Patient informational exchange
First Claim
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1. ) A system for sharing information related to medical conditions among a community of patient users, the system comprising:
- a) a forum for online discussion in which conversation among patients or their caretakers is generated in the form of one or more electronic messages relating to a topic, the forum comprising;
i) a posting routine capable of generating messages from said users that can be posted to a server; and
ii) a storage routine for storing messages from said users on the server;
wherein the discussion is in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication; and
wherein a message comprises at least one word, image, or sound submitted by an author;
b) a moderator of the online forum, wherein the moderator is a medical expert who monitors the forum and is able to post a cautionary or informative message to the forum;
c) an index, wherein a user is able to select at least one of the electronic patient messages using a topic parameter, said index comprising a text indexing server operable to index the messages based on keywords or phrases contained in the messages, wherein the text indexing server is operable to;
i) receive a user query, said query being a request for information about a topic of interest;
ii) determine whether there exists one or more electronic message(s) responsive to said user query; and
iii) if a responsive message(s) exists, retrieve at least a portion of the responsive message(s) or information concerning the message(s) and transmit at least a portion of the retrieved message(s) or information to the user in response to the query such that the transmitted message(s) or information is reviewable by the user;
wherein the sorting of patient conversations into topics is supervised by a medical expert; and
d) a data-miner which analyzes the users'"'"' electronic communications in order to identify a feature of interest related to a health condition or symptom.
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Abstract
Described herein are systems and methods for patients to exchange information related to medical conditions and systems and methods to provide a discussion forum by which patients may converse by posting and reviewing electronic messages. The stored messages may be indexed and moderated by a medical expert. The content of the messages may be mined for useful information, such as to identify a new treatment or syndrome or reaction to a drug.
11 Citations
22 Claims
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1. ) A system for sharing information related to medical conditions among a community of patient users, the system comprising:
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a) a forum for online discussion in which conversation among patients or their caretakers is generated in the form of one or more electronic messages relating to a topic, the forum comprising; i) a posting routine capable of generating messages from said users that can be posted to a server; and ii) a storage routine for storing messages from said users on the server; wherein the discussion is in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication; and wherein a message comprises at least one word, image, or sound submitted by an author; b) a moderator of the online forum, wherein the moderator is a medical expert who monitors the forum and is able to post a cautionary or informative message to the forum; c) an index, wherein a user is able to select at least one of the electronic patient messages using a topic parameter, said index comprising a text indexing server operable to index the messages based on keywords or phrases contained in the messages, wherein the text indexing server is operable to; i) receive a user query, said query being a request for information about a topic of interest; ii) determine whether there exists one or more electronic message(s) responsive to said user query; and iii) if a responsive message(s) exists, retrieve at least a portion of the responsive message(s) or information concerning the message(s) and transmit at least a portion of the retrieved message(s) or information to the user in response to the query such that the transmitted message(s) or information is reviewable by the user; wherein the sorting of patient conversations into topics is supervised by a medical expert; and d) a data-miner which analyzes the users'"'"' electronic communications in order to identify a feature of interest related to a health condition or symptom. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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2. ) A method of operating a system to share information among a community of patient users and to identify potential medical advances comprising:
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a) providing a forum for online discussion in which conversation among patients or their caretakers is generated in the form of one or more electronic messages relating to a topic, the forum comprising; i) a posting routine capable of generating messages from said users that can be posted to a server; and ii) a storage routine for storing messages from said users on the server; wherein the discussion may be in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication; and wherein a message comprises at least one word, image or sound written by an author; b) providing a moderator of the online forum, wherein the moderator is a medical expert who monitors the forum and is able to post a cautionary or informative message to the forum; c) providing an index, wherein a user may select at least one of the electronic patient messages using a topic parameter, said index comprising a text indexing server operable to index the messages based on keywords or phrases contained in the messages, wherein the text indexing server is operable to; i) receive a user query, said query being a request for information about a topic of interest; ii) determine whether there exists one or more electronic message(s) in responsive to said user query; and iii) if a responsive message(s) exists, retrieve at least a portion of the responsive message(s) or information concerning the message(s) and transmit at least a portion of the retrieved message(s) or information to the user in response to the query such that the transmitted message(s) or information is reviewable by the user; wherein the sorting of patient conversations into topics is supervised by a medical expert; and d) providing a data-miner which analyzes the users'"'"' electronic communications in order to identify a feature of interest related to a health condition or symptom. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification