GB2327638A

GB2327638A - Identity system for nursing homes and hospitals

Info

Publication number: GB2327638A
Application number: GB9807544A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Leslie Sim
Original assignee: IDENTALINK CORP
Current assignee: IDENTALINK CORP
Priority date: 1997-04-08
Filing date: 1998-04-08
Publication date: 1999-02-03
Also published as: GB9807544D0; AU6930598A; EP1017316A1; GB9707133D0; IL132143A0; WO1998044846A1

Abstract

The system involves the production of a patient record sheet 25 and a patient identity card 20 which carry a photograph of the patient and an identity bar code 21. The photograph is obtained using a digital camera 10 and fed via a computer 11 and printer 12 for preparation of the record sheet and identity card. A bar coded identity card 23 for a nurse may also be used. Drug containers carry a bar coded label 26. Administration of drugs or medication to patients is recorded using a scanner 22.

Description

2327638 IDENTITY SYSTEMS

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to identity systems and is concerned primarily with systems for ensuring accurate and reliable identification of persons requiring care. The invention is thus applicable to nursing and residential care homes and to hospitals.

Current trends in staffing in care homes (particularly the dependence on staffing agencies) mean that, from time to time, the people regularly on duty have to be supplemented by staff who are unfamiliar with the residents, the building layout and the standard day-to-day operational procedures.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved identity system. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an identity system applicable to care situations.

2 Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of producing an identity system applicable to the identification of a plurality of persons, said method comprising taking a photograph of each of the persons, assigning an identity code to each photograph, and producing a record sheet for each person, which record sheet carries a photograph, the name of the person shown in the photograph and the associated assigned identity code.

Selected further data may be added to the record sheet.

The photographs are preferably taken using a digital camera and the record sheets are preferably produced using a computer and colour printer. Other methods of photography may alternatively be employed and the photographic data then fed into the computer using a flat-bed scanner.

If the record sheet is a personal identification sheet, the further data added to the record sheet will include personal details of the person shown in the photograph. For example, if the person has special dietary requirements, these will be entered on the record sheet. If the record sheet is a drug sheet, the sheet will have spaces for entry of the medication to be taken by that person. The drug sheet may include a bar code. Alternatively, a person may be supplied with a record sheet in the form of a card bearing the person's name, photograph, identity code and personal bar code.

1 3 When, therefore, that person is given a medication which has a bar code, the carer or other person who administers the medication will scan the bar code of the medication and the bar code of the person to whom the medication is administered, thereby producing an immediate record that that medication has been given and of the person to whom the medication has been given.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an identity system comprising a plurality of record sheets produced by the method described above.

It will thus be seen that, as applied to, for example, a nursing home, the use of the system will ensure that temporary or emergency staff are more readily able to identify the persons for whom they are caring so that, where medication has to be administered by such temporary or emergency staff, the owners of the nursing home will know that each person under their care is being given the correct medication. In addition, with the use of the bar code arrangement described above, a reliable record Will have been kept of the medication given to each person. The invention thus offers significant advantages to hospitals.

In a nursing home, there will be an initial setting-up procedure during which photographs are taken of all the residents of the home and, in addition to individual record sheets, roll-call sheets will preferably also be produced, together with stick-on photo ID cards and room ID cards for putting on the doors of the rooms of the 4 residents. The roll-call sheets will carry photographs of all the residents of the home so that, if and when a roll-call is carried out, identification of the residents is facilitated.

Brief Description of the Drawincis

Figure 1 is a flow chart showing a first embodiment of the invention, and Figure 2 is a flow chart showing a second embodiment of the invention.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Figure 1 shows the application of the invention to a care home or nursing home. The residents of the home are photographed using a digital camera 10 and the pictures of the residents are produced as a hard copy using a computer 11 and a colour printer 12. The staff of the home are then asked to positively identify the photographs. Once identified, the resident is tagged with a unique number which will incorporate a four-letter code denoting the name and type of the residence, followed by the first three digits of the post code of the residence and, finally, a threedigit number which is specific to that particular resident. The unique numbers are issued sequentially and will follow the resident into any other application within the system.

1 A particular unique number may thus include the following components:a) Home number - FIVINH, b) Post Code - EX1, c) Resident Number - 001, producing a complete unique number - FIVIN H EX1 001.

In the event of a new photograph being required, the resident will be issued with a new number. Once a number has been assigned to a particular image, the number will always move with that name and image so that the photo identity will always match the person on view.

The first image A is phnted on to an identification sheet 13 in colour. In addition, all other physical atthbutes are added to the deschption so that the identification sheet can then form part of the admission records of that particular resident. Secondary copies of this can also be produced for possible use in situations in which the emergency services have to be called, e.g. if a resident goes missing.

The image and accompanying data can be printed onto a drug sheet 14 for that particular resident so that a monthly record can be kept of all the medication administered to that resident. The image and accompanying data can altematively be pdnted onto stick-on labels 15 which can be applied to, for example, pre-packed drug dispensers or to other forms of record sheets, or to the outside of bedroom doors, as an aid to staff unfamiliar with the residents.

6 A roll call/fire list 16 can also carry this vital information so that, in the event of a fire, the emergency services can readily identify all the residents. Changes to the roll call list can readily be up-dated with the use of the stick-on labels 15.

New residents can readily be added to the system with a photo image using a digital camera, as described above, or by taking a photograph with an instant or digital camera. A signed identification sticker is then attached to the back of the print, which can be scanned using a flat-bed scanner and then used in the manner described above.

Figure 2 shows a development of the system shown in Figure 1. The system shown in Figure 2 has been developed for use in hospitals and, as with the system shown in Figurel, it involves the taking of a photograph using a digital camera 10 and the production of pictures of the patients using a computer 11 and a colour printer 12. This produces an identity card 20 which includes the same information as described above in relation to Figure 1, together with a two-dimensional bar code 21 which can be scanned using a scanner 22.

The conversion of the digital image into the two-dimensional bar code 21 is effected in accordance with PW417, (PDF = Portable Data File), i.e. in accordance with bar code printing and reading application stubs developed by Symbol Technologies. The 1 7 visual images and bar codes for the specific patients may be kept on record cards 24 and on patient identification sheets 25.

In addition to the identity cards 20 issued to the patients, the system also includes the use of identity cards 23 issued to the nurses, the identity cards 23 including photographic images and other data relating to the nurses and a bar code unique to the particular nurse.

The drugs to be administered to the patients are contained in containers 26 which are labelled with labels which include bar codes specific to each medication and dosage. When, therefore, a nurse administers a drug, the nurse will scan the bar code on his or her identity card 23, the bar code on the identity card 20 of the patient and the bar code on the drugs container 26.

This will thus ensure that records can be maintained crossmatching the drugs to the patients and to the nurses administering the medication. It will also facilitate the dispensing of medication by the use of electronic records without the need for paper records.

The invention will also enable automatic stock control of medication to be carried out at ward level, vAth corresponding information passing to the pharmacy. It will also high-light misuse of drugs or accidental errors in dispensing immediately after they have occurred so that errors can be prevented or reduced.

8 Re-ordering of drugs can take place automatically at a preset stock level, without the need for a nurse having to place any orders. Where drugs are prescribed as needed, increased needs can be recognised very quickly.

The system can also be expanded to include all services supplied to the patients so that a record can be kept not only of the medication administered to a patient but also of, for examples, the blood tests or Xrays carried out a particular patient. The invention also facilitates the carrying out of cost management exercises.

It will thus be appreciated that the system has a number of advantages. For those responsible for the running of nursing or residential care homes, the advantages include the following:- 1) it enables the staff to ensure that the person being cared for matches the records of that person, 2) it ensures that the right medication goes to the person for whom it was intended, 3) it ensures that special diets go to those residents needing extra care, 4) putting the residents in the correct bedrooms is facilitated, 5) if any residents go missing, accurate and usable information can be passed to the authorities, 6) new or temporary staff can easily identify all residents, 7) it helps meet the increasing requirements of Health and Safety regulations, and 8) it demonstrates to the local authorities that the safety of the residents is paramount.

1 9

Claims

Claims:-

1. A method of producing an identity system applicable to the identification of a plurality of persons, said method comprising taking a photograph of each of the persons, assigning an identity code to each photograph, and producing a record sheet for each person, which record sheet carries a photograph, the name of the person shown in the photograph and the associated assigned identity code.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, in which the photographs are taken using a digital camera and the record sheets are produced using a computer and colour printer.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1, in which the selected further data comprises details of a person's special dietary requirements.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 1, in which each record sheet is a drug sheet which has spaces for entry of the medication to be taken by that person.

5. A method as claimed in Claim 4, in which the information relating to the medication is in the form of a bar code.

6, A method as claimed in Claim 1, in which each record sheet is in the form of a card bearing the person's name, photograph, identity code and personal bar code.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 1 for a nursing home or care home, in which there is an initial setting-up procedure during which photographs are taken of all the residents of the home and, in addition to individual record sheets, roll-call sheets are produced which carry photographs of all the residents of the home.

8. A method of recording the giving of medication to the residents of a nursing home or hospital, which method includes providing the residents with record cards by the method claimed in Claim 5 and, at the time of the giving of the medication, scanning the bar code of the medication and the bar code of the person to whom the medication is given, thereby producing a record that that medication has been given and of the person to whom the medication has been given.

9. A method of producing an identity system substantially as hereinbefore described.

10. Record sheets produced by the method of Claim 9.

1