| abstract |
We establish a sensor grid and precision location grid across a hospital or other facility, for instance using UWB precision location technology for part of the solution. This allows us to establish the location of people, objects, and equipment and to measure and track physical and other environmental conditions or attributes. The data from these sensing systems can be used to establish environmental or locational context - for instance a chemical spill epicenter and extent, or the proximity and orientation of a clinician and patient or a clinician and a piece of equipment. This situational context can be combined with an institutional context - for instance clinical permissions, skill sets, authorized zones where equipment may or may not be, based upon the attending personnel and the overall hospital state - by the use of a context-processing function which intelligently applies the policies, etc. and determines a course of action. This action is then implemented by modifying the parameters or other aspects of as software-controlled clinical communication system or by instigating, blocking or modifying messages, message formats or information crossing that network. |