Medical office facility with two or more examining rooms having a common equipment core area

Claim 2

A medical facility comprising, at least two patient examining rooms including walls, standard medical examining equipment located in each of said at least two patient examining rooms, a common equipment core area room immediately adjacent each of said at least two patient examining rooms, said core area having separate common wall areas with each of said at least two patient examining rooms, each of said common wall areas having an opening adapted for passing equipment therethrough and closure means for closing each of said openings for maintaining patient privacy, each of said openings through said common wall areas providing the only access to said core area room, special medical examining equipment normally stored in said core area room, said core area room including core area guide means for transferring said special equipment along a predetermined path within the core area room, said patient examining rooms having patient ingress and egress openings in said walls other than said common wall areas, and examining room guide means coupled to said core area guide means for transferring said special equipment along a predetermined path through the openings and outwardly away from said common walls of the examining room whereby a doctor alternately utilizing said at least two patient examining rooms may examine a succession of patients with the same special equipment while walking a minimal distance.

Claim 3

A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guide means and said examining room guide means for transferring said special equipment along said predetermined path includes tracks for supporting the weight of said special equipment and guiding it along a path through the core area between examining rooms.

Claim 4

A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guide means and said examining room guide for transferring said special equipment along said predetermined path includes tracks for supporting the weight of said special equipment and guiding it along said predetermined path, said tracks being oriented in a manner that the same vertical surface of the special equipment is the leading surface faced into each of said at least two examining rooms when moved along said predetermined path.

Claim 5

A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guide means for transferring said special equipment along a predetermined path within said core area includes a pivot means stationary with respect to said facility about which said special equipment may rotate to face into either of said at least two patient examining rooms.

Claim 6

A medical facility according to claim 4 wherein said pivot means includes a rotating platform within the core area room upon which said special equipment is stored.

Claim 7

The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said equipment core area room is adapted to contain a plurality of distinct pieces of said special equipment movable independently of each other on said core area guide means and said examining room guide means through a single opening in each common wall area between each room and said equipment core area room.

Claim 8

The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said equipment core area room is adapted to contain a plurality of distinct pieces of said special equipment movable independently of each other, said common wall areas each having one disTinct opening for each of said pieces of equipment, and wherein said core area guide means and said examining room guide means for conveying said equipment into each of said examining rooms includes means for limiting travel of each piece of equipment along an exclusive path through its own exclusive opening in each of said common wall areas.

Claim 9

The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said at least two examining rooms are circular in shape with a movable circular wall in the interior of each examining room, each movable circular wall operable to open and close its associated common wall opening between the examining room and the common core area.

Claim 10

The medical facility of claim 1 wherein each of said movable circular walls controls an opening in its respective examining room for personnel entrance and exit such that the opening into the core area room in said common wall Is opened by the movable wall.

Claim 11

The medical facility of claim 1 wherein each movable circular wall has attached thereto supply means in a manner to be adjacent its associated common wall opening between the examining room and the common core area room when said common wall opening is opened by said movable wall.

Claim 12

A medical facility, comprising, at least two patient examining rooms, a common equipment core room area immediately adjacent each of said at least two patient examining rooms, said core area having separate common wall areas with each of said at least two patient examining rooms, said core room area adapted to receive one or more of a plurality of pods that each carry at least some medical equipment not found on the other of said plurality of pods, said core area being adapted to contain two or more equipment pods movable in a closed loop path within said core area and further wherein each of said common wall areas has a single opening therein for passage of equipment pods from said core room area, means providing a predetermined path for transferring a pod contained by said core area between said at least two patient examining rooms through said core area, said means including at least one opening in each of said common wall areas through which said pod may pass, each of said openings being provided with means for closing same so that at least one of said common wall areas may be completely covered during examination of a patient in either of said at least two patient examining rooms, a rotatable platform within said core area adapted to carry said two or more equipment pods thereon in order to provide said closed loop path movement of said pods, each of said pods mounted on straight line tracks which extend across said platform, and wherein each of said patient examining rooms includes a single pod carrying and guiding track positioned through a single opening of each of said common wall areas in a manner to form an extension of one of said straight line tracks on said movable platform when the platform is rotated to a particular position, whereby said platform may be rotated to place its straight line track carrying a desired equipment pod in a position so that the pod may be transferred between patient examining rooms across said rotatable platform, and whereby a doctor may examine patients in both of said at least two examining rooms by transferring therebetween the one of said plurality of pods which contains medical equipment most often utilized by him.

Claim 13

A medical facility, comprising, at least two patient examining rooms, a common equipment core room area immediately adjacent each of said at least two patient examining rooms, said core area having separate common wall areas with each of said at least two patient examining rooms, said core room area adapted to receive one or more of a plurality of pods that each carry at least some medical equipment not found on the other of said plurality of pods, said core area being adapted to contain two or more equipment pods movable in a closed loop path within said core area and further wherein each of said common wall areas has a single opening therein for passage of equipment pods from said core room area, means providing a predetermined path for transferring a pod contained by said core area between said at least two patient examining rooms through said core area, said means including at least one opening in each of said common wall areas through which said pod may pass, each of said openings being provided with means for closing same so that at least one of said common wall areas may be completely covered during examination of a patient in either of said at least two patient examining rooms, a rotatable platform within said core area adapted to carry said two or more equipment pods thereon in order to provide said closed loop path movement of said pods, each of said pods mounted on straight line tracks which extend across said platform, and wherein each of said patient examining rooms includes a single pod carrying and guiding track positioned through a single opening of each of said common wall areas in a manner to form an extension of one of said straight line tracks on said movable platform when the platform is rotated to a particular position, whereby said platform may be rotated to place its straight line track carrying a desired equipment pod in a position so that the pod may be transferred between patient examining rooms across said rotatable platform, and whereby a doctor may examine patients in both of said at least two examining rooms by transferring therebetween the one of said plurality of pods which contains medical equipment most often utilized by him.