Patent ID: 7839266

Claim:
A per-patient device for association with a patient and for automatically logging items that the patient encounters, each such item having a corresponding respective first identification transmitter, and the patient having a corresponding second identification transmitter, the per-patient device comprising: a reader; and a portable housing containing: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and to the reader, the processor being programmed to: automatically determine when a first identification transmitter is within a range of the reader; automatically receive an identification signal transmitted by the first identification transmitter and store, in the memory, information about an item that corresponds to the first identification transmitter, such that the information is stored beyond end of an encounter between the patient and the item; automatically determine when the second identification transmitter that corresponds to the patient ceases to be within the range; and automatically determine when the second identification transmitter that corresponds to the patient is again within the range.