PATIENT HEALTH CARE NETWORK GUIDED ENCOUNTER

• US 20100094646A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Ryan, John C., Lemke, Gilbert C., Egami, Tadashi
• Granted Patent: US 9,626,486 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

In an environment where it is beneficial for chronic health care patients to receive individualized attention on a daily basis, a health care network (10) is provided. Each patient receives a user interface device (12) such as a set top box for accessing the network (10). Based on the patient'"'"'s health care history, a nurse or other health care professional interfaces with a server (22) and constructs a care plan specific to that patient by filling out appropriate sections of a care plan template. An itinerary arrangement processor (32) organizes content gleaned from the patient'"'"'s care plan and constructs a serially arranged itinerary for the patient to experience each day. The patient logs on to the network (10) and is immediately presented with the day'"'"'s itinerary, without having to navigate any menus. Resultantly, the patient will have an easier experience, and will not miss any material.

Claims

1. A medical health care network comprising:

at least one server (22) that houses a care plan including a series of content elements to be presented over time for a patient;

an itinerary arrangement processor (32) that extracts information regarding the patient'"'"'s health care from the care plan and selects content elements to be displayed for the patient in a next viewing session and arranges the content elements into a serially ordered itinerary for presentation to the patient;

at least one user interface device (12) that enables the patient to display the content elements selected by the itinerary arrangement processor (32);

a display device (14) connected to each user interface device (12) in the network (10) for displaying the content elements to the patient; and

a user input device (16) with which the patient enables a first and each subsequent content element to be displayed.

2. The medical health care network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the user input device (16) includes at least one key (18), which is activated by the patient to commence the first content element being displayed, and actuated again to commence each subsequent content element being displayed.

3. The medical health care network as set forth in claim 2, wherein the user input device (16) includes a plurality of keys (18), activating any of the keys (18) causing a next of the first and subsequent content elements to be displayed.

4. The health care network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the content arrangement processor (32) is located in the at least one server (22).

5. The health care network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the content arrangement processor (32) is located in the at least one user interface device (12).

6. The health care network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the display device (14) is a television set in the patient'"'"'s home.

7. The health care network as set forth in claim 1, further including:

a look-up-table (24) that houses completed care plan templates for each patient in the network (10) for access by the itinerary arrangement processor (32).

8. The health care network as set forth in claim 1, further including:

a health care professional interface (26) to the server (22) that allows a health care professional to create and modify patient care plans.

9. The health care network as set forth in claim 8, wherein the health care professional interface (26) includes a content management system (25) that aids the health care professional in creating and modifying care plans by allowing the health care professional to upload, version, and preview content before it is distributed to patients.

10. A method of presenting health care information to a patient comprising:

generating a care plan including a series of content elements to be presented over time for the patient;

extracting from the care plan a viewing session'"'"'s worth of content elements to be displayed to the patient;

arranging the viewing session'"'"'s content elements into a serially ordered itinerary;

after the patient logs on to a secure health care information network (10), presenting the itinerary to the patient;

prompting the patient to commence the viewing session'"'"'s itinerary;

after the patient selects a commencement action, displaying a first of the content elements to the patient;

after the first content element is complete, prompting the patient to continue with a next of the content elements; and

,

repeating the steps of displaying and prompting the patient to continue with subsequent content elements until all content elements of the viewing session'"'"'s itinerary have been displayed to the patient.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10, further including:

after displaying all content elements in the viewing session'"'"'s itinerary to the patient, displaying an end content element indicating the completion of the viewing session'"'"'s itinerary to the patient; and

,

after displaying the end content element, allowing the patient to select the same or other content elements for review in a patient selected order.

12. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein the steps of extracting and arranging are performed by a content arrangement processor (32) at one of the patient'"'"'s home and a content server (22) remote from the patient'"'"'s location.

13. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein a viewing session'"'"'s itinerary is downloaded to a user interface device (12) prior to a scheduled user login.

14. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein the selecting and commencement action includes activating only a single key (18) on a user input device (16) to cause the first content element to be displayed.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14, wherein after prompting the patient to continue with the next content element, the patient presses only a single key (18) on the user input device (16) to cause the next content element to be displayed.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the user input device includes a plurality of keys (18) and pressing any key (18) causes the first or next content element to be displayed.

17. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein after displaying the viewing session'"'"'s itinerary, pressing any key (18) of a user input device (16) causes the first content element to be displayed.

18. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein after the patient is prompted to continue with the next content item, pressing any key (18) of the user input device (16) causes the next content element to be displayed, such that the order of displaying the content elements is constrained.

19. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein at least one of the content elements is a survey, and further including:

prompting the patient to supply answers to the survey;

checking the patient'"'"'s answers for accuracy; and

,

if the patient supplies unsatisfactory answers to the survey, displaying content elements appropriate for improving the patient'"'"'s comprehension of material related to the survey.

20. The method as set forth in claim 10, further including:

uploading content for inclusion in the care plan, and previewing the content to a health care professional before it is presented to the patient.

21. A computer medium or processor programmed to implement the method as set forth in claim 10.

22. A content server (22) that connects to a public network (20) comprising:

a look up table or memory (24) that contains care plan content elements for a plurality of care plans for a plurality of patients; and

an itinerary arrangement processor (32) that queries the look up table or memory (24) to select a series of content elements to be presented to each patient in a next session in a preselected order such that the order in which the patient is shown a serial presentation of content elements is not alterable by the patient.

23. The content server as set forth in claim 22, further including:

a user interface (26) that allows a nurse or other health car professional to at least one of enter, amend, and preview care plans or content elements.