Extensibility for manipulation of medical data

• US 10,404,776 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Inventors: Irwin, John H., Magee, Marshall W., Pingel, Mark E., Arnold, Gary L., Gamble, David D., Rynkiewicz, David E., Hoch, Michael D., Robinson, James M., Bobowski, Matthew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuoc H
• Application Number:
  US15/497,506
• Publication Number:
  US 20170339211A1
• Time in Patent Office: 860 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A method for extending a functionality of a computing device programmed to obtain physiological measurements from a patient includes: registering, at the computing device, a plug-in module, the plug-in module providing additional functionality for the computing device; using the plug-in module to communicate with a medical device; commanding the medical device to obtain physiological information from a patient; receiving data associated with the physiological information from the medical device; and transferring the data to a central repository.

Claims

1. A method for extending a functionality of a vitals monitoring workstation programmed to obtain physiological data from a patient, the method comprising:

providing, at the vitals monitoring workstation, a plug-in module, wherein the vitals monitoring workstation is not configured to communicate with a medical device;

extending the functionality of the vitals monitoring workstation to communicate with the medical device through the plug-in module, wherein extending the functionality includes the plug-in module registering an information schema for a measurement supported by the plug-in module;

receiving, at the vitals monitoring workstation, the physiological data associated with the patient from the medical device, the physiological data being collected from the medical device by the plug-in module, and the plug-in module providing the physiological data to the vitals sign monitoring workstation; and

performing an operation on the physiological data using the information schema.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

manipulating the physiological data at the vitals monitoring workstation; and

transferring the data to a central repository.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing a trend of the physiological data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the physiological data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising incorporating the physiological data in a report.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising incorporating the physiological data in a report template defined by the plug-in module.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plug-in module is a vitals plug-in, the vitals plug-in facilitating vitals measurement acquisition.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating within a workflow.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprises operating within a monitoring workflow, wherein the monitoring workflow includes obtaining a series of measurements of one or more physiological parameters of the patient.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising operating within a non-monitoring workflow.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising operating within a spot check workflow or a triage workflow.