Methods and techniques for collecting, reporting and managing ionizing radiation dose
First Claim
1. A method of collecting and utilizing information relating to medical imaging procedures, the method comprising:
- collecting information about a plurality of medical imaging procedures from a plurality of information sources, wherein the information collected for each of the medical imaging procedures comprises objective information about the medical imaging procedure, including at least information about parameters of the medical imaging procedure and information about a patient that underwent the medical imaging procedure, and a subjective assessment of a result of the medical imaging procedure, wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure comprises an individual'"'"'s opinion of quality of the result of the medical imaging procedure;
forming a plurality of procedure records, wherein each of the procedure records corresponds to one of the medical imaging procedures, and wherein each of the procedure records comprises at least the objective information about the medical imaging procedure and the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure,storing the procedure records in a database, wherein the database is in electronic communication with at least a portion of the information sources;
receiving demographic information about a subject patient;
accessing the database;
determining a suggested protocol comprising at least operating parameters of a medical imaging device, wherein the suggested protocol is determined based on a consideration of the demographic information about the subject patient and the objective information and subjective assessments contained in the database, and wherein the medical imaging device comprises a user interface;
presenting the suggested protocol on the user interface of the medical imaging device in a visually perceptible form;
performing a medical imaging procedure on the subject patient by operating the medical imaging device in accordance with the operating parameters of the suggested protocol or a modification thereof;
entering into the user interface of the medical imaging device a subjective assessment of a result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient, wherein the medical imaging device generates an electronic report of the medical imaging procedure, and wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient is entered into and stored as part of the electronic report; and
receiving the electronic report generated by the medical imaging device.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Provided is a method of collecting and managing information relating to medical diagnostic procedures which includes collecting objective information about a plurality of procedures and subjective information about the results of those procedures. The objective information provides information about the parameters of the procedure and the patient who underwent the procedure while the subjective information includes an assessment of the quality of the results of the procedure. This information can be stored in a database. The database can be accessed and the information therein used in connection with understanding the results of past procedures and planning for future procedures.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of collecting and utilizing information relating to medical imaging procedures, the method comprising:
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collecting information about a plurality of medical imaging procedures from a plurality of information sources, wherein the information collected for each of the medical imaging procedures comprises objective information about the medical imaging procedure, including at least information about parameters of the medical imaging procedure and information about a patient that underwent the medical imaging procedure, and a subjective assessment of a result of the medical imaging procedure, wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure comprises an individual'"'"'s opinion of quality of the result of the medical imaging procedure; forming a plurality of procedure records, wherein each of the procedure records corresponds to one of the medical imaging procedures, and wherein each of the procedure records comprises at least the objective information about the medical imaging procedure and the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure, storing the procedure records in a database, wherein the database is in electronic communication with at least a portion of the information sources; receiving demographic information about a subject patient; accessing the database; determining a suggested protocol comprising at least operating parameters of a medical imaging device, wherein the suggested protocol is determined based on a consideration of the demographic information about the subject patient and the objective information and subjective assessments contained in the database, and wherein the medical imaging device comprises a user interface; presenting the suggested protocol on the user interface of the medical imaging device in a visually perceptible form; performing a medical imaging procedure on the subject patient by operating the medical imaging device in accordance with the operating parameters of the suggested protocol or a modification thereof; entering into the user interface of the medical imaging device a subjective assessment of a result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient, wherein the medical imaging device generates an electronic report of the medical imaging procedure, and wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient is entered into and stored as part of the electronic report; and receiving the electronic report generated by the medical imaging device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A medical imaging system, comprising:
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a plurality of medical imaging devices each comprising a user interface, wherein each of the medical imaging devices is configured to perform a medical imaging procedure on a subject patient according to a suggested protocol provided to the medical imaging device, wherein the suggested protocol comprises at least operating parameters of the medical imaging device; one or more protocol management applications, wherein each of the protocol management applications is in electronic communication with one or more of the medical imaging devices; and a database in electronic communication with each of the protocol management applications, wherein the database comprises a plurality of procedure records, wherein each of the procedure records comprises objective information about a past medical imaging procedure, including at least information about parameters used in the past medical imaging procedure and information about a patient that underwent the past medical imaging procedure, and a subjective assessment of a result of the past medical imaging procedure, wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the past medical imaging procedure comprises an individual'"'"'s opinion of quality of the result of the past medical imaging procedure, wherein the database is in electronic communication with a plurality of information sources configured to provide to the database objective information about medical imaging procedures and subjective assessments of results of the medical imaging procedures, wherein the one or more protocol management applications are each configured to (a) receive demographic information about the subject patient, (b) access the database;
(c) determine the suggested protocol based on a consideration of the demographic information of the subject patient and the objective information and the subjective assessments contained in the plurality of procedure records in the database, (d) deliver the suggested protocol to the medical imaging device so as to enable the medical imaging procedure to be performed thereby on the subject patient in accordance with the operating parameters of the suggested protocol or a modification thereof by an operator of the medical imaging device,wherein each of the medical imaging devices is further configured to (a) present the suggested protocol of the medical imaging procedure to be performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device on the user interface in a visually perceptible form, (b) permit a subjective assessment of a result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device to be entered into the user interface, and (c) generate an electronic report of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device, wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device is entered into and stored as part of the electronic report. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A medical imaging system, comprising:
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a medical imaging device comprising a user interface; and a protocol management application in electronic communication with the medical imaging device; wherein the medical imaging device is configured to perform a medical imaging procedure on a subject patient according to a suggested protocol provided by the protocol management application, wherein the suggested protocol comprises at least operating parameters of the medical imaging device; wherein the protocol management application is in communication with a database, wherein the database comprises a plurality of procedure records, wherein each of the procedure records comprises objective information about a past medical imaging procedure, including at least information about parameters used in the past medical imaging procedure and information about a patient that underwent the past medical imaging procedure, and a subjective assessment of a result of the past medical imaging procedure, wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the past medical imaging procedure comprises an individual'"'"'s opinion of quality of the result of the past medical imaging procedure, wherein the database is in electronic communication with a plurality of information sources configured to provide to the database objective information about medical imaging procedures and subjective assessments of results of the medical imaging procedures, wherein the protocol management application is configured to (a) receive demographic information about the subject patient, (b) access the database;
(c) determine the suggested protocol based on a consideration of the demographic information of the subject patient and the objective information and the subjective assessments contained in the plurality of procedure records in the database, (d) deliver the suggested protocol to the medical imaging device so as to enable the medical imaging procedure to be performed thereby on the subject patient in accordance with the operating parameters of the suggested protocol or a modification thereof by an operator of the medical imaging device, andwherein the medical imaging device is further configured to (a) present the suggested protocol of the medical imaging procedure to be performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device on the user interface in a visually perceptible form, (b) permit a subjective assessment of a result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device to be entered into the user interface, and (c) generate an electronic report of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device, wherein the subjective assessment of the result of the medical imaging procedure performed on the subject patient using the medical imaging device is entered into and stored as part of the electronic report.
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Specification