Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H10/00—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data
  • G16H10/60—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H15/00—ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof

Definitions

• the present invention generally relates to a system and a method for processing and displaying of medical information, and more particularly, to processing and displaying of patient data.
• the present invention enables a user of a charting system to create an adaptive timeline for display of patient data.
• the patient data is either stored electronically or written down on paper, depending on types of data and level of automation for a particular hospital.
• the type of data may include parameter settings for a piece of medical equipment used to treat a patient or parameter values obtained relating to physiology of a patient.
• a ventilator is frequently used to ventilate a patient's lungs with breathing gas when the patient's ability to breathe on his or her own is impaired.
• a caregiver needs to first set up various settings for the ventilator. Examples of commonly required settings to control a ventilator include: Peak Inspiratory Pressure (PIP) setting for limiting the peak pressure during inspiration of air; and Positive End Expiratory Pressure (PEEP) setting for limiting the peak pressure at the end of expiration of air.
• PIP Peak Inspiratory Pressure
• PEEP Positive End Expiratory Pressure
• Many other ventilator settings may also be controlled, depending on the capability of the particular ventilator.
• medical equipment may also be equipped with various physiological sensors so that the condition of a patient may be monitored.
• MAP Mean Airway Pressure
• TVi Tidal Volume inspired
• other different patient parameters may be monitored by other types of medical devices.
• hospitals also have laboratories to analyze, for example, blood of a patient.
• the results of the blood tests may be printed out by a lab technician and given to a caregiver or entered electronically on a computer to be accessed by the caregiver. The caregiver can then analyze the results and choose a correct course of treatment for the patient.
• the various exemplary patient data for a patient during his or her stay is now frequently stored electronically and often in a networked environment.
• a care provider may then access the data using, for example, web browser software through a network. This allows a caregiver to access the data throughout the hospital or even remotely through Internet.
• the present inventors recognize that during a patient's stay in a hospital, the patient's vital signs are collected at different rates depending on, for example, the health of the patient. In particular, if the patient's vital signs are tracked on a paper flow sheet, the data is likely to be written down using time intervals at which the data has been collected by a caregiver. It is therefore desirable to have a variable time interval capability for an electronic patient charting system that allows hospitals to convert patient data from paper to digital storage.
• previous systems may allow the time interval to be adjusted, the change is applied to the entire length of the patient's stay.
• the time interval By universally changing the time interval, prior systems display either too much or too little data for some portion of the patient's record.
• the present invention allows resulting patient record to reflect data as a caretaker would have written it.
• the caretaker is free to concentrate on the patient knowing that data will be correctly entered on the patient's flow sheet later.
• the caretaker can select the appropriate time interval for that critical time period or duration. At that point, data is automatically collected and copied into the patient record efficiently.
• a system and a method for processing medical information are described.
• a user is allowed to select a time interval applicable to a timeline on a patient data screen.
• a user is also allowed to select a start time and an end time identifying a duration for which the selected time interval is applicable.
• Patient data is then displayed with the timeline such that the selected time interval is used for the duration between the selected start time and the selected end time.
• Fig. 1 is an exemplary process according to the present invention.
• Fig. 2 shows an example of a user interface screen according to the present invention.
• Fig. 3 is another example of a user interface screen having a start time and end time selection tool.
• Fig. 4 is a user interface screen showing a list of applicable start time choices in response to a user request.
• Fig. 5 is a user interface screen showing a tool for accepting data edits, changes and validation.
• Fig. 6 is an exemplary system according to the present invention.
• Fig. 1 shows an exemplary method employed by a system for processing and displaying patient data according to the present invention.
• Fig. 2 shows an exemplary user interface screen for a patient flow sheet which may be employed by the present system.
• An exemplary patient flow sheet or patient chart 200 in Fig. 2 comprises a timeline 201.
• the timeline 201 is divided into time intervals for displaying patient data in each time interval.
• the timeline 201 is divided into 15-minute intervals as shown in Fig. 2.
• the present system allows a user to select a time interval for a timeline via a list of available intervals, at step 104 of Fig. 1.
• a user may select an interval from, for example, a user interface popup icon 202 of flow sheet display screen 200 of Fig. 2.
• a list of available intervals is displayed.
• An exemplary list of available intervals may comprise intervals such as 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc.
• step 106 the system determines in step 106 which allowable start time and end time choices are applicable to the selected interval on the flow sheet based on a predetermined set of rules.
• the determination of allowable start time and end time choices is based at least in part on the interval chosen at step 104 and the time currently being displayed on the flow sheet.
• An example of a predetermined set of rules for presenting applicable start and end time choices to a user may be:
• the change or the start hour needs to be in the set of (0:00, 4:00, 8:00, 12:00, 16:00, and 20:00);
• the purpose of these rules is to create a timeline that is logical and understandable to the user, while protecting the integrity of patient data.
• the last rule above applies to disallow certain user selections in the following way, when a flow sheet is being displayed with a 4- hour interval. In that case, if the hours currently shown on the flow sheet are 4:00, 8:00, and 12:00, the user may not choose to switch to a 1 -hour interval at 11 :00 because this would cause a discontinuity in the data. Also, the interval between 8 and 11 is three hours, and that is not a valid interval for the example given.
• the present system incorporates rules for presenting patient data in a flow sheet that further enhances user actions.
• the system determines the applicable start and end times based on a set of predetermined rules as shown in step 106 of Fig. 1 , the system allows a user to select a particular start time and a particular end time at steps 108 and 110 of Fig. 1.
• the system provides default settings for the start time and the end time. For example, as shown in an exemplary user screen 300 of Fig. 3, a start time and end time selection tool 304 is displayed when the user selects an interval.
• the selection tool 304 is populated with a predetermined default start time and a predetermined default end time 306 and 308 respectively, when the selection tool 304 is first displayed.
• the allowable default start time is also governed by the predetermined rules as described in connection with step 106 of Fig. 1.
• the default start time is the current time (i.e., now).
• the default start time of now becomes “11 :00" as shown in 306 of Fig. 3. This is because the user-selected interval for this default start time is "15 Minutes” as shown in 312 of Fig. 3, and the current time for flow sheet 300 is "11 :56" as shown in 310 of Fig. 3.
• An example of a default end time shown in Fig. 3 is a blank entry 308 indicating that the default end time for applying the selected time interval is indefinitely extended into the future. Therefore, if the user accepts the exemplary default values as shown in selection tool 304 of Fig. 3, the time interval change takes place from now into the future until the settings are changed.
• the present system provides a list of available start time and end time choices automatically for a user.
• the system displays all allowable start time and end time choices in response to a user request. This is illustrated in an exemplary flow sheet screen 400 of Fig. 4. For example, once a user selects a down arrow 404 of Fig. 4, a pop up screen 406 will be displayed with a list of the allowable start times as determined by, for example, the rules described at step 106 of the exemplary process flow of Fig. 1.
• the user may accept the start time and end time choices selected by the user by clicking on, for example, "Accept" icon 410 of Fig. 4.
• the selected interval change occurs for the timeline between the accepted start time and end time.
• a user may select another interval to be applied to a duration or time period between a different start time and end time of the timeline. This allows the system to display patient data using one or more intervals on the same timeline.
• the data shown in a flow sheet changes. If the interval is decreased, more patient data is charted, and if the interval is increased some data is removed from the chart. When additional patient data is required, it may be gathered from a raw data pool in the system database, and the chart is automatically filled in.
• a patient chart or flow sheet One function of a patient chart or flow sheet is to allow the user to edit, change and/or validate patient data. This process is shown in an exemplary flow sheet display 500 of Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 5, a user may highlight a portion of the flow sheet 500 with a user selection tool such as a cursor (not shown). Once the portion of the data is highlighted, an edit screen 502 is displayed which allows the user to examine and change if necessary the values of patient data. Once the user has examined and/or changed the data, the user can then select "Accept" icon 504 to indicate that the user has validated the data.
• a user selection tool such as a cursor (not shown).
• one advantage of the present invention is to protect the user from inadvertently removing accepted data.
• the potential removal of data can occur for example, when a user changes a 1-hour interval to a 4-hour interval. Therefore, one embodiment of the present system automatically determines if an interval change requested would remove data that has been changed and/or validated. If that is the case, the interval change requested is ignored by the system, and a message is displayed which explains the problem to the user.
• System 50 may comprise a general purpose computer or a specially constructed computer.
• a general purpose or specially constructed computer may be used with a program or programs in accordance with the teachings herein.
• An example of general purpose computer may be an Intel® based personal computer, capable of running MS Windows®.
• An example of a specialized machine may be a patient data display system for used in a hospital.
• System 50 of Fig. 6 comprises an input/output (I/O) section 51 which is used to communicate information in an appropriate form to and from oilier components of system 50.
• I/O section 51 may also communicate with a local area or wide are network 67, including the Internet, via for example, TCP/IP protocol. This allows system 50 to communicate with other computers or devices 69 over the network 67, via for example, a web browsing software such as Microsoft Internet Explorer®.
• system 50 comprises a central processing unit (CPU) 52 coupled to I/O section 51 , and a memory 53 such as RAM and/or ROM for storing computer programs and other information to be executed.
• CPU central processing unit
• memory 53 such as RAM and/or ROM for storing computer programs and other information to be executed.
• An example of a computer program which may be executed by system 50 is a process illustrated in Fig. 1.
• System 50 includes a display 60, such as, for example, a CRT monitor, a liquid crystal display (LCD), or others.
• a user interface screen 62 is displayed on display 60.
• An example of a display screen 62 is shown, for example, as display screen 200 of Fig. 2 or screen 300 of Fig. 3.
• System 50 further includes a cursor control 54, such as, for example, a mouse, a track ball, joystick or other device for selectively positioning a cursor 59 on a display screen 62 of the display 60.
• cursor control 54 includes a signal generator, such as a switch 55 which a user of the computer system may use to generate signals directing the computer to execute certain commands which have been focused or enabled by the cursor control 54.
• System 50 also includes a keyboard 56 to input data and commands from a user, as is well known in the art.
• a mass storage device 58 such as a hard disk, coupled to I/O circuit 51 to provide additional storage capability for computer 50.
• a CD/DVD ROM 57 is further coupled to I/O circuit 50 for additional storage capacity or as another I/O device. It will be appreciated that additional devices (not shown) may be coupled to computer 50 for various purposes, as well known in the art.
• the described system and method may be advantageously applied to any system, including a web-based system, needing to display data with variable time granularity. There are no other restrictions on how often a time interval changes may occur. The user can always update the timeline, even if it has been previously changed.
• the described variable interval timeline system may be applied to any data that is displayed on a timeline.
• One aspect of the system is its ability to display data on a timeline where different time intervals that are shown concurrently for patient data.
• Another aspect is the system ability to change a patient chart's timeline interval in the past and the future.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Medical Informatics (AREA)
• Primary Health Care (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Measuring And Recording Apparatus For Diagnosis (AREA)
• Medical Treatment And Welfare Office Work (AREA)
• User Interface Of Digital Computer (AREA)

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• 2003
  • 2003-04-15 US US10/414,064 patent/US7757183B2/en active Active
  • 2003-04-21 EP EP03719851A patent/EP1497781A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2003-04-21 CN CNA03809214XA patent/CN1650311A/zh active Pending
  • 2003-04-21 WO PCT/US2003/012175 patent/WO2003091932A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2003-04-21 JP JP2004500234A patent/JP2005523757A/ja active Pending

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