Patent ID: 7143050

Claim:
A method for directing patients to proper locations within a medical facility, comprising: a) providing room number signs for each of a plurality of rooms within the medical facility, the medical facility including: i) a main corridor that extends in a substantially straight manner from an entrance to an exit of the medical facility, and ii) a plurality of hallways that extend substantially perpendicular off of the main corridor at different locations of the main corridor; b) sequentially numbering the rooms in the medical facility based on a relative location of each of the rooms with respect to the entrance; c) providing at least one sign adjacent to the entrance to the medical facility, which directs a patient to a counter; d) determining, based on real-time information as to locations of medical facility staff, whether or not the patient can be treated by one of the medical facility staff; e) if it is determined that the patient can be treated, providing the patient with an electronic card at the counter so as to monitor a current location of the patient, and directing the patient to a first particular room within the medical facility so that the patient can be treated; and f) directing the patient from the first particular room in which the patient has been treated, to a second particular room in which the patient will be treated next, wherein the step f) comprises: determining a room number of the second particular room in which the patient is to be treated, as compared to a room number of the first particular room in which the patient is currently located; and wherein the patient goes to the main corridor and travels in a first direction if the room number of the second particular room is higher than the room number of the first particular room, and the patient goes to the main corridor and travels in a second direction opposite the first direction if the room number of the second particular room is lower than the room number of the first particular room.