Emergency medical devices with multiple displays

• US 20040122476A1
• Filed: 11/13/2003
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Physio-Control Corp. (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Physio-Control Corp. (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Wung, Peter
• Application Number:
  US10/712,597
• Publication Number:
  US 20040122476A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/5
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0431 Portable apparatus, e.g. comprising a handle or case
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/339 Displays specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7445 Display arrangements, e.g. multiple display units
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3904 External heart defibrillators [EHD]
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3993 User interfaces for automatic external defibrillators
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

In general, the invention is directed to an emergency medical device with multiple display monitors for displaying patient parameters to an operator of the medical device. In particular, the display monitors of the emergency medical device are arranged such that the operator may continuously view the patient parameters in order to constantly monitor the condition of a patient. The display monitors may, for instance, be arranged to allow the operator of the medical device to view measured patient parameters while a cover of the medical device is closed or during transportation of the medical device and the patient. For example, the medical device may include a secondary display monitor on the same side as a handle for viewing patient parameters during transportation of the patient and the medical device. The display monitors may each display the same patient parameters, a portion of the same patient parameters, or completely different patient parameters to the operator.

Claims

1. An emergency medical device comprising:

at least one sensor to measure one or more patient parameters;

a first display monitor to display at least a first subset of the patient parameters to an operator; and

a second display monitor to display at least a second subset of the patient parameters to the operator.

2. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which a major surface of the first display monitor is arranged in a first plane and a major surface of the second display monitor is arranged in a second plane, and the first plane and the second plane are substantially perpendicular to one another.

3. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which a major surface of the first display monitor is arranged in a first plane and a major surface of the second display monitor is arranged in a second plane, and the first plane and the second plane are substantially parallel to one another.

4. The emergency medical device of claim 1, further comprising a housing and a cover attached to the housing, the first display monitor and the second display monitor being located within the cover, in which the first display monitor is located on one side of the cover and the second display monitor is located on the opposite side of the cover.

5. The emergency medical device of claim 4, in which the first display monitor displays the first subset of patient parameters when the cover is closed.

6. The emergency medical device of claim 5, in which the first display monitor is turned off when the cover is opened.

7. The emergency medical device of claim 4, in which the second display monitor displays the second subset of patient parameters when the cover is open.

8. The emergency medical device of claim 7, in which the second display monitor is turned off when the cover is closed.

9. The emergency medical device of claim 4, in which the first display monitor displays the first subset of patient parameters and the second display monitor displays the second subset of patient parameters when the cover is open.

10. The emergency medical device of claim 1, further comprising a handle, and in which the first display monitor is located on a side of the device on which the handle is located and the second display monitor is located on a side of the device adjacent to the handle.

11. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which the first display monitor displays the first subset of patient parameters and the second display monitor displays the second subset patient parameters concurrently.

12. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which the first subset of patient parameters and the second subset of patient parameters include at least some of the same patient parameters.

13. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which the first subset of patient parameters and the second subset of patient parameters include at least one different patient parameter.

14. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which at least one of the first display monitor and the second display monitor displays emergency medical device status information in addition to the subset of patient parameters.

15. The emergency medical device of claim 1, further comprising a port that electrically couples to the first display monitor.

16. The emergency medical device of claim 15, in which the port comprises one of a wired port and a wireless port, and the first display monitor is detached from the emergency medical device.

17. The emergency medical device of claim 16, in which the first display monitor comprises a display that is a component of one of a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, and a wristwatch.

18. The emergency medical device of claim 1, further comprising a memory to store the measured patient parameters, in which the emergency medical device displays the stored patient parameters via at least one of the first display monitor and second display monitor.

19. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which the first display monitor and the second display monitor comprise one of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitor, Light-Emitting Diode (LED) display monitor, and a plasma display monitor.

20. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which the device comprises an external defibrillator.

21. The emergency medical device of claim 1, in which the device comprises one of an external therapeutic emergency medical device and an external diagnostic emergency medical device.

22. A method comprising:

measuring one or more patient parameters;

displaying a first subset of the measured patient parameters to an operator via a first display monitor of an emergency medical device; and

displaying a second subset of the measured patient parameters to the operator via a second display monitor of the emergency medical device.

23. The method of claim 22, in which a major surface of the first display monitor is arranged in a first plane and a major surface of the second display monitor is arranged in a second plane, and the first plane and the second plane are substantially perpendicular to one another.

24. The method of claim 22, in which a major surface of the first display monitor is arranged in a first plane and a major surface of the second display monitor is arranged in a second plane, and the first plane and the second plane are substantially parallel to one another.

25. The method of claim 22, in which the first display monitor and the second display monitor are located within a cover that is attached to a housing of the emergency medical device, the first display monitor being located on one side of the cover and the second display monitor located on the opposite side of the cover.

26. The method of claim 25, in which displaying the first subset of the measured patient parameters to the operator via the first display monitor of the emergency medical device comprises displaying the first subset of the measured patient parameters to the operator via the first display monitor of the emergency medical device when the cover is closed.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising powering off the first display monitor upon detecting opening of the cover.

28. The method of claim 25, in which displaying the second subset of the measured patient parameters to the operator via the second display monitor of the emergency medical device comprises displaying the second subset of the measured patient parameters to the operator via the second display monitor of the emergency medical device upon detecting opening of the cover.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising powering off the second display monitor upon detecting closure of the cover.

30. The method of claim 22, in which the first display monitor is located on a side on which a handle is located and the second display monitor is located on a side adjacent to the handle.

31. The method of claim 22, in which the first subset of patient parameters and the second subset of patient parameters include at least some of the same patient parameters.

32. The method of claim 22, in which the first subset of patient parameters and the second subset of patient parameters include at least one different patient parameter.

33. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving input from the operator identifying at least one of the subsets of patient parameters to display.

34. The method of claim 22, further comprising displaying emergency medical device status information to the operator via at least one of the first display monitor and the second display monitor.

35. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

storing measured patient parameters; and

displaying the stored patient parameters to the operator via at least one of the first display monitor and the second display monitor.

36. The method of claim 22, in which the emergency medical device comprises an external defibrillator.

37. The method of claim 22, in which the emergency medical device comprises one of an external therapeutic emergency medical device and an external diagnostic emergency medical device.

38. The method of claim 22, in which the first display monitor comprises a display that is a component of one of a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, and a wristwatch.