Apparatus and method for providing a conscious patient relief from pain and anxiety associated with medical or surgical procedures
First Claim
1. A care system for facilitating safely and efficaciously providing sedation to a patient undergoing a medical or surgical procedure, said system comprising:
- a patient health monitor device adapted so as to be coupled to a patient and generate a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of the patient;
a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs to a patient;
a means for monitoring the consciousness of the patient adapted so as to be coupled to the patient and generate a value representing a level of patient consciousness;
a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting safe and undesirable parameters of at least one monitored patient physiological condition and of patient consciousness level; and
an electronic controller interconnected between the patient health monitor, the drug delivery controller, and the memory device storing the safety data set;
wherein said electronic controller manages application of the drugs to the patient in response to said signal and said level in accord with the safety data set.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A care system and associated methods are provided for alleviating patient pain, anxiety and discomfort associated with medical or surgical procedures. Embodiments of the system include a health monitor device coupled to a patient and generating a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of the patient; a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs to the patient; a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting parameters of at least one patient physiological condition; and an electronic controller interconnected between the patient health monitor, the drug delivery controller and the safety data set. The electronic controller is capable of effecting a change in the drug supply delivered to the patient by the drug controller, said change depending on a comparison between at least one patient physiological condition at its corresponding value reflected in the safety data set.
359 Citations
130 Claims
-
1. A care system for facilitating safely and efficaciously providing sedation to a patient undergoing a medical or surgical procedure, said system comprising:
-
a patient health monitor device adapted so as to be coupled to a patient and generate a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of the patient;
a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs to a patient;
a means for monitoring the consciousness of the patient adapted so as to be coupled to the patient and generate a value representing a level of patient consciousness;
a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting safe and undesirable parameters of at least one monitored patient physiological condition and of patient consciousness level; and
an electronic controller interconnected between the patient health monitor, the drug delivery controller, and the memory device storing the safety data set;
wherein said electronic controller manages application of the drugs to the patient in response to said signal and said level in accord with the safety data set.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. An apparatus for delivering drugs to a patient, said apparatus comprising:
-
a drug delivery controller delivering a drug to a patient;
an electronic controller connected to the drug delivery controller for varying the rate of delivery of drug to a patient;
an automated consciousness monitoring system which generates a signal reflecting the consciousness level of a patient; and
wherein said electronic controller is capable of varying the delivery of drug to the patient in accord with said signal.- View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
said response device generating signals having values reflecting the time it takes for the patient to activate the response device in response to the stimulator device, and providing said signals to the electronic controller.
-
-
19. The apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein said stimulator device has multiple urgency or intensity levels.
-
20. The apparatus as recited in claim 18, in which the stimulator device comprises a speaker that provides an auditory instruction to a patient.
-
21. The apparatus as recited in claim 18 in which the stimulator device comprises a vibrator.
-
22. The apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein the stimulator device is located in close proximity to the response device.
-
23. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein said apparatus also includes at least one patient health monitor device which generates a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of a patient.
-
24. The apparatus as recited in claim 17 wherein said drug delivery controller includes a patient-controlled drug administration device.
-
25. The apparatus as recited in claim 17 wherein said apparatus also includes a display device displaying the value of the signal reflecting the consciousness level of the patient.
-
26. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein said apparatus further includes an attention-commanding device which receives said signal reflecting the consciousness level of the patient and notifies an operator in the event said consciousness level changes to a level outside an acceptable range.
-
27. The apparatus as recited in claim 26 wherein said attention-commanding device is an audible alarm.
-
28. The apparatus as recited in claim 26, wherein said apparatus further includes a display device which displays the value reflecting the consciousness level of the patient upon activation of said attention-commanding device and visually displays an action to be taken by said electronic controller in the event said consciousness level is outside of an acceptable range.
-
29. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said automated consciousness monitoring system measures the responsiveness of a patient to stimuli to generate said signal reflecting the consciousness level of a patient.
-
30. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein said electronic controller and said consciousness monitoring system are adapted to perform an automated assessment of a physiological state of the patient.
-
31. The apparatus as recited in claim 30, wherein said automated assessment is performed prior to beginning drug delivery.
-
32. The apparatus as recited in claim 30, wherein said automated assessment determines a sedation threshold limit for the patient in an unstimulated state.
-
33. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein said sedation threshold limit is used to determine an initial drug delivery level.
-
34. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein said drug delivery controller is a controllable drug delivery mechanism selected from the group consisting of a continuous infusion pump, a target controlled infusion pump, a bolus infusion device, and combinations thereof.
-
35. A method for relieving patient pain or anxiety, said method comprising the steps of:
-
a) monitoring at least one physiological condition of a patient with at least one electronic health monitor device;
b) electronically monitoring the level of consciousness of a patient; and
c) electronically managing the delivery of pain or anxiety relieving drugs to a patient in accord with the at least one physiological condition of a patient and the level of consciousness of a patient. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
a) automatedly commanding the attention of the patient with a stimulus;
b) electronically receiving the patient'"'"'s response to the stimulus;
c) generating a signal having a value reflecting the level of consciousness of a patient as a function of the time it took for the patient to respond to the stimulus.
-
-
38. The method as recited in claim 35 in which the delivery of drugs is accomplished through a mechanism selected from the group consisting of continuous infusion, target controlled intravenous infusion, bolus infusion, and combinations thereof.
-
39. The method as recited in claim 35 in which the delivery of drugs is partially accomplished by a patient-controlled drug delivery device.
-
40. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the drugs are delivered in gaseous form.
-
41. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein said drugs comprise propofol.
-
42. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein said drugs comprise a sedative.
-
43. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein said pain or anxiety is associated with an ongoing surgical or medical procedure.
-
44. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein said managing of said delivery of drugs comprises conservatively managing drug delivery when said physiological condition is outside safe parameters.
-
45. The method according to claim 44, further comprising defining at least two thresholds concerning said physiological condition, wherein said thresholds designate different levels of concern or criticality outside of said preset normal range.
-
46. The method according to claim 45, further comprising sounding an alarm if said physiological condition crosses said first threshold, and decreasing drug delivery if said physiological condition crosses said second threshold.
-
47. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein said managing of said delivery of drugs comprises conservatively managing drug delivery when said physiological condition and said level of consciousness collectively demonstrate said patient is outside of a preset normal range.
-
48. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein said managing of said delivery of drugs comprises conservatively managing drug delivery when said level of consciousness is outside of safe parameters.
-
49. A method for alleviating pain and anxiety in connection with medical and surgical procedures, said method comprising the steps of:
-
a) connecting to a patient a drug delivery device having a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs, said drug delivery controller being coupled to an electronic controller which controls the delivery of the drugs to the patient;
b) attaching at least one patient health monitor device to a patient, which health monitor device generates a value reflecting at least one physiological condition of a patient and is coupled to said electronic controller;
c) accessing a memory device which stores a safety data set reflecting parameters of at least one patient physiological condition;
d) performing an automated assessment of the patient'"'"'s physiological state; and
e) delivering the drugs to the patient in accord with the safety data set. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
-
-
65. An apparatus for delivering drugs to a patient, said apparatus comprising:
-
a drug delivery controller delivering a drug to a patient;
an electronic controller connected to the drug delivery controller for varying the rate of delivery of drug to a patient;
an automated consciousness monitoring system which generates a signal reflecting the consciousness level of a patient, said automated consciousness monitoring system comprising a stimulator device which commands a patient and a response device for activation by the patient in response to the stimulator device;
said response device generating signals having values reflecting the time it takes for the patient to activate the response device in response to the stimulator device, and providing said signals to the electronic controller; and
wherein said electronic controller is capable of varying the delivery of drug to the patient in accord with said signal.- View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
-
-
85. An apparatus for delivering drugs to a patient, said apparatus comprising:
-
a drug delivery controller for delivering a drug to a patient;
an electronic controller connected to the drug delivery controller for varying the rate of delivery of drug to the patient;
an automated monitoring system which queries the responsiveness of the patient to stimuli and thereby generates a signal reflecting the consciousness level of the patient; and
wherein said electronic controller is adapted to use said signal to vary delivery of drug to the patient in accord with said consciousness level.- View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102)
-
-
103. An apparatus for delivering drugs to a conscious patient, said apparatus comprising:
-
a drug delivery control device adapted to deliver a drug to a patient;
an electronic controller connected to the drug delivery control device for varying the rate of delivery of drug to the patient;
an automated consciousness monitoring system which generates a signal reflecting the consciousness level of the patient; and
wherein said electronic controller is adapted to receive said signal and vary delivery of the drug to the patient in accord with said signal so as to ensure the consciousness of the patient.- View Dependent Claims (104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117)
-
-
118. A method for relieving patient pain or anxiety, said method comprising the steps of:
-
establishing safe and undesirable parameters regarding the consciousness level of a patient being administered pain or anxiety relieving drugs;
electronically monitoring the level of consciousness of the patient; and
electronically managing the delivery of said pain or anxiety relieving drugs to the patient in accord with a comparison of the monitored level of consciousness of the patient and said parameters. - View Dependent Claims (119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130)
-
Specification