Providing adaptive medical triage

• US 20060100901A1
• Filed: 11/09/2004
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medcor Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Medcor Incorporated
• Inventors: Sahouri, Tim I., Huffine, Thomas S., Seeger, Philip C., Smith, Curtis H., Kleeburg, Peter B., Glimp, Thomas H., Victorson, Troyt M., Kantenwein, Scott A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,733 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

A method of adaptively operating a medical triage system includes triaging a plurality of persons using a set of triage questions to select particular dispositions from a plurality of triage disposition. Triage-related data is acquired as a result of the triaging of the plurality of persons. The triage-related data is analyzed and the set of triage questions or the dispositions are modified based on the analysis of the triage-related data.

Claims

1. A method of adaptively operating a medical triage system, comprising:

triaging a plurality of persons using a set of triage questions to select particular dispositions from a plurality of triage dispositions;

acquiring triage-related data as a result of the triaging of the plurality of persons;

analyzing the triage-related data; and

modifying the set of triage questions based on the analysis of the triage-related data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the triage-related data comprises triage outcome information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the triage-related data in a database; and

accessing the triage-related data for analysis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the set of triage questions comprises one of modifying and removing one of the set of triage questions.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the set of triage questions comprises adding at least an additional triage question to the set of triage questions.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the set of triage questions comprises shifting one of the triage questions from one of the tiers into another of the tiers.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the set of triage questions comprises revising a particular question of the triage questions so that a predetermined answer to the particular question is more highly correlated with a desirable triage outcome.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising setting a threshold level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes and modifying the set of triage questions to reduce the level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes when the threshold level is exceeded.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising re-analyzing the triage-related data after modifying the set of triage questions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the triage questions are arranged in tiers ranked according to urgency level and wherein each of the tiers corresponds to one of the plurality of triage dispositions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the triage questions are further arranged into a plurality of triage categories, and wherein each of the plurality of triage categories corresponds to one of a body part and a medical condition, the method further comprising selecting at least one relevant triage category from the plurality of triage categories based on information provided by a person to be triaged.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein triaging comprises:

(a) identifying from the at least one relevant triage category a highest urgency tier that has at least one unasked question;

(b) asking the person to be triaged one of the at least one unasked question of the highest urgency tier; and

(c) repeating (a) and (b) for all of the at least one relevant triage category until one of the plurality of triage dispositions is selected.

13. A method of adaptively operating a medical triage system, comprising:

triaging a plurality of persons using triage questions to select particular dispositions from a plurality of triage dispositions;

acquiring triage-related data as a result of the triaging of the plurality of persons;

analyzing the triage-related data; and

modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions based on the analysis of the triage-related data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of triage dispositions corresponds to a time within which medical attention is to be provided and a level of prescribed medical attention.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions comprises increasing the level of prescribed medical attention in one of the plurality of dispositions.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions comprises decreasing the level of prescribed medical attention in one of the plurality of dispositions.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions comprises one of increasing and decreasing the time within which the medical attention is to be provided.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising shifting one of the triage questions from one of the tiers into another of the tiers.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

storing the triage-related data in a database;

accessing the triage-related data in the database for analysis.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising setting a threshold level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes and modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions to reduce the level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes when the threshold level is exceeded.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising re-analyzing the triage-related data after modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the triage questions are arranged in tiers ranked according to urgency and wherein each of the tiers corresponds to one of the plurality of triage dispositions.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the triage questions are further arranged into a plurality of triage categories, and wherein each of the plurality of triage categories corresponds to one of a body part and a medical condition, the method further comprising selecting of at least one relevant triage category from the plurality of triage categories based on information provided by a person to be triaged.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein triaging comprises:

(a) identifying from the at least one relevant triage category a highest urgency tier that has at least one unasked question;

(b) asking the person to be triaged one of the at least one unasked question of the highest urgency tier; and

(c) repeating (a) and (b) for all of the at least one relevant triage category until one of the triage dispositions is selected.

25. The method of claim 14, further comprising re-analyzing the triage-related data after modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein the triage-related data comprises triage outcome information.

27. A method of adaptively operating a medical triage system, comprising:

triaging a plurality of persons using a set of triage questions to select particular dispositions from a plurality of triage dispositions;

acquiring triage-related data as a result of the triaging of the plurality of persons, wherein the triage-related data comprises triage outcome information;

storing the triage-related data in a database;

accessing the triage-related data for analysis;

analyzing the triage-related data; and

modifying the set of triage questions and at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions based on the analysis of the triage-related data to reduce a level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes, wherein each of the plurality of triage dispositions corresponds to a time within which medical attention is to be provided and a level of prescribed medical attention.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising setting a threshold level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes and modifying at least one of the plurality of triage dispositions to reduce the level of undesirable aggregate triage outcomes when the threshold level is exceeded.