SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING ALERTS

• US 20110298621A1
• Filed: 06/02/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Shanbhag, Lokesh
• Application Number:
  US13/151,856
• Publication Number:
  US 20110298621A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7435 Displaying user selection data, e.g. icons in a graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method of generating alerts in a patient monitoring system is provided. The method comprises steps of monitoring a physiological parameter of interest within a plurality of physiological parameters, tracking data values of the physiological parameter for each predetermined interval, determining a data range for data values of the physiological parameter, each data range comprising a first limit and a second limit, comparing the data values of the physiological parameter with the data range and generating a visual alert when the data value of the physiological parameter falls outside the data range.

Claims

1. A method of generating alerts in a patient monitoring system, the method comprising:

monitoring a physiological parameter of interest within a plurality of physiological parameters;

tracking data values of the physiological parameter for each predetermined interval;

determining a data range for data values of the physiological parameter, each data range comprising a first limit and a second limit;

comparing the data values of the physiological parameter with the data range; and

generating a visual alert when the data value of the physiological parameter falls outside the data range.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the visual alert comprises zooming the data value corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the visual alert comprises zooming an alarm text corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the visual alert comprises zooming graphical data corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the graphical data comprises a waveform plotted using the data values of the physiological parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting an event when the data value of the physiological parameter exceeds one of the first limit and the second limit.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising recording the time period corresponding to the detection of the event.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying an indicator corresponding to the time of detecting the event.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the indicator comprises one of a graphical indicator, numerical indicator and textual indicator.

10. A patient monitoring system capable of generating alerts, the patient monitoring system comprising:

an acquisition unit configured for acquiring signals representing one or more physiological parameters of a patient;

a processing unit coupled to the acquisition unit, the processing unit configured for detecting the occurrence of an event and for generating a visual alert upon detecting the event; and

a display unit coupled to the processing unit, the display unit configured for selectively displaying a full image and a partial image superimposed on the full image, the partial image utilizing a fraction of the display area for displaying the visual alert.

11. The patient monitoring system of claim 10, wherein generating the visual alert comprises zooming the data value corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

12. The patient monitoring system of claim 10, wherein generating the visual alert comprises zooming an alarm text corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

13. The patient monitoring system of claim 10, wherein generating the visual alert comprises zooming graphical data corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

14. The patient monitoring system of claim 13, wherein the graphical data comprises a waveform plotted using the data values of the physiological parameter.

15. A computer program product comprising computer-readable storage media encoding program instructions for execution on a general-purpose computer system, the program instructions configured for detecting events in a patient monitoring system, the program instructions comprising:

code for monitoring a physiological parameter of interest within a plurality of physiological parameters;

code for tracking data values of the physiological parameter for each predetermined interval;

code for determining a data range for the data values of the physiological parameter, each data range comprising a first limit and a second limit;

code for comparing the data values of the physiological parameter with the data range; and

code for generating a visual alert when the data value of the physiological parameter falls outside the data range.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein code for generating the visual alert comprises code for zooming the data value corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein code for generating the visual alert comprises code for zooming an alarm text corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein code for generating the visual alert comprises code for zooming graphical data corresponding to the physiological parameter for a predetermined time period.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the graphical data comprises a waveform plotted using the data values of the physiological parameter.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising code for detecting an event when the data value of the physiological parameter exceeds one of the first limit and the second limit.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising code for recording the time period corresponding to the detection of the event.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising code for displaying an indicator corresponding to the time of detecting the event.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the indicator comprises one of a graphical indicator, numerical indicator and textual indicator.