Management of Medical Workflow

• US 20090132586A1
• Filed: 11/19/2007
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RFW LLC, Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Duvoisin, Stephen, Murray, Dan, Copeland, Jon, Napora, Brian, Teel, Gordon, Schulte, William, Keyes, William
• Granted Patent: US 10,438,694 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• 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 40/63 for local operation
• 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

Various embodiments provide participants in a medical workflow with an integrated way to interact with a variety of medical information systems. Medical information can be collected from different medical information systems and/or data sources and presented to a user in one or more customized interfaces. Users can interact with the interface(s) and perform tasks associated with a medical workflow.

Claims

1. A method for interacting with medical data, the method comprising:

receiving an indication at a first application of a selection of a medical record in a second application;

automatically opening a form with the first application in response to the indication, the form being configured based at least in part on a user profile of a user of the second application;

retrieving medical data from the medical record with the first application; and

automatically populating the form with at least some of the medical data.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the medical record comprises a medical task to be performed as part of a medical workflow.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user profile is based at least in part on a user role in a medical workflow and user permissions.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input into the form from the user; and

automatically updating one or more external instances of the medical record based at least in part on the input.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein one of the one or more external instances of the medical record comprises a dispatcher interface, the dispatcher interface displaying a plurality of medical tasks to be completed.

6. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a selection of a patient medical record in a user interface, the user interface being generated by a first application;

in response to the indication, automatically generating a form for a user with a second application, the form being configured based at least in part on a user definition;

automatically capturing medical data from the patient medical record and automatically populating the form with at least some of the medical data;

receiving input into the form from the user, the input comprising medical information about a patient associated with the patient medical record;

updating the patient medical record at one or more external applications based at least in part on the user input into the form.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the user definition includes a set of permissions associated with the user.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the input further comprises a task request for a medical procedure.

9. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the updating comprises pushing the user input to the one or more external applications.

10. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising pushing the patient medical record to a dispatcher as a medical task request, the medical task request specifying one or more medical procedures to be performed as part of a medical workflow.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising displaying the medical task request in a dispatcher interface, the dispatcher interface enabling the dispatcher the monitor a plurality of medical workflows, the plurality of medical workflows originating from a plurality of external medical information systems.

12. A method for interacting with a medical workflow, the method comprising:

receiving at a first application a medical task request created at least in part by a second application, the medical task request comprising one or more medical procedures to be performed as part of the medical workflow;

populating a user interface generated by the first application with medical data from the medical task request;

receiving input into the user interface from a user of the first application;

updating the medical task request with at least part of the input; and

pushing the updated medical task request to a third application, the third application being associated with a user that is different than the user of the first application.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the first application is executed remotely from the second application.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the user that is associated with the third application comprises a dispatcher that monitors a plurality of medical workflows.

15. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising assigning the one or more medical procedures to an entity to be completed, the assigning comprising placing the medical task request in a workflow queue associated with the entity.

16. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

as part of the medical task request, capturing one or more medical images; and

updating the medical task request by attaching the one or more medical images to the medical task request

17. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

monitoring the updated medical task request at a dispatcher, the dispatcher being configured to receive medical task requests from a plurality of external workflow sources and to assign medical tasks to one or more entities;

receiving an indication that the updated medical task request has exceed an allowed pending time;

determining if a workflow queue associated with an entity can receive an additional medical task request; and

in the event that the workflow queue associated with an entity can receive an additional medical task request, reassigning the updated medical task request to the entity.

18. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable media storing a plurality of modules capable of being executed by the one or more processors, the modules comprising;

an aggregator module to receive medical workflow data from one or more medical data sources, at least one of the medical data sources being an external medical data source;

a workflow dispatcher to determine medical workflow data routing based at least in part on one or more workflow rules; and

a structured data acquisition tool configured to generate a form and automatically populate the form with the medical workflow data in response to a user interaction with an external medical information application, the structured data acquisition tool being further configured to update external instances of a medical record based on input by a user into the form.

19. A system as recited in claim 18, wherein the aggregator includes a message broker that determines if medical workflow data is to be forwarded to one or more external entities.

20. A system as recited in claim 18, wherein the aggregator includes a data flow controller that is configured to perform normalization of medical workflow data.

21. A system as recited in claim 18, further comprising a dictionary processor configured to receive a plurality of medical codes from external medical information systems and correlate each of the plurality of medical codes with a common medical procedure.

22. A system as recited in claim 18, further comprising a workflow analytics module configured to analyze medical workflow statistics and generate one or more reports based on the analysis, the medical workflow statistics including a number of medical procedures performed during a particular time period.

23. A method comprising:

defining a plurality of slot parameters for a slot, the slot comprising at least one medical task to be completed;

defining a plurality of resource parameters for a medical resource, the resource parameters including a date on which the medical resource is available to perform medical tasks and one or more medical attributes associated with the medical resource;

receiving in a graphical user interface an attempt by a user to assign the medical resource to the slot; and

determining if the medical resource is available to be assigned to the slot, the determining based at least in part on the slot parameters and the resource parameters.

24. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the determining comprises ascertaining if the one or more medical attributes indicate that the medical resource is qualified to perform the medical task.

25. A method as recited in claim 23, further comprising:

in the event that the medical resource is not available to be assigned to the slot, performing one of;

assigning a different medical resource to the slot, or overriding one or more slot assignment rules to allow the medical resource to be assigned to the slot.