Patient diagnosis using triage protocols that have customized messages at exit points

• US 20030208377A1
• Filed: 10/02/2002
• Published: 11/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Numoda Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Numoda Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Nudd, Audrey J., Galbraith, Ronald E., Argenbright, Keith E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A decison flowchart of a triage protocol is provided for a medical condition of a patient. The flowchart includes a plurality of decision blocks. Each decision block relates to one or more patient symptoms and/or considerations. A plurality of exit points are provided in the flowchart. Each exit point is associated with a respective decision block. Each exit point is reached upon the presence or absence of a symptom or consideration in the respective decision block. Each exit point recommends an action to be taken by the patient. The exit points may be customized. More specifically, the recommended action at selected exit points may be individually selected from a plurality of selectable actions. Thus, the decision flowchart may provide different recommended courses of action for a patient having the same symptoms and/or considerations based upon individual selections. The recommended action becomes an exit message for the respective exit point.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing a decision flowchart of a triage protocol for a medical condition of a patient, the flowchart including a plurality of decision blocks, each decision block relating to one or more patient symptoms and/or considerations, the method comprising:

(a) providing a plurality of exit points in the flowchart, each exit point being associated with a respective decision block, each exit point being reached upon the presence or absence of a symptom or consideration in the respective decision block, each exit point recommending an action to be taken by the patient; and

(b) individually selecting the recommended action at selected exit points from a plurality of selectable actions, the decision flowchart thereby providing different recommended courses of action for a patient having the same symptoms and/or considerations based upon individual selections, the recommended action being an exit message for the respective exit point.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

(c) providing a plurality of different sets of exit messages that can be set independently of each other.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical provider has a plurality of different medical locations, each set of exit messages relating to one of the medical locations.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical provider has a plurality of medical practitioners, each set of exit messages relating to one of the medical practitioners.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein each set of exit messages is associated with a different time period of the day or a different range of dates.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of selectable actions for each exit point includes a default action which provides a default exit message.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the default action has the least degree of severity of the selectable actions, thereby ensuring that selecting any of the other actions results in an exit message having a greater degree of severity than the exit message of the default action.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the plurality of selectable actions for each exit point includes a customizable parameter, the method further comprising:

(c) selecting a parameter for each of the customizable parameters prior to step (b).

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical provider makes the individual selections.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the individual selections are made via a drop-down menu of a user interface, each of the selectable actions being a selection in the drop-down menu.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein a patient consideration is a patient demographic.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the decision blocks are successively displayed in sequence and any decision blocks that occur after a patient has reached an exit point are not displayed to the patient.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein each recommended action has a corresponding reporting action that indicates whether the results of the decision flowchart are to be forwarded to a storage location for subsequent retrieval, the method further comprising:

(c) individually selecting the reporting action for each recommended action.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the selectable actions is to branch to a subsequent decision block in the flowchart, instead of exiting the flowchart at the exit point.

15. An article of manufacture for providing a decision flowchart of a triage protocol for a medical condition of a patient, the flowchart including a plurality of decision blocks, each decision block relating to one or more patient symptoms and/or considerations, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

(a) providing a plurality of exit points in the flowchart, each exit point being associated with a respective decision block, each exit point being reached upon the presence or absence of a symptom or consideration in the respective decision block, each exit point recommending an action to be taken by the patient; and

(b) individually selecting the recommended action at selected exit points from a plurality of selectable actions, the decision flowchart thereby providing different recommended courses of action for a patient having the same symptoms and/or considerations based upon individual selections, the recommended action being an exit message for the respective exit point.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(c) providing a plurality of different sets of exit messages that can be set independently of each other.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical provider has a plurality of different medical locations, each set of exit messages relating to one of the medical locations.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical provider has a plurality of medical practitioners, each set of exit messages relating to one of the medical practitioners.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein each set of exit messages is associated with a different time period of the day or a different range of dates.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the plurality of selectable actions for each exit point includes a default action which provides a default exit message.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein the default action has the least degree of severity of the selectable actions, thereby ensuring that selecting any of the other actions results in an exit message having a greater degree of severity than the exit message of the default action.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein at least some of the plurality of selectable actions for each exit point includes a customizable parameter, the computer-executable instructions performing a method further comprising:

(c) selecting a parameter for each of the customizable parameters prior to step (b).

23. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the patient'"'"'s medical provider makes the individual selections.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the individual selections are made via a drop-down menu of a user interface, each of the selectable actions being a selection in the drop-down menu.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein a patient consideration is a patient demographic.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the decision blocks are successively displayed in sequence and any decision blocks that occur after a patient has reached an exit point are not displayed to the patient.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein each recommended action has a corresponding reporting action that indicates whether the results of the decision flowchart are to be forwarded to a storage location for subsequent retrieval, the computer-executable instructions performing a method further comprising:

(c) individually selecting the reporting action for each recommended action.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein one of the selectable actions is to branch to a subsequent decision block in the flowchart, instead of exiting the flowchart at the exit point.