Managing Medical Case Chronology Data

• US 20100305971A1
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Medaxion, LLC
• Original Assignee: Medaxion, LLC
• Inventors: McLaren, Jeffrey Lee, Rodes, William Dyer II, Toups, John Malcolm
• Application Number:
  US12/789,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20100305971A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• 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: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Techniques for managing medical case chronology data are supported. A system may include a central medical information management system that provides practice-specific or location-specific templates for tracking and recording events during medical treatment. The system permits medical professionals to use handheld devices to record and access, in near real time, patient treatment information.

Claims

1. A handheld apparatus comprising:

a user interface comprising a display and capable of receiving user input;

a wireless network interface capable of coupling to a central medical information management system, the central medical information management system maintaining a plurality case chronology templates, each of the case chronology templates corresponding to a particular one of a plurality of practice locations and defining a series of medical events customized for the particular location, and a plurality of patient treatment records for patients receiving care at the practice locations, each of the patient treatment records linked to one of the practice locations and corresponding to a patient treatment record having a time record associated with each of the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the location;

a memory maintaining a medical information management application; and

a processor operable, when executing the medical information management application;

to identify a selected one of the practice locations;

to display a list of patient treatment records, received from the medical information management system, that correspond to the selected location;

to identify a selected one of the patient treatment records based on user input;

to receive a patient treatment record corresponding to the selected patient treatment record from the medical information management system;

to display the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the selected location and, for each of the medical events, a current value of the time record associated with the medical event as indicated by the received patient treatment record;

to receive input of a time update indicating a time for a selected one of the medical events for the received patient treatment record;

to communicate the time update to the medical information management system;

to receive updated information for the received patient treatment record from the medical information management system, the updated information incorporating the time update; and

to update the display of the medical events to reflect the updated information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein displaying the list of patient treatment records further comprises, for each of the patient treatment records, displaying an indication of the one of medical events with the most current time record in the corresponding patient treatment record and the time value of the most current time record.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein displaying the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the selected location comprises organizing and displaying the medical events based on predefined relationships between the medical events defined by the case chronology template, wherein organizing the medical events further comprises nesting the medical events within a related one or more other medical events and visually emphasizing the nested medical events to convey the predefined relationships.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable, when executing the medical information management application, in response to a refresh request, to display an updated list of patient treatment records received from the medical information management system, wherein displaying the updated list comprises, for each of the patient treatment records, displaying an updated indication of the one of medical events with the most current time record in the corresponding patient treatment record and the time value of the most current time record.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable, when executing the medical information management application, to display a countdown timer to indicate a remaining time for a medical procedure, the medical procedure corresponding to the displayed medical events.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein receiving input of the time update comprises confirming a current time as the indicated time for the selected one of the medical events for the received patient treatment record.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the received patient treatment record further comprises a case checklist for treatment case items, and the processor is further operable, when executing the medical information management application to:

display the case checklist of case items defined by a case checklist template maintained by the medical information management system and corresponding to the selected location and, for each of the case items, a current case item value as indicated by the received patient treatment record;

receive input of a case item update indicating a case item value for a selected one of the case items for the received patient treatment record;

communicate the case item update to the medical information management system; and

receive updated information for the received patient treatment record from the medical information management system, the updated information incorporating the case item update; and

update the display of the case checklist of case items to reflect the updated information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein communicating the time update to the medical information management system causes transition of a current phase of care indicated in the selected patient treatment record from a first one of a plurality of predefined phases of care to a second one of the predefined phases of care.

9. A method comprising:

identifying a selected one of the practice locations;

displaying a list of patient treatment records, received from a medical information management system, that correspond to the selected location, the central medical information management system maintaining a plurality case chronology templates, each of the case chronology templates corresponding to a particular one of a plurality of practice locations and defining a series of medical events customized for the particular location, and a plurality of patient treatment records for patients receiving care at the practice locations, each of the patient treatment records linked to one of the practice locations and corresponding to a patient treatment record having a time record associated with each of the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the location;

identifying a selected one of the patient treatment records based on a user input;

receiving a patient treatment record corresponding to the selected patient treatment record from the medical information management system;

displaying the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the selected location and, for each of the medical events, a current value of the time record associated with the medical event as indicated by the received patient treatment record;

receiving input of a time update indicating a time for a selected one of the medical events for the received patient treatment record;

communicating the time update to the medical information management system;

receiving updated information for the received patient treatment record from the medical information management system, the updated information incorporating the time update; and

updating a display of the medical events to reflect the updated information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying the list of patient treatment records further comprises, for each of the patient treatment records, displaying an indication of the one of medical events with the most current time record in the corresponding patient treatment record and the time value of the most current time record.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the selected location comprises organizing and displaying the medical events based on predefined relationships between the medical events defined by the case chronology template, wherein organizing the medical events further comprises nesting the medical events within a related one or more other medical events and visually emphasizing the nested medical events to convey the predefined relationships.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising, in response to a refresh request, displaying an updated list of patient treatment records received from the medical information management system, wherein displaying the updated list comprises, for each of the patient treatment records, displaying an updated indication of the one of medical events with the most current time record in the corresponding patient treatment record and the time value of the most current time record.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying a countdown timer to indicate a remaining time for a medical procedure, the medical procedure corresponding to the displayed medical events.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving input of the time update comprises confirming a current time as the indicated time for the selected one of the medical events for the received patient treatment record.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the received patient treatment record further comprises a case checklist for treatment case items, and the method further comprises:

displaying the case checklist of case items defined by a case checklist template maintained by the medical information management system and corresponding to the selected location and, for each of the case items, a current case item value as indicated by the received patient treatment record;

receiving input of a case item update indicating a case item value for a selected one of the case items for the received patient treatment record;

communicating the case item update to the medical information management system; and

receiving updated information for the received patient treatment record from the medical information management system, the updated information incorporating the case item update; and

updating the display of the case checklist of case items to reflect the updated information.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein communicating the time update to the medical information management system causes transition of a current phase of care indicated in the selected patient treatment record from a first one of a plurality of predefined phases of care to a second one of the predefined phases of care.

17. A system, comprising:

a central medical information management system operable to maintain a plurality case chronology templates, each of the case chronology templates corresponding to a particular one of a plurality of practice locations and defining a series of medical events customized for the particular location, and a plurality of patient treatment records for patients receiving care at the practice locations, each of the patient treatment records linked to one of the practice locations and corresponding to a patient treatment record having a time record associated with each of the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the location;

one or more medical information management applications each resident on a wireless handheld device and operable, when executed, to;

identify a selected one of the practice locations;

display a list of patient treatment records, received from the medical information management system, that correspond to the selected location;

identify a selected one of the patient treatment records based on a user input;

receive a patient treatment record corresponding to the selected patient treatment record from the medical information management system;

display the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the selected location and, for each of the medical events, a current value of the time record associated with the medical event as indicated by the received patient treatment record;

receive input of a time update indicating a time for a selected one of the medical events for the received patient treatment record;

communicate the time update to the medical information management system;

receive updated information for the received patient treatment record from the medical information management system, the updated information incorporating the time update; and

update a display of the medical events to reflect the updated information.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein displaying the list of patient treatment records further comprises, for each of the patient treatment records, displaying an indication of the one of medical events with the most current time record in the corresponding patient treatment record and the time value of the most current time record.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein displaying the medical events defined by the case chronology template corresponding to the selected location comprises organizing and displaying the medical events based on predefined relationships between the medical events defined by the case chronology template, wherein organizing the medical events further comprises nesting the medical events within a related one or more other medical events and visually emphasizing the nested medical events to convey the predefined relationships.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more medical information management applications are further operable, when executed, in response to a refresh request, to display an updated list of patient treatment records received from the medical information management system, wherein displaying the updated list comprises, for each of the patient treatment records, displaying an updated indication of the one of medical events with the most current time record in the corresponding patient treatment record and the time value of the most current time record.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more medical information management applications are further operable, when executed, to display a countdown timer to indicate a remaining time for a medical procedure, the medical procedure corresponding to the displayed medical events.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein receiving input of the time update comprises confirming a current time as the indicated time for the selected one of the medical events for the received patient treatment record.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the received patient treatment record further comprises a case checklist for treatment case items, and the one or more medical information management applications are further operable, when executed, to:

display the case checklist of case items defined by a case checklist template maintained by the medical information management system and corresponding to the selected location and, for each of the case items, a current case item value as indicated by the received patient treatment record;

receive input of a case item update indicating a case item value for a selected one of the case items for the received patient treatment record;

communicate the case item update to the medical information management system; and

receive updated information for the received patient treatment record from the medical information management system, the updated information incorporating the case item update; and

update the display of the case checklist of case items to reflect the updated information.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein communicating the time update to the medical information management system causes transition of a current phase of care indicated in the selected patient treatment record from a first one of a plurality of predefined phases of care to a second one of the predefined phases of care.