Collapsible flowsheet for displaying patient information in an electronic medical record

• US 5,950,168 A
• Filed: 12/18/1996
• Issued: 09/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: US Oncology Corporate, Inc. (McKesson Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Knowmed Systems Co.
• Inventors: Barcklay, Robert J., Simborg, Donald W., Lipkin, Paul H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Application Number:
  US08/769,096
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 706/924, 707/104, 345/334, 345/353, 345/356
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

In one embodiment, a user interface presents patient data on a computer display to a health care provider as a flowsheet including an array of category labels with indications of whether the category is in a collapsed state or an expanded state, the collapsed state being a state wherein data items in that category which are tagged as being hidden items are not displayed and the expanded state being a state wherein data items in that category which are tagged as being hidden items are displayed. Also included is a hierarchical structure of data items associated with at least some of the category labels, wherein parent data items are data items which are above other data items in the hierarchical structure and child data items are data items which are below other data items in the hierarchical structure. For each parent data item, a zipper indicator is provided to indicate whether the parent data item is in a zipped state or an unzipped state, the zipped state being a state where child data items are not displayed below the parent data item and the unzipped state being a state where child data items are displayed below the parent data item. In addition, the columns corresponding to patient encounters can also be collapsed and expanded.

Claims

1. A user interface for presenting patient data on a computer display to a health care provider, wherein the computer display is part of a computer system including an input device, the user interface comprising:

an array of category labels, wherein each category label indicates a name for a category of data items;

for each category, an indication of whether the category is in a collapsed state or an expanded state, the collapsed state being a state wherein data items in that category which are tagged as being hidden items are not displayed and the expanded state being a state wherein data items in that category which are tagged as being hidden items are displayed;

for at least some of the category labels, a hierarchical structure of data items associated with the corresponding category label, wherein a parent data item is a data item which comprises at least one related data item lower in the hierarchical structure, wherein the related data item comprises a child data item;

for each parent data item, a zipper indicator for indicating whether the parent data item is in a zipped state or an unzipped state, the zipped state being a state where child data items are not displayed and the unzipped state being a state where child data items are displayed.

2. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the zipper indicator is an icon, the user interface further comprising means for accepting user input from the input device to toggle the zipped state for a parent data item when the health care provider selects the icon using the input device.

3. The user interface of claim 1, wherein category states are indicated by distinct fonts of the category labels, the user interface further comprising means for accepting user input from the input device to toggle the category state when the health care provider selects the category label using the input device.

4. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the columns corresponding to a plurality of patient encounters can be toggled between a first state in which all the patient encounters are visible and a second state in which only a subset of the patient encounters are visible.

5. The user interface of claim 4, further comprising means for summarizing multiple visits in a single column and toggling between a first column view state in which multiple visits are summarized in a single column and a second column view state in which each visit is presented in a separate column.

6. The user interface of claim 1, wherein category states and zipper states of parent data items are initially set according to a set of default rules, the user interface further comprising a knowledge engine for determining the set of default rules based on health care provider preferences and previous interactions with the user interface.