U.S. patent application number 11/025969 was filed with the patent office on 2006-07-06 for system and method for clinical workforce management interface.
This patent application is currently assigned to Cerner Innovation, Inc.. Invention is credited to Douglas W. Wager.
Application Number | 20060149589 11/025969 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36641797 |
Filed Date | 2006-07-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060149589 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wager; Douglas W. |
July 6, 2006 |
System and method for clinical workforce management interface
Abstract
A system and related techniques generate and present a clinical
workforce management interface to assign nurses, technicians,
therapists and others in a hospital or other clinical setting.
According to embodiments, the interface may present components
including an aggregate patient population profile which lists
individual patients in a unit, as well as the projected workload
capacity the care for those patients represents as well as an
assignment bar depicting the continuity of provider assignments for
that patient over a shift, 24 hour, or other period. The workforce
management interface may likewise present a counterpart provider
population profile which lists available care providers in a unit,
as well as their capacity ratings, skill sets, shifts or other
schedule and other data characterizing available clinical stuff.
According to embodiments of the invention in one regard, a charge
nurse or other staff manager may visually or graphically view and
manipulate the provider-to-patient assignments, for instance by
dragging and dropping icons or other visual elements to perform
assignments. According to embodiments of the invention in another
regard, compliance monitoring functions such as maintaining
mandated patient to nurse or other provider ratios may be
automatically performed, and the staff manager may be alerted when
those or other ratios or criteria violate limits.
Inventors: |
Wager; Douglas W.; (Kansas
City, MO) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SHOOK, HARDY & BACON L.L.P.;Intellectual Property Department
2555 GRAND BOULEVARD
KANSAS CITY
MO
64108-2613
US
|
Assignee: |
Cerner Innovation, Inc.
Suite 310 5750 West 95th Street
Overland Park
KS
66207
|
Family ID: |
36641797 |
Appl. No.: |
11/025969 |
Filed: |
January 3, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20130101;
G06F 19/00 20130101; G16H 40/20 20180101; G06Q 10/109 20130101;
G16H 40/63 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/002 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/00 20060101
G06Q010/00 |
Goverment Interests
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable.
Claims
1. A system for generating an interface for managing clinical
workforce operations, comprising: a first interface to receive a
patient population profile and a care provider population profile;
a second interface to an assignment engine, the assignment engine
receiving the patient population profile and care provider
population profile to process care provider-to-patient assignment
information; and a presentation layer, the presentation layer
communicating with the assignment engine to generate an interactive
display of coverage information for the patient population based on
the provider-to-patient assignment information.
2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the care provider
population profile comprises a list of care providers and
associated care provider schedules, care provider skill sets and
care provider capacity ratings.
3. A system according to claim 2, wherein care provider schedule
information may be graphically manipulated to satisfy patient
population coverage requirements.
4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the graphical
manipulation comprises dragging and dropping a care provider
identifier object on a patient identifier object.
5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the presentation layer
generates an alert upon detection of a coverage exception.
6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the coverage exception
comprises at least one of a skill set mismatch, a care provider
over capacity condition, and a patient coverage gap.
7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the presentation layer
comprises a graphical user interface.
8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the coverage information
comprises at least one of aggregate care provider capacity
information, expandable assignment views and compliance
information.
9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the display of coverage
information comprises an assignment bar, the assignment bar
representing coverage for a patient over a scheduled period.
10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the assignment bar
comprises a coverage gap indicator.
11. A method for generating an interface for managing clinical
workforce operations, comprising: receiving a patient population
profile and a care provider population profile; processing care
provider-to-patient assignment information based on the patient
population profile and care provider population profile; and
generating an interactive display of coverage information for the
patient population based on the care provider-to-patient assignment
information.
12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the care provider
population profile comprises a list of care providers and
associated care provider schedules, care provider skill sets and
care provider capacity ratings.
13. A method according to claim 12, further comprising graphically
manipulating care provider schedule information to satisfy patient
population coverage requirements.
14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the graphically
manipulating comprises dragging and dropping a care provider
identifier object on a patient identifier object.
15. A method according to claim 11, further comprising generating
an alert upon detection of a coverage exception.
16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the coverage exception
comprises at least one of a skill set mismatch, a care provider
over capacity condition, and a patient coverage gap.
17. A method according to claim 11, wherein the generating a
display comprises generating a display via a graphical user
interface.
18. A method according to claim 11, wherein the coverage
information comprises at least one of aggregate care provider
capacity information, expandable assignment views and compliance
information.
19. A method according to claim 11, wherein the display of coverage
information comprises an assignment bar, the assignment bar
representing coverage for a patient over a scheduled period.
20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the assignment bar
comprises a coverage gap indicator.
21. An interactive graphical display of clinical coverage
information, the interactive graphical display being generated by a
method comprising: receiving a patient population profile and a
care provider population profile; processing care
provider-to-patient assignment information based on the patient
population profile and care provider population profile; and
generating an interactive display of coverage information for the
patient population based on the care provider-to-patient assignment
information.
22. An interactive graphical display according to claim 21, wherein
the care provider population profile comprises a list of care
providers and associated care provider schedules, care provider
skill sets and care provider capacity ratings.
23. An interactive graphical display according to claim 22, wherein
the method further comprises graphically manipulating the care
provider schedule information to satisfy patient population
coverage requirements.
24. An interactive graphical display according to claim 23, wherein
the graphically manipulating comprises dragging and dropping a care
provider identifier object on a patient identifier object.
25. An interactive graphical display according to claim 21, wherein
the method further comprises generating an alert upon detection of
a coverage exception.
26. An interactive graphical display according to claim 25, wherein
the coverage exception comprises at least one of a skill set
mismatch, a care provider over capacity condition, and a patient
coverage gap.
27. An interactive graphical display according to claim 21, wherein
the generating a display comprises generating a display via a
graphical user interface.
28. An interactive graphical display according to claim 21, wherein
the coverage information comprises at least one of aggregate care
provider capacity information, expandable assignment views and
compliance information.
29. An interactive graphical display according to claim 21, wherein
the display of coverage information comprises an assignment bar,
the assignment bar representing coverage for a patient over a
scheduled period.
30. An interactive graphical display according to claim 29, wherein
the assignment bar comprises a coverage gap indicator.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The subject matter of this application is related to the
subject matter of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/679,836 filed Oct. 6, 2003, entitled "Computerized System and
Method for Determining Work in a Healthcare Environment"; and to
the subject matter of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/917,337
filed Aug. 13, 2004, entitled "System And Method For Automatically
Generating Evidence-Based Assignment Of Care Providers To
Patients", each of which applications is assigned or under
obligation of assignment to the same entity as this application,
and each of which applications is incorporated by reference
herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The invention relates to the field of clinical information
technology, and more particularly to a system and method for a
management interface which presents a charge nurse or other
staffing manager with an intuitive, visual interface for generating
patient-to-care provider assignments, including capacity
computation, skill set matching, ratio management and other
parameters as part of that interface.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The healthcare environment continues to demand increased
attention to and emphasis on clinical workforce management,
including to deploy nurses, technicians, rehabilitation and other
staff with better efficiency and clinical efficacy. Hospitals and
other clinical sites furthermore may find themselves operating
under federal, state or other compliance requirements which demand
that the ratio of care providers to assigned patients adhere to
specified ratios or that the staffing level is appropriate for the
level of acuity of the relevant patient population. Those
regulatory considerations combined with operational needs such as
the need to continuously mix and adjust provider assignments under
day to day schedule changes such as vacation time, lunch and other
breaks, sick days, and other absences or developments make the task
of promulgating shift-by-shift patient assignments a challenging
one, for charge nurses and other clinical managers tasked with
staffing duties.
[0005] Those staff managers moreover are frequently confronted with
the need to generate provider/patient assignments with no formal or
computerized tools to assist in that workforce management. Charge
nurses or other unit or other managers thus must frequently rely on
manual notes, memory and intuition to assemble a staff schedule and
make appropriate provider-to-patient assignments on an ad hoc or
short-term basis. Staff managers may moreover often have little
time to generate such a floor schedule for the next shift, week or
other period even on a manual basis. Other problems in clinical
workforce management exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The invention overcoming these and other problems in the art
relates in one regard to a system and method for a clinical
workforce management interface, in which a staff manager may be
presented with a suite of provider assignment options and
alternatives, to automatically organize and drive assignment ratios
and other assignment parameters and options with compliance,
capacity, best practice and other criteria taken into account.
According to embodiments of the invention in one regard, a visual
or graphical interface or other presentation layer may present a
charge nurse or other staff manager with a patient list including
graphical or iconic representations of the continuity and types of
assigned provider care for each patient, for instance in a slider
bar showing continuity of provider assignments or any gaps therein,
for example over a shift, 24 hours, week or other periods. In
embodiments, the assignment bar, provider names, icons or other
visual elements or objects may be manipulated, for instance dragged
and dropped, to effect assignments, changes to assignments or other
actions. The interface may likewise indicate the acuity or amount
of work which a given patient's care will demand of a provider, and
generate aggregate totals of the amount of capacity in a clinical
unit available to serve the patient population. Mandated
patient-to-provider ratios may automatically be monitored, and
alerts may be presented when those or other compliance, operational
or other criteria are violated. Because in one regard an entire
range of workforce management functions may be integrated in one
interface, and that interface or tool may automatically present and
analyze core capacity and other variables and options, as well as
store resulting assignments and schedules to distribute to staff
and form a basis for or input to further schedules, the overall
task of timely workforce assignments may be achieved more
efficiently, compliance may be better ensured while capacity may be
more effectively managed against fluctuating clinical demands.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 illustrates a clinical workforce environment in which
a system and method for a workforce management interface may
operate, according to embodiments of the invention.
[0008] FIG. 2 illustrates a workforce management interface,
according to embodiments of the invention.
[0009] FIG. 3 illustrates a workforce management interface
including an alert, according to embodiments of the invention.
[0010] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of overall workforce
management and interface processing, according to embodiments of
the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates an environment in which a system and
method for a clinical workforce management interface may operate,
according to embodiments of the invention. As illustrated in that
figure, a charge nurse or other personnel or staff manager may
operate a client 102 having a graphical user interface 104 to
initiate, access or execute a workforce management interface 106.
The staff manager may access the workforce management interface 106
before, during or after a work shift for a unit 110 such as an
emergency room, acute care unit, post-operative unit or other
section, division, department, floor or other organizational unit
of a hospital or other clinical care facility. The staff manager
may operate the workforce management interface 106 to schedule
shifts, generate care provider-to-patient assignments, review
capacity loads and perform other personnel or staffing duties with
respect to a care provider staff 138 which may be or include, for
example, nurses, therapists, technicians, physicians, interns, or
other clinical or other personnel whose responsibilities or
activities are directed to or associated with patients in unit 110,
or otherwise.
[0012] According to embodiments of the invention as for example
illustrated in FIG. 2, the workforce management interface 106 may
include a range of views including graphical and numerical or
textual indicators, activatable icons and other objects and
resources to organize and visually present provider assignment
information, in an integrated presentation layer or interface.
According to embodiments as shown, those resources may include a
patient population profile 112 which may be or include, for
instance, a patient list 114 or other census or other enumeration
of patients within unit 110, or other grouping. The patient
population profile 112 may include, for further example, a patient
needs rating 116 indicating the rated amount of workload or work
effort represented by a patient's care, for instance expressed in
normalized units of person-hours, or other quantities or units. The
patient population profile 112 may further include a set of skill
criteria 118, for instance indicating that the care of a particular
patient requires specialized training, certification or skills, for
example the training or competence to operate a high-frequency
ventilator, or other skills.
[0013] According to embodiments of the invention in a further
regard, and as likewise illustrated in FIG. 2, the patient
population profile 112 may likewise include an assignment bar 120,
which may in one regard depict or represent the presence, absence
or type of care provider assignment or coverage for a given patient
in patient list 114, over a scheduled period of time. For instance,
the assignment bar 120 may indicate that for an eight-hour shift
from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. or other period, the patient is covered by
assignment of a primary care nurse, or other personnel. Conversely,
if a patient does not have a designated care provider for that or
other period, the assignment bar 120 may display a gap 122, such as
a white or other visually distinct color or segment, to indicate
that a patient has not received an assignment of a care provider
for the represented period. According to embodiments of the
invention in a further regard, the assignment bar 120 may be
activatable, for example by highlighting or clicking, to display an
expanded assignment view 136 which presents details on a particular
patient's provider assignment or assignments and related
information, including for instance the category of provider (e.g.
professional), time period ranges for that provider, and the name
or other identifier for that provider. Other data may be presented
in expanded assignment view 136.
[0014] According to embodiments of the invention as illustrated in
FIG. 2 in another regard, the workforce management interface 106
may likewise include views and resources directed to the pool of
available care providers, including a provider population profile
124 which may contain a provider list 126 which may identify
available care providers by name, or other designation. Provider
population profile 124 may further contain a set of provider
capacity ratings 128 which may indicate a given nurse's,
therapist's, technician's or other person's capacity to undertake
patient care, for instance expressed in person-hours of care, or
other units. According to further embodiments of the invention, the
provider capacity ratings 128 may include or incorporate a scaling
or adjustment factor to take a given provider's experience level,
specialized training, patient continuity and other factors into
account, in rating the amount of normalized patient care that
provider may contribute. According to embodiments of the invention
in one regard, the provider capacity ratings 128 or other projected
or estimated work capacity or production ratings may be generated
by or accessed from a capacity platform or engine such as that
described in the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/679,836, or other platforms, systems or resources. Other
computations or expressions of capacity in provider capacity
ratings 128 are possible.
[0015] Provider population profile 124 as illustrated in FIG. 2 may
further include a provider schedule 130 for care providers in
provider list 126, for instance indicating a provider's
availability or expected presence for a given shift for certain
hours of the day, or for other times or periods. According to
embodiments of the invention in one regard, the workforce
management interface 106 may permit a charge nurse or other staff
manager to manipulate data, icons and other objects to assign,
update, reassign, review and otherwise process a set of
provider-to-patient (or patient-to-provider) assignments, in one
regard in a visually comprehensible fashion. For example, a staff
manager may determine that a patient inpatient list 114 lacks an
assigned provider for a shift from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a given
day. The manager or other operator may then highlight, grab, click
or otherwise activate a provider name in provider list 126, and
drag and drop that identifier onto assignment bar 120 for that
patient, or otherwise associate the provider with the patient. In
another embodiments, the user may select one or more patients and
one or more providers, and initiate an automated assignment process
such as the system and method described in the aforementioned U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 10/917,337, or others. According to
embodiments of the invention in one regard, the assignment bar 120
may automatically change appearance, for instance to be grayed in,
to indicate care coverage from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Other visual,
graphical or other indications or encodings are possible. According
to embodiments of the invention in one regard, that assignment may
be automatically generated, graphically presented and data such as
provider capacity ratings 128 may be automatically updated, upon
the registration of a new assignment in that drag and drop or other
fashion. Other icons, objects and actions are possible.
[0016] According to embodiments of the invention illustrated in
FIG. 2 in another regard, the workforce management interface 106
may likewise present a staff capacity breakdown 132 to present to
the staff manager the total allocation of staff capacity during a
given shift or other period in summary fashion, for instance to
list providers in a table with their assigned patients and workload
allocations. Other views, tabulations or reports are possible.
[0017] According to embodiments of the invention in a further
regard, the workforce management interface 106 and associated logic
may further monitor or condition patient assignments based on
regulatory compliance, clinical best practices or other clinical or
operational criteria. Thus for example, and as for example
illustrated in FIG. 3, the workforce management interface 106 may
monitor for mandatory or other state, federal, industry or other
compliance criteria regarding or limiting the acceptable ratio of
care providers to patients or requiring staffing based on
quantitative levels of acuity. When an attempt is made, for
instance by selecting, dragging and dropping a care provider by
name to an assignment bar 120 for a patient which would result in
that provider's reaching a level of, for example, five (or other)
patients for a given shift or period, the workforce management
interface 106 may generate and display an alert 134 indicating that
exception to a charge nurse or other manager. According to
embodiments, in the event of an alert 134 the workforce management
interface 106 may present the staff manager (or other user) with
options for instance to temporarily accept an assignment to remedy
the violation later, to cancel that assignment, to suggest
alternative assignments, or take other actions or options. Other
regulatory, compliance, clinical, operational, industry or other
criteria or guidelines may be used, monitored or accessed to
trigger alert 134.
[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates overall management interface and
workforce assignment processing, according to embodiments of the
invention. In step 402, processing may begin. In step 404, the
workforce management interface 106 or other clinical tool,
interface, presentation layer or resource may be accessed,
initiated or executed, for example by a charge nurse on or by
client 102 or other networked or other machine or resource. In step
406, the charge nurse or other staff manager may access or review
the patient population profile 112 to assess or determine the
clinical care needs of patients in a unit or other group
represented in patient population profile 112. Those clinical care
needs may be or include specialized skill criteria 118 required to
service the conditions or carry out the therapies of individual
patients, such as for example training on or certification for
types of equipment such as ventilators or pumps, electrocardiograms
(EKGs), the training or certification to insert and administer
intravenous lines, or other qualifications, skills, certifications
or capabilities.
[0019] Those clinical care needs may likewise include provider
coverage or assignment gaps, for instance depicted in assignment
bar 120 as a white-colored or other coverage gap 122 indicating,
for instance, that an assigned nurse, therapist or other care
provider is scheduled to depart early on a given day, leaving four
hours starting at noon or other periods of time for that patient
uncovered or unassigned. Other care assignments and patient needs
are possible.
[0020] In step 408, the staff manager may review the provider
population profile 124 to assess and determine available care
providers and their projected or estimated capacities, skill sets
and other information or qualifications to service the patient
population. For instance, a charge nurse or other staff manager may
use workforce management interface 106 to access the provider
population profile 124 and review provider list 126, provider
capacity ratings 128, provider schedule 130 and other information
to assess the overall complement of provider capacity and
capability available for assignment. According to embodiments of
the invention in one regard, the provider capacity ratings 128 or
other projected or estimated work capacity or production ratings
may be generated by or accessed from a capacity platform such as
that described in the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 10/679,836, or other platforms, systems or resources.
[0021] In step 410, the staff manager may assess and determine any
requirement for specialized care needs, such as for example the
assignment of common care providers to a mother and newborn infant.
In step 412, the staff manager may drag and drop or otherwise
allocate or activate an assignment of a care provider to one or
more patient requiring a care assignment, for instance selecting or
highlighting a nurse, therapist, technician or other from provider
list 126 and dragging that name or other object on top of a patient
name in the patient list 114. According to embodiments of the
invention in one regard, upon acceptance of that selected
assignment, the assignment bar 120 and other graphical displays or
other information may be updated to reflect the newly assigned
provider, and the period of time over which they may be assigned.
According to embodiments of the invention in a further regard, the
coverage gap 122 may automatically disappear when such an
assignment may be made. In other embodiments of the invention, when
a patient is selected in step 412, the system may block off all or
part of one or more assignment bars for the staff who are
inappropriate based on the patient's rated needs and the provider's
rated capacity.
[0022] In step 414, an alert 134 may be generated and displayed on
workforce management interface 104 upon the detection or
identification of an assignment, attempted assignment or other
action causing or leading to violation of compliance, clinical,
operational or other criteria or limits, for instance upon
detection of a skill set mismatch or other exception, or that the
assignment of a nurse would result in a patient assignment total or
ratio which would exceed federal, state, industry or other limits
or guidelines. In step 416, the workforce management interface 106
may in the event of an invalid assignment or other exception
generate an alternative provider assignment which may remove the
exception or other invalid condition.
[0023] In step 418, the workforce management interface 106 may
generate and display updated assignment, capacity, schedule and
other data reflecting provider assignment updates or changes and
other information, for instance via assignment bar 120 or other
visual, graphical or other display. In step 420, the set of
provider assignments 132 may be stored to workforce database 108 or
other data store or facility, for instance to distribute to the
clinical staff, create a record of clinical operations, to serve as
a basis for or input to a further set of assignments, or other
purposes. In step 422, processing may repeat, return to a prior
processing point, jump to a further processing point or end.
[0024] The foregoing description of the invention is illustrative,
and modifications in configuration and implementation will occur to
persons skilled in the art. For instance, while the invention has
generally been described in terms of generating and presenting a
workforce management interface 106 which may be hosted on or
displayed by a client 102 such as a desktop or laptop computer, in
embodiments the workforce management interface 106 may be hosted
on, executed by or displayed on other machines or resources, for
instance on a network-enabled cellular telephone or digital
assistant, a special-purpose workstation, or other hardware or
resources.
[0025] Similarly, while the invention has in embodiments been
described as involving the tracking and management of patient
assignment configurations in a single unit 110 such as a single
hospital floor or department, in embodiments the workforce
management interface 106 may track, manage and provide a view on
other units of operation or multiple units, such as a wing,
laboratory, complete floor, or other workforce or workplace section
or division, combinations of the same, or multiple or aggregated
hospitals or other facilities. Other hardware, software or other
resources described as singular may in embodiments be distributed,
and similarly in embodiments resources described as distributed may
be combined. For instance while the invention has in embodiments
been described as storing patient assignment and other data to a
single workforce database 108, in embodiments patient data,
provider data, patient to provider (or provider to patient)
assignment and other data may be stored to single or multiple
local, remote, networked or other databases or data stores. The
scope of the invention is accordingly intended to be limited only
by the following claims.
* * * * *