SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING PAIN LEVEL

• US 20090259113A1
• Filed: 06/22/2009
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kariathungal, Murali Kumaran, Liu, Alan, Murawski, David Phillip
• Application Number:
  US12/489,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20090259113A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1114 Tracking parts of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1128 using image analysis A61B5/1127 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4824 Touch or pain perception evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence

Abstract

A system and method for determining pain level is disclosed herein. The method comprises: monitoring the gestures of a patient continuously using a video imager. From the monitored gestures a patient-status corresponding to at least one clinical factor is identified and the patient-status is automatically recorded in an electronic medical record (EMR). The method and system describes an exemplary embodiment of determining pain level of a patient in a clinical environment using facial expressions and sound.

Claims

1. A method for determining pain level in a clinical environment comprising:

monitoring continuously at least one of facial expressions and sound generated by a patient;

analyzing the at least one of facial expressions and sound for determining the pain level; and

translating the at least one of facial expressions and sound to a quantifiable parameter indicating the pain level.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring comprises:

providing a three dimensional imager for continuously recording at least one of the facial expressions and sound generated by the patient.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing further comprises:

verifying the authenticity of the at least one of facial expressions and sound generated by the patient.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of translating comprises:

deriving a pain-value indicating the pain level, from the facial expressions.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the step of translating comprises:

deriving a pain-value indicating the pain level, from the sound generated by the patient.

6. A method as in claim 3, wherein the step of analyzing comprises:

comparing the pain-value with a preset parameter for deriving a patient-status.

7. A method as in claim 6, wherein the step of analyzing further comprises:

identifying the patient-status as normal, caution, alert, serious, severe, danger or critical based on the pain-value.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

electronically recording the pain level at a given instance corresponding to a patient.

9. A method as in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

electronically recording the pain level at a given instance corresponding to a patient in an electronic medical record (EMR).

10. A method as in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

electronically recording the patient status at a given instance corresponding to a patient in an electronic medical record (EMR).

11. A method as in claim 8, wherein the step of recording further comprises:

generating an alarm based on the identified pain level.

12. An automatic pain recording system comprising:

a detector for continuously monitoring gestures of a patient including facial expressions and sound generated by the patient;

an analyzer coupled to the detector for analyzing the gestures for identifying a pain level; and

a recorder for recording the identified pain level.

13. A system as in claim 12, wherein the detector is a video imager.

14. A system as in claim 12, wherein the analyzer includes a processor and a translator for translating at least one of facial expressions and sound to a quantifiable parameter indicating the pain level.

15. A system as in claim 12, wherein the recorder includes an indicator.