WO2022128650A1

WO2022128650A1 - Systems and methods for indicating an error and/or a status of a clinical decision support service

Info

Publication number: WO2022128650A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/084683
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sebastiaan Antonius Fransiscus Arnoldus VAN DEN HEUVEL; Dennis Lomans
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
Priority date: 2020-12-14
Filing date: 2021-12-08
Publication date: 2022-06-23

Abstract

Systems and methods for automatically visually indicating presence and status information of a clinical decision support (CDS) service implemented on a medical device or an associated computing device. Methods include: associating a visual indicator with an operating status of a CDS service; storing the associated visual indicator in a memory associated with a CDS engine; detecting, by the CDS engine, an availability of the CDS service; determining the operating status based on the detected availability of the CDS service; obtaining, by the CDS engine, the visual indicator associated with the operating status; and rendering the visual indicator on a display associated with a medical device or a corresponding computing device.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INDICATING AN ERROR

AND/OR A STATUS OF A CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT SERVICE

Field of the Disclosure

[0001] The present disclosure is directed generally to clinical decision support systems implementing clinical decision support (CDS) services and methods of operating clinical decision support systems implementing CDS services. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to clinical decision support systems and methods that automatically indicate presence, error information, and/or status information of the implemented CDS services to assist clinical staff in providing optimal clinical care in real-time.

Background

[0002] Clinical decision support (CDS) software applications may be implemented in a variety of healthcare settings (e.g., patient record information systems) in order to aid medical personnel in making a variety of medical decisions. At the time of execution, CDS applications obtain, as inputs, various health parameters associated with a patient from one or more different sources, and may calculate various CDS advice based on these inputs. Devices are increasingly including more and more CDS services, often from different entities. For these medical devices implementing one or more CDS services, clinical personnel tend to rely on certain advice provided by the CDS services when needed. Unfortunately, when working with systems that utilize CDS service support, it is not clear to clinical personnel using the systems which CDS services are supported/configured and active. If the CDS services are not supported, configured, or active, the advice provided may not be reliable.

[0003] Thus, there is a need in the art for methods and systems for automatically indicating presence, error information, and/or status information of a CDS service.

Summary of the Disclosure

[0004] The present disclosure is directed to inventive clinical decision support systems and methods that automatically indicate presence, error information, and/or status information of one or more CDS services implemented in the system. Generally, embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to inventive systems and methods for automatically indicating presence, error information, and/or status information of one or more CDS services using one or more visual indicators. Applicant has recognized and appreciated that it would be beneficial to determine realtime presence, error information, and/or status information of one or more CDS services implemented on a CDS system and display one or more visual indicators indicative of the realtime presence, error information, and/or status information. Various embodiments and implementations herein are directed to associating at least one visual indicator with an operating status of a CDS service implemented on a medical device or an associated computing device, detecting an availability of the CDS service in real-time; determining the operating status based on the detected availability of the CDS service, retrieving the visual indicator associated with the operating status, and rendering the visual indicator on a display associated with the medical device or the associated computing device. The visual indicator is displayed alongside information generated from the CDS service so that the user can see both simultaneously. Additionally, an alarm can be triggered when a certain CDS service is not functional.

[0005] Generally, in example one, a clinical decision support (CDS) system is provided. The system includes one or more processors; a display associated with a medical device or a corresponding computing device; and memory associated with the one or more processors, the memory configured to store a visual indicator associated with an operating status of a CDS service. The memory is further configured to store instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the following: detect an availability of the CDS service; determine an operating status of the CDS service based on the detected availability of the CDS service; obtain the visual indicator associated with the operating status; and cause the visual indicator to be rendered on the display.

[0006] In embodiments, example one may be combined with example two, wherein the one or more processors obtain a plurality of health parameters associated with a patient and execute a CDS algorithm using the plurality of health parameters as input to generate a recommendation.

[0007] In embodiments, examples one or two may be combined with example three, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by querying the CDS service to determine whether there is a connection between the CDS service and the CDS engine.

[0008] In embodiments, example three may be combined with example four, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by receiving a response code from the CDS service in response to querying the CDS service. [0009] In embodiments, examples, one, two, three, or four may be combined with example five, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by measuring an amount of time for the CDS service to respond to a query or a ping and comparing the amount of time to a threshold.

[0010] In embodiments, examples one, two, three, four, or five may be combined with example six, wherein the operating status comprises at least one of active, inactive, unauthorized, and failed. [0011] In embodiments, example two may be combined with example seven, wherein the visual indicator and the recommendation from the CDS service can be viewed on the display in their entireties simultaneously.

[0012] In embodiments, examples one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven may be combined with example eight, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by retrieving status information from an end-point associated with the CDS service.

[0013] In embodiments, examples one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, or eight may be combined with example nine, wherein the one or more processors trigger a first alarm for the CDS service when the operating status is not active.

[0014] In embodiments, example nine may be combined with example ten, wherein the one or more processors trigger the first alarm based on a first level of criticality of the CDS service and the one or more processors trigger a second alarm, different than the first alarm, based on a second level of criticality of the CDS service, the second level of criticality being different than the first level of criticality.

[0015] Generally, in example eleven, a method for visually indicating a status of a clinical decision support (CDS) service is provided. The method includes associating a visual indicator with an operating status of a CDS service; storing the associated visual indicator in a memory associated with a CDS engine; detecting, by the CDS engine, an availability of the CDS service; determining the operating status based on the detected availability of the CDS service; obtaining, by the CDS engine, the visual indicator associated with the operating status; and rendering the visual indicator on a display associated with a medical device or a corresponding computing device. [0016] In embodiments, example eleven may be combined with example twelve, wherein the method further includes obtaining a plurality of health parameters associated with a patient and executing a CDS algorithm using the plurality of health parameters as input to generate a re commendation . [0017] In embodiments, example eleven or twelve may be combined with example thirteen, wherein detecting the availability of the CDS service comprises querying the CDS service to determine whether there is a connection between the CDS service and the CDS engine.

[0018] In embodiments, example thirteen may be combined with example fourteen, wherein detecting the availability of the CDS service comprises receiving a response code from the CDS service in response to querying the CDS service.

[0019] In embodiments, examples eleven, twelve, thirteen, or fourteen may be combined with example fifteen, wherein detecting the availability of the CDS service comprises measuring an amount of time for the CDS service to respond to a query or a ping and comparing the amount of time to a threshold.

[0020] In various implementations, the one or more processors described herein may take any suitable form, such as, one or more processors or microcontrollers, circuitry, one or more controllers, a field programmable gate array (FGPA), or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) configured to execute software instructions. Memory associated with the processor may take any suitable form or forms, including a volatile memory, such as random-access memory (RAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), or dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), or non-volatile memory such as read only memory (ROM), flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), or other non-transitory machine-readable storage media. The term “non- transitory” means excluding transitory signals but does not further limit the forms of possible storage. In some implementations, the storage media may be encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more processors and/or controllers, perform at least some of the functions discussed herein. It will be apparent that, in embodiments where the processor implements one or more of the functions described herein in hardware, the software described as corresponding to such functionality in other embodiments may be omitted. Various storage media may be fixed within a processor or may be transportable, such that the one or more programs stored thereon can be loaded into the processor so as to implement various aspects as discussed herein. Data and software, such as the algorithms or software necessary to analyze the data collected by the medical devices and/or the computing devices, an operating system, firmware, or other application, may be installed in the memory.

[0021] It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided such concepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. These and other aspects of the various embodiments will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the various embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an example clinical decision support (CDS) system, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 2A is an example personal mobile device including a display configured to render a visual indicator associated with a CDS service, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 2B is an example tablet including a display configured to render one or more visual indicators associated with CDS services, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 2C is an example patient monitor including a display configured to render one or more visual indicators associated with CDS services, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; and

[0027] FIG. 3 is an example process of visualizing presence, error information, and/or status information of a CDS service implemented on a medical device or an associated computing device, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

[0028] The present disclosure describes various embodiments and implementations of systems and methods for visually indicating real-time presence, error information, and/or status information of one or more clinical decision support (CDS) services implemented in a CDS system. More specifically, Applicant has recognized and appreciated that it would be beneficial to determine and display presence, error information, and/or status information of one or more CDS services on a display associated with a medical device or an associated computing device. Additionally, Applicant has recognized and appreciated that it would be beneficial to trigger an alert or an alarm when one or more implemented CDS services is not functioning. Exemplary goals of utilization of certain embodiments of the present disclosure are to associate a visual indicator with an operating status of a CDS service implemented on a medical device or an associated computing device, determine the operating status based on a detected availability of the CDS service, retrieve the appropriate visual indicator based on the operating status, and display the visual indicator.

[0029] Referring to FIG. 1, an example clinical decision support (CDS) system 100 is provided. The CDS system 100 includes one or more CDS engines 102i... 102_n, one or more networks 104, a health parameter database 106, one or more medical devices 108i... 108_n, and one or more computing devices 110i ... 110_n. The CDS engines 102i... 102_n may include one or more computing systems (with suitable computing components). The one or more computing systems can be communicatively coupled with other components depicted in FIG. 1 via one or more networks 104. One or more networks 104 can include one or more wired or wireless personal area networks (PANs or WPANs), local area networks (LANs or WLANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and/or one or more wired or wireless wide area networks (WANs) such as the Internet or any suitable mobile networks. One or more networks 104 can be connected via optical, telecommunication, microwave, and satellite communication links and/or any other suitable alternative.

[0030] The health parameter database 106 is communicatively coupled with the CDS engines 102i... 102_n and is configured to store information related to observed and/or observable health parameters associated with one or more patients. In embodiments, health parameter database 106 can include a plurality of patient records that include data indicative of one or more health parameters of the patients.

[0031] The term “database” as used herein refers to a collection of data and information organized in such a way as to allow the data and information to be stored, retrieved, updated, removed, and manipulated and to allow them to be presented in one or more formats such as in table form or to be grouped into text, numbers, images, and audio data. The term “database” as used herein also refers to data storage structures that may reside locally or that may be accessed from a remote location, e.g., remote network servers. The database typically resides in computer memory that includes various types of volatile and non-volatile computer memory. Memory that stores the database may include high-speed random access memory or non-volatile memory such as magnetic disk storage devices, optical storage devices, and flash memory. Memory that stores the database may also store one or more software applications for processing and organizing data received by and stored in the database.

[0032] The CDS system 100 is also communicatively coupled with one or more medical devices 108i... 108_n. Each of the medical devices 108i... 108_nis configured to obtain (e.g., measure) various health parameters from patients, and therefore may come in various forms, including but not limited to blood pressure readers, temperature sensors, heart rate sensors, respiration rate sensors, pulse oximetry sensors, defibrillator machines, electrocardiogram machines, x-ray machines, blood sugar monitoring machines, etc.

[0033] The CDS engines 102i... l02_n are also in communication with the one or more computing devices 110 that are configured to present CDS results and advice determined using various CDS algorithms. The computing devices 110i ... 110_n are also configured to display one or more status indicators of the CDS engines 102i... l02_n as described herein. The one or more computing devices 110i, 1 IO2,... 110_n can be any suitable device, including but not limited to an electronic health record (EHR) device, such as a screen or a smart TV at a nursing station, a personal computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a mobile handheld device, a wearable device, an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses such as Google Glass, and so on. In embodiments, the one or more computing devices 110i, I IO2,... 110_n can be any suitable device capable of receiving user input and executing and displaying a computer program product in the form of a software application or a platform. In embodiments, at least one medical device 108 is integrated with at least one computing device 110i, 1 IO2,... 110_n such that the device may retrieve identifying information or information otherwise referencing one or more patients, the CDS service retrieves health parameters, and the device presents the results of the CDS service.

[0034] It should be appreciated that in various embodiments, one or more aspects of CDS engines 102i ... 102_n can be implemented elsewhere, e.g., on one or more computing devices 110i, 1 IO2, ... 110_n. For example, a CDS engine 102 may gather health parameters to be used as input for a given CDS application, and may provide those health parameters to a computing device 110. Once the health parameters are received, the computing device 110 may execute a local CDS client to cause one or more disclosed techniques to be performed. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, a CDS engine 102 may be entirely implemented on a computing device 110 operated by a medical practitioner, such that the computing device 110 obtains health parameters, determines status information of the CDS algorithms being implemented, and executes the CDS application. In embodiments, a CDS engine 102 may provide a web interface, and users may interact with the CDS engine by operating web browsers to load interactive web pages that present the status indicators as described herein.

[0035] The CDS engines 102i ... 102_n can include one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in an associated memory that cause the one or more processors to identify a plurality of inputs for a CDS software application that is executable by the CDS engines 102i... 102_n. The inputs can include any combination of health parameters to compute different CDS advice/results. The CDS engines 102i ... 102_n may be further configured to obtain, e.g., from health parameter database 106 and/or one or more medical device 108i ... 108_n, a plurality of health parameters associated with a patient to be used as at least some of the plurality of inputs for the CDS software applications.

[0036] The CDS engines 102i ... l02_n are configured to generate recommendations, alerts, and/or alarms based at least in part on the input health parameter information. The recommendations can include alerts, notifications, messages, information, and recommended care steps etc. The recommendations can depend on the role of the recipient of the recommendations. While the CDS engines 102i... 102_n can receive the health parameters from the medical devices 108i ... 108_n and/or the one or more computing devices 110i, 1 IO2, ... 110_n, the health parameters can also be received via a user input device associated with the CDS system 100. The CDS engines 102i... 102_n can include or be coupled to one or more knowledgebases or other sources to access a variety of reference texts, medical publications, guidelines, polices and procedures and care algorithms to be used with the CDS applications to provide decision support. Some information of the knowledgebases can be accessed via a search engine, for example. In embodiments, the recommendations can include representations of clinical guidelines and local care protocols that are derived from the clinical guidelines.

[0037] To provide the decision support, the CDS engines 102i... 102_n communicate with one or more CDS services that can be preinstalled, configured or discovered on the one or more networks 104. Examples of specifications providing such discovery and integration mechanisms are the CDS Hooks by HL7 International available at cds-hooks.hl7.org/ and the Clinical Reasoning Module by HL7 International available at hl7.org/fhir/clinical reasoning-module.html. [0038] In embodiments, one or more CDS engines 102i... 102_n communicate with the one or more CDS services at specific points in an application’s workflow. The specific points in an application’s workflow are referred to as hooks. Each hook defines contextual information about the health parameter information and the particular CDS engines specific to the workflow. The one or more CDS services advertise which hooks it supports and what prefetch data it requires for each hook. The CDS services then provide decision support in the form of cards which can be displayed to the end-user as part of their application’s workflow. The cards can include the recommendations described or otherwise contemplated herein. In embodiments, the cards can include suggestions that the user may accept or reject. In embodiments, the cards can include one or more links to additional information.

[0039] The status indicators of the one or more CDS services can be discovered and integrated along with the other information of the CDS services including a description of the CDS services, when it should be invoked, and any data that is requested to be prefetched. The descriptive information and status indicators of the CDS services can be discovered via a unique discovery endpoint or address. In embodiments, the status indicators and the other information of the one or more CDS services can be retrieved as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). The status indicators can be retrieved from an extension on the CDS hooks CD Hooks Service description.

[0040] The extension for each CDS service can include one or more visual indicators, e.g., icons, each visual indicator corresponding to a status of the CDS service. For example, a particular visual indicator can be associated with the CDS service generally and a different particular visual indicator can be associated with the CDS service when an error is encountered with the CDS service. In embodiments, only parts of the one or more visual indicators are defined in the extension. Thus, in embodiments the extension can include a general icon for the CDS service and an error icon for the CDS service. In embodiments, the extension includes only an icon or part of an icon that corresponds to one or more errors in the operation of a CDS service. Alternatively, only a general visual indicator or a part thereof is defined in the extension and the host changes it to reflect one or more statuses. It should be appreciated that the visual indicators can be assigned when the device displaying the recommendations from the CDS service is configured. [0041] In embodiments, the statuses of the CDS services can include “Active”, “Inactive”, “Unauthorized”, and “Failed”; however, these listed statuses are merely illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. For example, the extension can include a first visual indicator that corresponds to when the CDS service is “Active”, a second visual indicator that corresponds to when the CDS service is “Inactive”, a third visual indicator that corresponds to when the CDS service is “Unauthorized”, and a fourth visual indicator that corresponds to when the CDS service is “Failed”. The “Active” status can refer to when the CDS service is active and running in realtime. The “Inactive” status can refer to when the CDS service cannot be reached or has been disabled in real-time. The “Unauthorized” status can refer to when the CDS service is active but the current user/device is not authorized to use it in real-time. The “Failed” status can refer to when the CDS service is active but reported an error when used in real-time.

[0042] The first, second, third, and fourth visual indicators can depict entirely distinct graphics or each can depict the same graphic but in a distinct color by way of examples only. Any aspect of the visual indicators can be used to display different situations. For example, in addition to or instead of using shapes or colors the visual indicators can be configured to flash in a particular pattern to indicate a particular situation. In embodiments, the size of the visual indicators can be larger or smaller for different statuses. In embodiments, the visual indicators can change the way the whole card is displayed instead of displaying a discreet icon. For example, the whole card can be displayed in a color, e.g., red, or a pattern to indicate something is wrong with the CDS service. [0043] The status indicators of the one or more CDS services can be integrated within the one or more CDS engines 102i... 102_n, the one or more medical devices 108i... 108_n, or the one or more computing devices, 110i, 1 IO2, ... 110_n as described above or in any suitable manner. In various embodiments, the one or more processors of the CDS engines are configured to execute instructions stored in associated memory to cause the one or more processors to deduce a status of the one or more CDS services. A status of a CDS service can be deduced in any suitable manner.

[0044] For example, a status of a CDS service can be deduced by detecting an availability of the CDS service. In embodiments, the CDS service can be queried to determine whether there is a connection between the CDS service and the CDS engine. In embodiments, the CDS engine can ping the CDS service. In embodiments, response codes that are sent by the CDS service and received by the CDS engine can be used to determine whether there is a connection. In embodiments, the CDS engine can measure an amount of time it takes for a CDS service to respond to a query or a ping and compare the amount of time measured to a threshold. Additionally or alternatively, response codes received by the CDS engine can be used to determine whether a license for the CDS service is expired. In embodiments, if a CDS engine can’t reach a CDS service during a workflow, e.g., due to anetwork issue, the CDS engine can determine that the CDS service is inactive. By way of another example, a CDS service can transmit information to a CDS engine indicating that something went wrong with a communication or that the license for the service has expired and the CDS engine can deduce that the CDS service is inactive or failed. In embodiments, the CDS service can transmit indications of needed more time, not having enough data, requiring input and/or configuration, etc. and the CDS engine can deduce a status from such transmitted indications. In other embodiments, the CDS service can have a specific end-point that includes the status and corresponding reason for the status. The status and corresponding reason can be retrieved from the specific end-point by the CDS engine.

[0045] Additionally, it is contemplated that the CDS engine can use local implementation notices that there are not sufficient resources to call the CDS services in time and/or signals, etc. to deduce an availability of a CDS service. The CDS engine can also deduce that a CDS service is unavailable when data service is not available. It should be appreciated that the present disclosure is not limited to the various aspects described above. The CDS engine can retrieve the visual indicator corresponding to the situation deduced and cause the visual indicator to be displayed along with the recommendations normally displayed to the end user.

[0046] As described herein, in various embodiments, the output may present at least one visual indicator associated with a CDS service and its corresponding status alongside the other data, information, or recommendations. Thus, the user can immediately see which one or more CDS services are providing the recommendations on the display and whether the one or more CDS services are active, inactive, unauthorized, or failed, for example. The user does not have to access a separate display screen for this information. In this manner, it may be revealed to users, such as, medical personnel that view the CDS results, that certain CDS services may be unavailable or otherwise unreliable. With this knowledge, the medical personnel may view the various advice with an appropriate level of scrutiny. In embodiments, a user can hover a mouse or other suitable alternative over the visual indicator and a short description of the CDS service, its status, and purpose can be displayed on top of the other data, information, or recommendations provided by the CDS service. Pressing or clicking or otherwise selecting the visual indicator of the CDS service can open a model or screen presenting this and other information.

[0047] In various embodiments, the output may present at least one visual indicator associated with a CDS service and its corresponding status. The other data, information, or recommendations described herein need not be present. In these embodiments, the user can immediately see which one or more CDS services are active. The user does not have to access a separate display screen for this information. In embodiments including a number of CDS services and one or more CDS services experiencing an error, visualization of the error(s) may be more important than the active statuses of the other CDS services. In these cases, the output may present the visual indicators for the CDS services experiencing an error and omit the indicators for the active CDS services. In this manner, the visual indicators for the CDS services experiencing an error can be displayed more prominently. In embodiments, a user can hover a mouse or other suitable alternative over the visual indicators for the CDS services experiencing an error and additional information about the other active CDS services can be displayed. Similarly, a user can press or click or otherwise select the one or more visual indicators for the CDS services experiencing an error and additional information about the other active CDS services can be displayed.

[0048] FIG. 2A shows an example personal mobile device 200 similar to the computing device 110i shown in FIG. 1. The personal mobile device 200 includes a display 202 showing output including at least one visual indicator 204 associated with a CDS service and its corresponding status alongside other data, information, or recommendations 206. Visual indicator 204 indicates that its corresponding CDS service is active and running; however, it should be appreciated that any suitable indicator can be used to show that the CDS service is active and running. Additionally, it should be appreciated that any other suitable indicator can be used to show another status of the CDS service. Moreover, it should be appreciated that the user interface of a CDS application displayed on display 202 occupies most of the display screen real estate. Thus, the positioning of visual indicator 204 is limited. In embodiments, the visual indicator 204 is positioned in an area surrounding the data displayed via the user interface of a CDS application. Visual indicator 204 is ideally positioned so as to not interfere with the viewing of the other data, information, or recommendations 206. As shown in FIG. 2A, visual indicator 204 can be positioned proximate to icons indicative of cellular network strength, Wi-Fi connection, and battery level associated with the personal mobile device 200; however, it should be appreciated that visual indicator 204 can be positioned anywhere on display 202.

[0049] FIG. 2B shows an example tablet 210 similar to the computing device 1 IO2 shown in FIG. 1. Tablet 210 includes a display 212 configured to render one or more visual indicators 214A, 214B, and 214C associated with CDS services and their corresponding status alongside other data, information, or recommendations 216. Visual indicator 214A indicates that its corresponding CDS service is active and running similar to visual indicator 204 shown in FIG. 1. Visual indicator 214B indicates that its corresponding CDS service cannot be reached or has been disabled. Although color is not depicted, it should be appreciated that any element of visual indicator 214B can be rendered in color. For example, the “X” within visual indicator 214B can be rendered in a color, e.g., red, to highlight that the CDS service cannot be reached or has been disabled. As discussed above, any aspect of visual indicator 214B can be emphasized to highlight the status, including, but not limited to, color, size, shape, pattern, flashing, etc. Visual indicator 214C indicates that its corresponding CDS service is active but reported an error when used. While visual indicator 214C is not depicted in color, it should be appreciated that any element of the indicator can be rendered in color to emphasize the status. For example, the triangle element can be rendered in a color, e.g., yellow, that is different from color(s) of the other elements to highlight that the CDs service is active but reported an error. As mentioned above with respect to the visual indicator 204 in FIG. 2A, any suitable indicator(s) can be used to show the statuses of the CDS services represented in FIG. 2B. Additionally, visual indicators 214A, 214B, and 214C can be positioned anywhere on display 212 so as not to interfere with the display of the other data 216 from the CDS application. Advantageously, a user can simultaneously view the visual indicators 214A, 214B, and 214C and the data 216.

[0050] FIG. 2C is an example patient monitor 220 similar to the computing device 110_n shown in FIG. 1. Patient monitor 220 includes a display 222 configured to render one or more visual indicators 224A, 224B, and 224C associated with CDS services and their corresponding status alongside other data, information, or recommendations 226. Visual indicator 224A corresponds to visual indicator 214A in FIG. 2B, visual indicator 224B corresponds to visual indicator 214B in FIG. 2B, and visual indicator 224C corresponds to visual indicator 214C in FIG. 2B. The discussions above pertaining to visual indicators 204, 214A, 214B, and 214C also apply to visual indicators 224A, 224B, and 224C. Moreover, it should be appreciated that visual indicators 224A, 224B, and 224C can be positioned proximate to icons indicative of a start button, a variety of taskbar items, a variety of notifications, date, and time typically related to the one or more processors associated with patient monitor 220; however, it should be appreciated that visual indicators 224A, 224B, and 224C can be positioned anywhere on display 222.

[0051] It should further be appreciated that while the indicators shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C are listed sequentially in a horizontal direction, such a configuration is not necessary. In embodiments, the indicators can be arranged in a vertical direction. In alternate embodiments, the indicators can be arranged in a nonsequential, disordered, or unordered pattern. The visual indicators shown in FIGS. 2A-2C are not intended to be limiting. Any number and type of indicators is contemplated. [0052] Based on the visual indicators shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, an end user is able to quickly discern which CDS services are present and their corresponding status while viewing data from the CDS application. By showing the CDS services that are present and their respective statuses on the screen, the clinical staff can be alerted as to where their information is coming from and what systems are running. If a certain CDS system is assumed to be functional by the clinical staff and is, for some reason, not running, this could present a lack of manual monitoring by the staff. Thus, problems can be avoided by being able to know which CDS services are running at a glance, on a real-time basis. In embodiments, only those CDS services that are experiencing an error are presented. By showing the CDS services that are experiencing an error, the clinical staff can be alerted as to which systems cannot be relied upon. The visual indicators can also be accompanied by any other suitable alert, alarm, or alternative to notify clinical staff that certain CDS services cannot be relied upon.

[0053] FIG. 3 shows an example method 300 for visually indicating presence and status information of one or more CDS services associated with execution of a CDS application in a CDS system. Although operations are shown in an order, this is not meant to be limiting. Various operations may be added, omitted, or reordered.

[0054] At block 302, a visual indicator or part thereof is associated with an operating status of a CDS service. At block 304, the associated visual indicator is stored in a memory associated with a CDS engine of a CDS system.

[0055] At block 306, the CDS engine of a CDS system detects an availability of the CDS service. The availability of the service can be accomplished via any of the methods described above. For example, the CDS system can ping the CDS service and detect response codes received from the CDS service. By way of another example, the CDS service can have a specific end-point that allows retrieval of its status and reason specific for this device. The CDS system can also measure the time it takes for the CDS service to respond and compare the time to a threshold. If the time is within the threshold, the service can be deemed available. If the time is not within the threshold, the service can be deemed unavailable. The service can be deemed unavailable if data service is not available. The service can be deemed unavailable if it is determined that a license for the service has expired.

[0056] At block 308, an operating status of the CDS service is determined based on the detected availability of the CDS service. The operating status can include active, inactive, unauthorized, or failed or any other suitable alternative. At block 310, the CDS engine retrieves a visual indicator associated with the determined operating status. The visual indicator can be retrieved and cached when the CDS service is first contacted. Subsequently, the visual indicator can be retrieved from the cache. Default icons can be present when no visual indicators are provided.

[0057] At block 312, the visual indicator is rendered on a display associated with a medical device or a corresponding computing device along with a recommendation from the CDS service. The visual indicator and recommendation can be viewed on the display in their entireties simultaneously.

[0058] Optionally, the method can further include triggering an alarm when the CDS service is anything but active and running. In embodiments, an alarm can be triggered only when the CDS service is anything but active and running and the CDS service is equal to or higher than a particular level of criticality. Thus, an alarm can be triggered when a certain critical CDS service is not operational versus when a certain non-critical CDS service is not operational. The alarm can be pushed from the CDS service or triggered by the host. Alarms for a non-operational CDS service can include beeping and visual cues for very critical services, flashing status icons for less critical services, and color coding for non-critical services by way of examples.

[0059]

[0060] All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

[0061] The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.” [0062] The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.

[0063] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of’ or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.”

[0064] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.

[0065] It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.

[0066] In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of’ and “consisting essentially of’ shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.

[0067] While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

Claims What is claimed is:

1. A clinical decision support (CDS) system (100), comprising: one or more processors; a display (202, 212, 222) associated with a medical device (108) or a corresponding computing device (110); and memory associated with the one or more processors, the memory configured to store a visual indicator (204, 214A, 214B, 214C, 224A, 224B, 224C) associated with an operating status of a CDS service, the memory further configured to store instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the following: detect an availability of the CDS service; determine an operating status of the CDS service based on the detected availability of the CDS service; obtain the visual indicator associated with the operating status; and cause the visual indicator to be rendered on the display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors obtain a plurality of health parameters associated with a patient and execute a CDS algorithm using the plurality of health parameters as input to generate a recommendation.

3. The system of claims 1 or 2, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by querying the CDS service to determine whether there is a connection between the CDS service and the CDS engine.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by receiving a response code from the CDS service in response to querying the CDS service.

5. The system according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by measuring an amount of time for the CDS service to respond to a query or a ping and comparing the amount of time to a threshold.

6. The system according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the operating status comprises at least one of active, inactive, unauthorized, and failed.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the visual indicator and the recommendation from the CDS service can be viewed on the display in their entireties simultaneously.

8. The system according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the one or more processors detect the availability of the CDS service by retrieving status information from an end-point associated with the CDS service.

9. The system according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the one or more processors trigger a first alarm for the CDS service when the operating status is not active.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors trigger the first alarm based on a first level of criticality of the CDS service and the one or more processors trigger a second alarm, different than the first alarm, based on a second level of criticality of the CDS service, the second level of criticality being different than the first level of criticality.

11. A method (300) for visually indicating a status of a clinical decision support (CDS) service, comprising: associating (302) a visual indicator (204, 214A, 214B, 214C, 224A, 224B, 224C) with an operating status of a CDS service; storing (304) the associated visual indicator in a memory associated with a CDS engine; detecting (306), by the CDS engine, an availability of the CDS service; determining (308) the operating status based on the detected availability of the CDS service; obtaining (310), by the CDS engine, the visual indicator (204, 214A, 214B, 214C, 224A, 224B, 224C) associated with the operating status; and rendering (312) the visual indicator on a display (202, 212, 222) associated with a medical device (108) or a corresponding computing device (110).

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining a plurality of health parameters associated with a patient and executing a CDS algorithm using the plurality of health parameters as input to generate a recommendation.

13. The method of claims 11 or 12, wherein detecting the availability of the CDS service comprises querying the CDS service to determine whether there is a connection between the CDS service and the CDS engine.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein detecting the availability of the CDS service comprises receiving a response code from the CDS service in response to querying the CDS service.

15. The method according to any of claims 11 to 14, wherein detecting the availability of the CDS service comprises measuring an amount of time for the CDS service to respond to a query or a ping and comparing the amount of time to a threshold.