System for managing patient medical data derived from a plurality of medical devices

• US 8,001,235 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2006
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Dragerwerk AG & Company KGaA (FPS Vermögensverwaltung GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Draeger Medical Systems Incorporated (Dragerwerk AG)
• Inventors: Scholz, Wolfgang, Latulippe, Dina Lynn, Russ, Tomas, Pichardo, Roman Ernesto
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao; Sam
• Assistant Examiner(s): Archer; Marie
• Application Number:
  US11/379,749
• Publication Number:
  US 20060242293A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• Field of Search: 600/300, 600/301, 128903-905, 128/920, 128/200, 128/204.23, 128/204.18, 701/213, 340/593.13, 340/825.49, 340/5.64, 715744-747, 715864-866, 715762-765, 709201-253, 709/200, 369/30.2, 369 3021- 3029, 369/30.3, 369/292, 707705-788, 707821-831, 707/899
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/045 with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/33 specially adapted for cooperation with other devices
• 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: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/923 by comparison of patient data to other data

Abstract

A system for managing patient medical data derived from at least first and second medical devices acquiring respective medical data from a patient includes a proximity detector, for use by the first medical device, for detecting proximity of the second medical device. A command processor responds to the detection of proximity, by initiating generation of signals: (a) to associate patient medical data acquired by the second medical device with patient medical data acquired by the first medical device, and (b) to process patient medical data acquired by the second medical device together with medical data acquired by the first medical device to provide a composite representation of patient medical data.

Claims

1. A system for managing patient medical data derived from a plurality of medical devices acquiring respective medical data and patient identifier information from a patient, comprising:

a proximity detector, used by a first medical device configured to acquire first patient medical data associated with patient identifier information, that detects proximity of a second medical device, configured to acquire second patient medical data, to the first medical device;

a command processor that initiates generation of signals upon detecting proximity of the second medical device by said proximity detector to;

(a) associate the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device and the identifier information of the patient, and

(b) process the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device together with the first medical data acquired by said first medical device to provide a composite representation of patient medical data, said composite representation of patient medical data including merged data incorporating said first and second patient medical data acquired using said first medical device and said second medical device;

a confirmation button selectable by a user that confirms that said composite representation of the patient medical data acquired from respective first and second medical devices are associated with patient identifier information for the same patient; and

a display processor that initiates display of said merged data.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein:

said first medical device acquires the first patient medical data from said patient having a first patient identifier;

said first and second medical devices are adapted to be attached to the same patient; and

said signal to associate the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with data acquired by said first medical device associates said patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with said first patient identifier.

3. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a network that establishes communication with a third device and communicates said merged data to said third device.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein said signal to associate the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device is generated in response to at least one of, (a) detection of a particular physiological signal and (b) detection of a user command.

5. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a network that establishes communication between said first and second medical devices to enable acquisition by said first medical device of the second patient medical data from said second medical device in response to a signal generated by said command processor.

6. A system according to claim 5 wherein said network establishes communication between said first and second medical devices by establishing a communication link different than a link used in detecting proximity of said second medical device.

7. A system according to claim 5 wherein said network establishes bidirectional communication between said first and second medical devices.

8. A system according to claim 5 further comprising a data processor that processes patient medical data acquired by said first and second medical devices to provide said composite representation of patient medical data in response to said established communication.

9. A system according to claim 1 wherein said proximity detector comprises a detector using at least one of:

(a) RFID compatible proximity detection,

(b) Bluetooth 802.15 standard compatible proximity detection,

(c) an infra-red proximity detector, and

(d) GSM/GPRS standard compatible proximity detection.

10. A system for managing patient medical data and patient identifier information derived from a plurality of medical devices, comprising:

a proximity detector, used by a first medical device configured to acquire first patient medical data associated with patient identifier information from a patient, that detects proximity of a second medical device, configured to acquire second patient medical data from a patient, to the first medical device, said first and second medical devices being adapted to be attached to the same patient;

a command processor that initiates generation of signals upon detecting proximity of a second medical device by said proximity detector to;

(a) associate the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device and the identifier information of the patient, and

(b) process the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device together with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device to provide a composite representation of patient medical data, said composite representation of patient medical data including merged data incorporating said first and second patient medical data acquired using said first medical device and said second medical device;

a confirmation button selectable by a user that confirms that said composite representation of the patient medical data acquired from respective first and second medical devices are associated with patient identifier information for the same patient; and

a network that establishes communication between said first and second medical devices to enable acquisition of said merged data in response to a signal generated by said command processor.

11. A system according to claim 10 wherein the association of second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with data acquired by said first medical device is generated in response to at least one of, (a) detection of a particular physiological signal and (b) detection of a user command.

12. A system for managing patient medical data and patient identifier information derived from a plurality of medical devices, comprising:

a proximity detector, used by a first medical device configured to acquire first patient medical data associated with patient identifier information from a patient, that detects proximity of a second medical device configured to acquire second patient medical data from a patient, to the first medical device;

an identifier processor that verifies the first and second patient medical data acquired from respective first and second medical devices relates to the same patient by comparing received patient identifier information;

a command processor that initiates generation of signals upon detecting proximity of the second medical device by the proximity detector and verifies the acquired patient medical data from said first and second medical devices relates to the same patient to;

(a) associate the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device, and

(b) process the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device together with medical data acquired by said first medical device to provide a composite representation of patient medical data, said composite representation of patient medical data including merged data incorporating said patient medical data acquired using said first medical device and said second medical device;

a confirmation button selectable by a user that confirms that said composite representation of the patient medical data acquired from respective first and second medical devices are associated with patient identifier information for the same patient; and

a display processor that initiates display of said merged data.

13. A system according to claim 12 further comprising:

an interface processor that establishes a communication link between said first and second medical devices; and

wherein;

said identifier processor receives patient identifier information associated with the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device in a communication from said second medical device.

14. A system according to claim 12 wherein the association of said second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with data acquired by said first medical device is generated in response to at least one of, (a) detection of a particular physiological signal and (b) detection of a user command.

15. A method for managing patient medical data derived from a plurality of medical devices, comprising the activities of:

detecting proximity of a second medical device acquiring second patient medical data from a patient to a first medical device acquiring first patient medical data from a patient having a first patient identifier said first and second medical devices being adapted to be attached to the same patient;

confirming that a composite representation of patient medical data including merged data incorporating the patient medical data acquired from respective first and second medical devices are associated with patient identifier information for the same patient;

in response to said detection of proximity and confirmation, initiating generation of signals to;

(a) associate the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device, and

(b) process the second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device together with the first patient medical data acquired by said first medical device to provide said composite representation of patient medical data, said composite representation of patient medical data including merged data incorporating said patient medical data acquired using said first medical device and said second medical device; and

initiating display of said merged data on a display.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the activities of:

establishing a communication link between said first and second medical devices; and

processing respective received patient identifier information associated with the first patient medical data acquired by said first and second medical devices to verify a proper association of received data with a single patient.

17. The method according to claim 15 wherein initiating generation of the signal to associate second patient medical data acquired by said second medical device with patient medical data acquired by said first medical device is performed in response to at least one of, (a) detection of a particular physiological signal and (b) detection of a user command.