Medical support system

• US 7,676,381 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Issued: 03/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Inventors: Kawakami, Youichi, Noro, Toshiharu, Sasai, Kosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Koppikar; Vivek D
• Application Number:
  US11/304,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20060143046A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,545 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 4, 600300-301
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing

Abstract

The present invention provides a medical support system capable of properly supporting entry of medical information by a medical professional. A medical support system stores, as medical data, first medical information entered by a medical professional as an operator, and second medical information entered without direct intervention of the medical professional. Further, the medical support system generates and outputs support information for supporting entry of the first medical information by the medical professional. In the medical support system, the support information is generated on the basis of the first medical information and second medical information being entered. Therefore, in the medical support system, when the first medical information and second medical information being entered changes, the support information to be generated also changes.

Claims

1. A medical support system comprising:

an input unit used for entering medical information;

a storage for storing the medical information entered by using said input unit;

a structuring unit for;

receiving the medical information entered by using said input unit; and

structuring the medical information into structured medical information wherein the structured medical information comprises;

an element that represents an individual word of the medical information;

an attribute that categorizes the element and is assignable to the element;

wherein;

the attribute is determined based on a preregistered class;

the element is associated with the attribute; and

the element is assigned a hierarchical position according to the attribute associated with the element;

a generator for generating support information that supports entry of medical information by a medical professional in said input unit, wherein

said generator generates said support information on the basis of the structured medical information.

2. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein the medical information comprises character string information.

3. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein said generator generates said support information on the basis of character string information that describes an image acquired by an image diagnostic apparatus.

4. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein the attribute associated with the element is an attribute related to medical care.

5. The medical support system according to claim 4, wherein said structured data is stated in a Resource Description Framework language.

6. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein search for medical information stored in said storage is performed by using, as a search key, a character string generated on the basis of medical information being entered in said input unit, and said support information is generated on the basis of a result of the search.

7. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein:

the storage is for further storing an ontology describing relations among words; and

said support information is generated from said ontology.

8. The medical support system according to claim 7, wherein said ontology is a medical thesaurus dictionary.

9. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein said medical information includes a reading report describing a result of reading of an image for medical use by a doctor.

10. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein said medical information includes a nursing report in which nursing activities of a nurse are recorded.

11. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein said medical information includes an incident report in which an incident which occurs during medical activities is recorded.

12. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein said medical information includes a diagnosis report in which a result of diagnosis by a doctor is described.

13. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein said support information is a graph in which a plurality of elements are connected.

14. The medical support system according to claim 1, wherein the structuring unit comprises a morphological analyzer for dividing the medical information entered by using said input unit into at least one morpheme.

15. The medical support system according to claim 14, wherein:

the element of the structured medical information comprises the at least one morpheme; and

the structuring unit further comprises a class specifying unit for classifying the element according to the preregistered class.

16. The medical support system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a thesaurus dictionary comprising;

an ontology of words organized in a hierarchy comprising;

a superior word node representing a superior word that is high in concept; and

a subordinate word node representing;

a subordinate word that;

 

is lower in concept than the superior word; and

 

subordinate to the superior word;

wherein;

the superior word node is assigned a first thesaurus code that represents the hierarchical position of the superior word node in the ontology; and

the subordinate word node is assigned a second thesaurus code that represents the hierarchical position of the subordinate word node in the ontology.

17. The medical support system according to claim 16, further comprising:

a thesaurus code determining unit for assigning a third thesaurus code to the element of the structured medical information, wherein assigning a third thesaurus code comprises;

searching the ontology of words organized in the hierarchy;

when the element matches the superior word of the superior word node, assigning the first thesaurus code as the third thesaurus code;

when the element matches the subordinate word of the subordinate word node, assigning the second thesaurus code as the third thesaurus code; and

when the element does not match the superior word or the subordinate word, assigning an estimated thesaurus code as the third thesaurus code.

18. The medical support system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a symptom database for storing structured medical symptom information, wherein the medical symptom information comprises;

an inspection grouping that defines an inspection, wherein the inspection grouping comprises;

an inspection resource node that represents an inspection image of a patient;

a inspection literal node that represents a literal value from the inspection image; and

an inspection attribute arc connecting the inspection resource node with the inspection literal node that represents an attribute of the inspection resource node having the literal value represented by the inspection literal node;

a reading report grouping that defines a reading report of the inspection image of the patient, wherein the reading report grouping comprises;

a reading report resource node that represents a reading report;

a reading report element resource node that represents an element of the reading report; and

a reporting report attribute arc connecting the reading report resource node with the reading report element resource node that represents an attribute of the reading report having the element represented by the reading report element resource node; and

a reading report relationship arc associating the inspection grouping with the reading report grouping;

wherein the generator for generating support information further generates the support information by searching the medical symptom information with a character string selected from the structured medical information.