Interactive health care system and method
First Claim
1. An interactive health care system for a patient located at a patient site and under the care of a health care provider located at a health care provider site physically separated from the patient site, the interactive health care system providing for patient participation in the patient'"'"'s health care, the system comprising:
- at least one patient operated sensor for obtaining measurement of a patient'"'"'s physiological parameters;
means for converting each measurement into an indexed data record;
a patient site data processing unit for sorting and processing said indexed data records;
an associated patient site database which stores said indexed data records;
an instruction set for said patient site data processing unit for enabling said patient site data processing unit to selectively perform a SPC analysis on said indexed data records, said SPC analysis including the establishment of an XmR control chart having calculated process control limits, a calculated process center line, and a calculated upper limit of the moving range, and to test whether the conditions of one or more of the following rules are met, 1. one or more variable values corresponding to said measurements are outside said process control limits, 2. eight or more consecutive variable values are on one side of said process center line, 3. three out of four consecutive variable values are closer to one of said control limits than they are to said process center line, or 4. one or more moving range values defined as the difference between subsequent variable values are above said upper limit of the moving range; and
means for notifying the patient when one or more of the above four rules of detection are met.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and related method for remotely monitoring the health of a patient are provided to inform the patient as to his/her state of health. Data on a patient physiological parameter is analyzed at a patient site using Shewhart'"'"'s rules of detection. The patient is notified when the conditions for one of Shewhart'"'"'s rules are met, which may indicate a significant change in the patient'"'"'s health status. Preferably, the notice to the patient is tailored by the patient'"'"'s health care provider, and may instruct the patient to contact the health care provider or take some other preventative action. Preferably, information is transferred from the patient site to a health care provider site. An elementary system has a patient operated sensor for taking physiological measurements and converting them into an indexed data record, a patient site data processing unit with a database for storing such indexed data records, and a SPC instruction set which enables the patient site data processing unit to perform a SPC analysis on the indexed data records to determine if Shewhart'"'"'s rules are met. Means for notifying the patient that one of Shewhart'"'"'s rules is met are also provided.
164 Citations
10 Claims
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1. An interactive health care system for a patient located at a patient site and under the care of a health care provider located at a health care provider site physically separated from the patient site, the interactive health care system providing for patient participation in the patient'"'"'s health care, the system comprising:
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at least one patient operated sensor for obtaining measurement of a patient'"'"'s physiological parameters;
means for converting each measurement into an indexed data record;
a patient site data processing unit for sorting and processing said indexed data records;
an associated patient site database which stores said indexed data records;
an instruction set for said patient site data processing unit for enabling said patient site data processing unit to selectively perform a SPC analysis on said indexed data records, said SPC analysis including the establishment of an XmR control chart having calculated process control limits, a calculated process center line, and a calculated upper limit of the moving range, and to test whether the conditions of one or more of the following rules are met, 1. one or more variable values corresponding to said measurements are outside said process control limits, 2. eight or more consecutive variable values are on one side of said process center line, 3. three out of four consecutive variable values are closer to one of said control limits than they are to said process center line, or 4. one or more moving range values defined as the difference between subsequent variable values are above said upper limit of the moving range; and
means for notifying the patient when one or more of the above four rules of detection are met. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
a health care provider microcomputer;
means for providing a communication link between said health care provider microcomputer and said patient operated microcomputer.
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3. The interactive health care system of claim 2 wherein the interactive health care system further comprises:
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a health care provider database for storing said indexed data record;
means for transmitting said indexed data record to said health care provider data base and indexing with respect to source;
health care provider SPC software for said health care provider microcomputer for analyzing and testing said indexed data records contained in said health care provider data base to determine if any of the four rules of detection are met; and
means for notifying the health care provider as to when said data meet one or more of the four rules.
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4. The interactive health care system of claim 3 wherein the interactive health care system handles multiple patients and each of said indexed data records is further indexed with regard to patient identity, and said health care provider SPC software analyzes said indexed data records in said health care provider database on an individual patient basis.
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5. The interactive health care system of claim 4 wherein said means for notifying the patient when one or more of the four rules of detection are met provides a message on said patient operated microcomputer of each of the patients for whom the four rules of detection are met, said message advising the patient to notify his/her health care provider.
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6. The interactive health care system of claim 4 wherein said means for notifying the patient when one or more of the four rules of detection are met is a patient look-up table, said patient look-up table providing a message specified by the health care provider based on the historical data of the patient.
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7. A method for evaluation of the status of health of a patient under the indirect supervision of a health car provider, the patient measuring a physiological parameter which is indicative of the patient'"'"'s state of health, the method comprising the steps of:
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collecting health care data values related the patient;
recording said data values;
calculating SPC control limits (UCLX, LCLX, Xmean, and UCLR);
testing for one or more of the following four rules of detection being met by said data values and said SPC control limits;
one or more data values being either greater than the UCLX or less than the LCLX, eight or more consecutive data values being either all greater than or all less than Xmean, three out of four consecutive data values being closer to either the UCLX or the LCLX than to Xmean, one or more moving range values, defined as the difference between subsequent data values, being greater than UCLR; and
if the conditions for one or more of the above four rules of detection are met, providing notice to the patient to take corrective action. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
plotting said data values as a function over time on a first set of axes after they are recorded;
plotting said UCLX, said LCLX, and said Xmean on said first set of axes;
plotting said moving range values calculated for said data values, said moving range values being plotted as a function over time on a second set of axes;
plotting said UCLR on said second set of axes, said first set of axes, said second set of axes, and said plotted values in combination forming an XmR chart; and
visually inspecting to see if conditions for one or more of the four rules of detection are met.
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10. The method of claim 9 wherein if one of the conditions for the four rules of detection is met, the character of the line connecting the point is changed.
Specification