APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR MEDICAL PATIENT ROLE PLAYING/SIMULATION ACTIVITY

• US 20100274575A1
• Filed: 05/14/2008
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Lemke, Gibert, Lieberman, Debra, Egami, Tadashi
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/28 for medicine
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders

Abstract

A health care apparatus (10) and methods for rendering audio visual content to a medical patient in the patient'"'"'s home, in which a content element storage (22) stores a plurality of audio visual content elements (28) to be rendered to the patient, including role playing simulation content elements (40) in which in which the patient is presented with a situation involving an issue related to a medical condition confronted by a character (42) and in which the patient provides input related to the character'"'"'s situation.

Claims

1. A health care apparatus (10) to render audio visual content to a medical patient, comprising:

a content element storage (24) coupled with a communications network (20) and adapted to store a plurality of audio visual content elements (28) to be rendered to a medical patient as part of a defined care plan, the audio visual content elements including a plurality of role playing simulation content elements (40) in which the patient is presented with a situation involving an issue related to a medical condition confronted by a character (42) and in which the patient provides input related to the character'"'"'s situation; and

a user interface (12) operatively coupled with the communications network and with a display device (14), the user interface being operable by the patient to render the selected content elements to the patient via the display device.

2. The health care apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an itinerary arrangement system (32) operatively coupled with the content element storage and adapted to select one or more content elements from the content element storage including at least one role playing simulation content element to be rendered to the patient in a given viewing session as part of a defined care plan for the patient.

3. The health care apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the itinerary arrangement system (32) selects the at least one role playing simulation content element (40) and at least one educational content element (28) to be rendered to the patient as part of the defined care plan in a given viewing session, and wherein the itinerary arrangement system arranges the selected content elements into a serially ordered itinerary for presentation to the patient with the role playing simulation content element presented to the patient after the educational content element.

4. The health care apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the itinerary arrangement system (32) selects the at least one role playing simulation content element (40) and at least one character selection content element (28) to be rendered to the patient as part of the defined care plan in a given viewing session, the character selection content element including images and names for a plurality of characters and allowing the patient to select one of the characters, and wherein the itinerary arrangement system arranges the selected content elements into a serially ordered itinerary for presentation to the patient with the role playing simulation content element presented to the patient after the character selection content element.

5. The health care apparatus of claim 4, wherein the itinerary arrangement system (32) selects a character introduction content element (28) to be rendered to the patient after the character selection content element and before the role playing simulation content element, the character introduction content element including an image of the selected character and information about the selected character.

6. The health care apparatus of claim 5, wherein the character introduction content element (28) includes audio of the selected character.

7. The health care apparatus of claim 2, wherein the itinerary arrangement system (32) selects a character introduction content element (28) to be rendered to the patient before the role playing simulation content element, the character introduction content element including an image of the character and information about the character.

8. The health care apparatus of claim 1, wherein the role playing simulation content elements (40) include a response rendered to the patient after the patient provides the input, the response including an indication of the correct input along with an image to reinforce the correct input.

9. The health care apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a network server (22) coupled with the communications network (20) and a health care professional interface (26) operatively coupled with the network server, the health care professional interface (26) including a content management system 25 for uploading, versioning, and pre-viewing content elements (28), wherein the user interface (12) is a set top box (12) operatively connected to the patient'"'"'s television display (14), and wherein the content element storage (24) is in one of the network server and the user interface.

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

storing a plurality of audio visual content elements to be rendered to a medical patient, the plurality of audio visual content elements including a plurality of role playing simulation content elements in which the patient is presented with a situation involving an issue related to a medical condition confronted by a character and in which the patient provides input related to the character'"'"'s situation;

selecting one or more stored content elements based at least partially on the patient'"'"'s medical condition, the selected content elements including at least one role playing simulation content element to be rendered to the patient in a given viewing session as part of a defined care plan;

arranging the selected content elements into a serially ordered itinerary with the at least one role playing simulation content element arranged to correspond to a chronology of the defined care plan; and

rendering a display of the selected content elements to the patient.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein selecting one or more content elements includes selecting at least one role playing simulation content element and at least one educational content element to be rendered to the patient in a given viewing session according to the defined care plan, and wherein the selected content elements are arranged for presentation to the patient with the role playing simulation content element presented to the patient after the educational content element.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein selecting one or more content elements includes selecting at least one role playing simulation content element and at least one character selection content element to be rendered to the patient in a given viewing session according to the defined care plan, and wherein the selected content elements are arranged for presentation to the patient with the role playing simulation content element presented to the patient after the character selection content element.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein selecting one or more content elements includes selecting at least one role playing simulation content element and at least one character introduction content element including an image of the character and information about the character, and wherein the selected content elements are arranged for presentation to the patient according to the defined care plan with the role playing simulation content element presented to the patient after the character introduction content element.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the role playing simulation content elements further include at least one response including an indication of the correct input along with an image to reinforce the correct input.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein rendering the display of the selected content elements to the patient comprises:

rendering an educational content element about a medical topic to the patient;

rendering a situation introduction content element to the patient after the informational video;

rendering a character selection content element to the patient after the situation introduction content element;

receiving a patient'"'"'s selection of a particular character;

rendering a character introduction content element to the patient after receiving the patient'"'"'s character selection;

rendering a character situation content element to the patient including an image of the selected character, a description of a situation involving an issue related to a medical condition confronted by the selected character;

receiving input from the patient regarding a solution to the character'"'"'s situation; and

rendering a response content element to the patient after receiving the patient'"'"'s input, the response content element an indication of a correct solution along with an image to reinforce the correct solution.

16. A computer readable medium or processor programmed to implement the method according to claim 10.

17. A method of providing health care to a patient, the method comprising:

defining a care plan that includes features to assist the patient with defined health issues; and

providing a role playing session as part of the care plan.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein providing the role playing session comprises:

presenting a situation to the patient involving an issue related to a medical condition confronted by a character;

receiving input from the patient regarding a solution to the character'"'"'s situation; and

presenting a response to the patient'"'"'s input including an indication of a correct solution and an image to reinforce the correct solution.

19. A method according to claim 17, further comprising rendering an educational content element about a medical topic to the patient prior to the role playing session.

20. An apparatus for providing health care to a patient, comprising:

means for defining a care plan that includes features to assist the patient with defined health issues; and

means for providing a role playing session as part of the care plan, comprising;

means for presenting a situation to the patient involving an issue related to a medical condition confronted by a character;

means for receiving input from the patient regarding a solution to the character'"'"'s situation; and

means for presenting a response to the patient'"'"'s input including an indication of a correct solution and an image to reinforce the correct solution.

21. A method for facilitating patient education regarding a medical condition, the method comprising:

presenting educational content to the patient about a medical topic via a user interface operatively coupled with a display device that renders preselected content elements to the patient as part of a defined care plan; and

reinforcing the educational content by engaging the patient in a role playing simulation in which the patient provides input to the user interface to assist a character with a situation involving an issue related to the medical topic confronted by the selected character.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising presenting a response to the patient'"'"'s input with an indication of a correct solution and an image to reinforce the correct solution.