3. The patient monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein when said message determining section determines that an abnormality has occurred, said message determining section notifies a predetermined external device. the self-propelled robot has a vital information acquisition unit,
4. The patient monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring control unit acquires vital information of the monitoring subject during or after the conversation and transmits the vital information to the patient management server. the patient management server has a vital information determination unit that compares the vital information transmitted from the self-propelled robot with vital information obtained in past monitoring of the same patient to determine whether or not an abnormality has occurred;
5. A patient monitoring system according to claim 4 , wherein if it is determined that an abnormality has occurred, a predetermined external notification is sent. A nurse call system having a nurse call handset for a patient to call a nurse, a nurse call master for answering calls from the nurse call handset, and a mobile terminal carried by a nurse to answer calls from the nurse call handset,
A patient monitoring system comprising:
A nurse call system characterized in that the self-propelled robot of the patient monitoring system communicates with a base station that constitutes the communication network of the mobile terminal, and communicates with a patient management server via the base station.

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