Diagnostic and intervention tools for emergency medical dispatch

• US 8,066,638 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2009
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey J. Clawson
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey J. Clawson
• Inventors: Clawson, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, III; Henry M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rajan; Kai
• Application Number:
  US12/396,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20090168975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 600/300, 600/301, 128903-905, 128/920
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/357 Autocues for dialog assistance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics

Abstract

A system and method assists an emergency medical dispatcher in responding to emergency calls. A computer implemented emergency medical dispatch protocol includes interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an appropriate response. A diagnostic tool is provided to determine a vital sign of a patient based on a timer and caller relayed information about the patient. An intervention tool is provided to administer assistance and determine a compression rate based on a timer and caller relayed information.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method performed entirely by a dispatch center computer system at a dispatch center to assist a dispatcher responding to a telephonic call from a caller regarding the medical condition of a patient to thereby enable determination of information about a vital sign of the patient without the assistance of medical equipment at a remote location of the caller and patient, the dispatcher to dispatch emergency medical responders to the remote location where the caller and patient are both present, the method comprising:

the dispatch center computer system providing an emergency dispatch protocol to assist the dispatcher when communicating with the caller, the emergency dispatch protocol presenting a plurality of pre-scripted interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller, and possible answers that the caller may provide, to collect information regarding the medical condition of the patient, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol is configured to generate an emergency medical dispatch response based on collected information to dispatch the emergency medical responders to the remote location;

the dispatch center computer system initiating a diagnostic tool configured to aid the dispatcher in uniformly collecting from the caller information about the patient to aid in determining a vital sign of the patient, the diagnostic tool resident within a memory of the dispatch center computer system;

the diagnostic tool providing instructions for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephonic call to assist the caller in providing information about the vital sign of the patient;

the diagnostic tool receiving dispatcher-entered input indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations regarding the vital sign of the patient, wherein the caller'"'"'s observations are vocally relayed over the telephonic call to the dispatcher;

relying only on the dispatcher-entered input indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations as communicated vocally to the dispatcher, the diagnostic tool determining a vital sign of the patient; and

the dispatch center computer system determining a priority for the emergency medical dispatch response based on the vital sign result determined by the diagnostic tool to thereby dispatch emergency medical responders according to the priority.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the dispatch center computer system determining the priority includes calculating a determinate value.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool generating a recommendation based on the vital sign, and displaying the recommendation on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vital sign is a breath rate.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for measuring a breath rate.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool displaying a measured breath rate on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller regarding a breath detection process for measuring a breath rate, the instruction including requesting that the caller communicate to the dispatcher each time a patient takes a breath during a period of time of the breath detection process;

timing on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time of the breath detection process;

receiving on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input indicating that the caller communicated that the patient took a breath; and

the diagnostic tool measuring the breath rate based on the duration of the time period of the breath detection process and the number of breaths taken during the time period.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vital sign is a pulse rate.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pulse.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool displaying a measured pulse rate on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pulse, including counting a number of pulses during a period of time;

timing on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time;

receiving on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input of a number of pulses counted by the caller during the time period; and

the diagnostic tool calculating the pulse rate based on the duration of the period of time and the number of pulses counted.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the vital sign is a pregnancy contraction rate.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pregnancy contraction rate.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool displaying a measured pregnancy contraction rate on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller regarding a contraction timing process for taking a pregnancy contraction rate, the instruction including that the caller communicate to the dispatcher each time the patient experiences a contraction during a period of time of the contraction timing process;

timing on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time of the contraction timing process;

receiving on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input indicating that the caller communicated that the patient is experiencing a contraction; and

the diagnostic tool calculating the pregnancy contraction rate based on the duration of the time period of the contraction timing process and the number of contractions experienced during the contraction timing process.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the dispatch center computer system determining a vital sign result based on the determined vital sign.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein the vital sign result is a categorization of the determined vital sign in one of a plurality of pre-determined categories.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 17, wherein the pre-determined categories include a normal category.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 17, wherein the vital sign result is displayed to provide indication to the dispatcher of the categorization of the vital sign.

20. A dispatch center computer system entirely disposed at a dispatch center to assist a dispatcher responding to a telephonic call from a caller regarding the medical condition of a patient to thereby enable determination of information about a vital sign of the patient without the assistance of medical equipment at the remote location of the caller and patient and to dispatch emergency medical responders to the remote location where the caller and patient are both present, the dispatch center computer system comprising:

a processor;

an input device in electrical communication with the processor;

an output device in electrical communication with the processor; and

a memory in electrical communication with the processor and comprising;

an emergency dispatch protocol module configured to present a plurality of prescripted interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller and possible answers that the caller may provide to collect information regarding the medical condition of the patient, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol is configured to generate an emergency medical dispatch response based on the collected information to dispatch the emergency medical responders to the remote location; and

a diagnostic tool operable by the processor and configured to;

provide instructions, displayed on the output device, for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephonic call to assist the caller in providing information about the vital sign of the patient;

receive dispatcher entered input, through the input device, indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations regarding the vital sign of the patient, wherein the caller'"'"'s observations are vocally relayed over the telephonic call to the dispatcher;

determine a vital sign of the patient based only on the dispatcher-entered input indicative of caller vocal communication; and

determine a priority based on the vital sign for dispatching the emergency medical responders to the remote location of the caller and patient.

21. The dispatch center computer system of claim 20, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to generate a recommendation based on the vital sign and display the recommendation on the output device.

22. The dispatch center computer system of claim 20, wherein the vital sign is a breath rate.

23. The dispatch center computer system of claim 22, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to:

provide instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for measuring a breath rate.

24. The dispatch center computer system of claim 22, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to display a measured breath rate on the output device.

25. The dispatch center computer system of claim 20, wherein the vital sign is a pulse rate.

26. The dispatch center computer system of claim 22, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to:

provide instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller regarding a breath detection process for measuring a breath rate, the instruction including requesting that the caller communicate to the dispatcher each time a patient takes a breath during a period of time of the breath detection process;

time a duration of the period of time of the breath detection process;

receive dispatcher-entered input indicating that the caller communicated that the patient took a breath; and

calculate the breath rate based on the duration of the time period of the breath detection process and the number of breaths taken during the time period.

27. The dispatch center computer system of claim 25, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to:

provide instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pulse.

28. The dispatch center computer system of claim 25, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to display a measured pulse rate on the output device.

29. The dispatch center computer system of claim 25, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to:

provide instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pulse, including counting a number of pulses during a period of time;

time a duration of the period of time;

receive on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input of a number of pulses counted by the caller during the time period; and

calculate the pulse rate based on the duration of the period of time and the number of pulses counted.

30. The dispatch center computer system of claim 20, wherein the vital sign is a pregnancy contraction rate.

31. The dispatch center computer system of claim 30, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to provide instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pregnancy contraction rate.

32. The dispatch center computer system of claim 30, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to display a measured pregnancy contraction rate on the output device.

33. The dispatch center computer system of claim 30, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to provide instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pregnancy contraction rate, the instruction including that the caller communicate to the dispatcher each time the patient experiences a contraction during a period of time of the contraction timing process;

time on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time of the contraction timing process;

receive dispatcher-entered input indicating that the caller communicated that the patient is experiencing a contraction; and

calculate the pregnancy contraction rate based on the duration of the time period of the contraction timing process and the number of contractions experienced during the contraction timing process.

34. The dispatch center computer system of claim 20, wherein the diagnostic tool is further configured to determine a vital sign result based on the determined vital sign.

35. The dispatch center computer system of claim 34, wherein the vital sign result categorizes the determined vital sign in one of a plurality of pre-determined categories.

36. The computer implemented method of claim 35, wherein the vital sign result is displayed to provide indication to the dispatcher of the categorization of the vital sign.

37. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instruction code for a method performed entirely by a dispatch center computer system at a dispatch center to assist a dispatcher responding to a telephonic call from a caller regarding the medical condition of a patient to thereby enable determination of information about a vital sign of the patient without the assistance of medical equipment at a remote location of the caller and patient, the dispatcher to dispatch emergency medical responders to the remote location where the caller and patient are both present, the method comprising:

providing an emergency dispatch protocol to assist the dispatcher when communicating with the caller, the emergency dispatch protocol including a plurality of pre-scripted interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller and possible answers that the caller may provide to collect information regarding the medical condition of the patient, wherein the dispatch protocol is configured to generate an emergency medical dispatch response based on the collected information to dispatch the emergency medical responders to the remote location;

initiating a diagnostic tool on the dispatch center computer system, the diagnostic tool configured to aid the dispatcher in uniformly collecting from the caller information about the patient to aid in determining a vital sign of the patient, the diagnostic tool resident within a memory of the dispatch center computer system;

the diagnostic tool providing instructions for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephonic call to assist the caller in providing information about the vital sign of the patient;

the diagnostic tool receiving dispatcher entered input indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations regarding the vital sign of the patient, wherein the caller'"'"'s observations are vocally relayed over the telephonic call to the dispatcher;

relying only on the dispatcher entered input indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations as communicated vocally by the caller to the dispatcher, the diagnostic tool determining a vital sign of the patient; and

determining a priority for the emergency medical dispatch response based on the vital sign determined by the diagnostic tool to thereby dispatch emergency medical responders according to the priority.

38. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein determining the priority includes calculating a determinant value.

39. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool generating a recommendation, based on the vital sign, and displaying the recommendation on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

40. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the vital sign is a breath rate.

41. The computer readable storage medium of claim 40, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for measuring a breath rate.

42. The computer readable storage medium of claim 40, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool displaying a measured breath rate on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

43. The computer readable storage medium of claim 40, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller regarding a breath detection process for measuring a breath rate, the instruction including requesting that the caller communicate to the dispatcher each time a patient takes a breath during a period of time of the breath detection process;

timing on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time of the breath detection process;

receiving on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input indicating that the caller communicated that the patient took a breath; and

the diagnostic tool calculating the breath rate based on the duration of the time period of the breath detection process and the number of breaths taken during the time period.

44. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the vital sign is a pulse rate.

45. The computer readable storage medium of claim 44, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pulse.

46. The computer readable storage medium of claim 44, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool displaying a measured pulse rate on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

47. The computer readable storage medium of claim 44, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pulse, including counting a number of pulses during a period of time;

timing on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time;

receiving on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input of a number of pulses counted by the caller during the time period; and

the diagnostic tool calculating the pulse rate based on the duration of the period of time and the number of pulses counted.

48. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the vital sign is a pregnancy contraction rate.

49. The computer readable storage medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller for taking a pregnancy contraction rate.

50. The computer readable storage medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool displaying a measured pregnancy contraction rate on a user interface of the dispatch center computer.

51. The computer readable storage medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises:

the diagnostic tool providing instruction for the dispatcher to relay to the caller regarding a contraction timing process for taking a pregnancy contraction rate, the instruction including that the caller communicate to the dispatcher each time the patient experiences a contraction during a period of time of the contraction timing process;

timing on the diagnostic tool a duration of the period of time of the contraction timing process;

receiving on the diagnostic tool dispatcher-entered input indicating that the caller communicated that the patient is experiencing a contraction; and

the diagnostic tool calculating the pregnancy contraction rate based on the duration of the time period of the contraction timing process and the number of contractions experienced during the contraction timing process.

52. The computer readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the method further comprises determining a vital sign result based on the determined vital sign.

53. The computer readable storage medium of claim 52, wherein the vital sign result categorizes the determined vital sign in one of a plurality of pre-determined categories.

54. The computer readable storage medium of claim 53, wherein the vital sign result is displayed to provide indication to the dispatcher of the categorization of the vital sign.

55. A computer implemented method performed entirely by a dispatch center computer system at a dispatch center to assist a dispatcher responding to a telephonic call from a caller regarding the medical condition of the caller to thereby enable determination of information about a vital sign of the caller without the assistance of medical equipment at a remote location of the caller, the dispatcher to dispatch emergency medical responders to the remote location where the caller is present, the method comprising:

providing on the dispatch center computer sytem an emergency dispatch protocol to assist the dispatcher when communicating with the caller, the emergency dispatch protocol presenting a plurality of pre-scripted interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller and possible answers that the caller may provide to collect information regarding the medical condition of the caller, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol is configured to generate an emergency medical dispatch response based on the collected information to dispatch the emergency medical responders to the remote location;

initiating a diagnostic tool on the dispatch center computer system, the diagnostic tool configured to aid the dispatcher in uniformly collecting information from the caller to aid in determining a vital sign of the caller, the diagnostic tool resident within a memory of the dispatch center computer system;

the diagnostic tool providing instructions for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephonic call to assist the caller in providing information about the vital sign of the caller;

the diagnostic tool receiving dispatcher entered input indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations regarding the caller'"'"'s vital sign, wherein the caller'"'"'s observations are vocally relayed over the telephonic call to the dispatcher;

relying only on the dispatcher entered input indicative of caller vocal communication, the diagnostic tool determining a vital sign of the caller; and

the dispatch center computer system determining a priority for the emergency medical dispatch response based on the vital sign determined by the diagnostic tool to thereby dispatch emergency medical responders according to the priority.

56. The computer-implemented method of claim 55, wherein the method further comprises determining a vital sign result based on the determined vital sign.

57. The computer-implemented method of claim 56, wherein the vital sign result categorizes the determined vital sign in one of a plurality of pre-determined categories.

58. The computer-implemented method of claim 57, wherein the vital sign result is displayed to provide indication to the dispatcher of the categorization of the vital sign.

59. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instruction code for a method performed entirely by a dispatch center computer system at a dispatch center to assist a dispatcher responding to a telephonic call from a caller regarding the medical condition of a caller to thereby enable determination of information about a vital sign of the caller without the assistance of medical equipment at a remote location of the caller, the dispatcher to dispatch emergency medical responders to the remote location where the caller is present, the method comprising:

providing an emergency dispatch protocol to assist the dispatcher when communicating with the caller, the emergency dispatch protocol including a plurality of pre-scripted interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller and possible answers that the caller may provide to collect information regarding the medical condition of the caller, wherein the dispatch protocol is configured to generate an emergency medical dispatch response based on the collected information to dispatch the emergency medical responders to the remote location;

initiating a diagnostic tool on the dispatch center computer system, the diagnostic tool configured to aid the dispatcher in uniformly collecting from the caller information about the patient to aid in determining a vital sign of the patient, the diagnostic tool resident within a memory of the dispatch center computer system;

the diagnostic tool providing instructions for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephonic call to assist the caller in providing information about the vital sign of the caller;

the diagnostic tool receiving dispatcher entered input indicative of the caller'"'"'s observations regarding the vital sign of the caller, wherein the caller'"'"'s observations are vocally relayed over the telephonic call to the dispatcher;

relying only on the dispatcher-entered input indicative of caller vocal communication, the diagnostic tool determining a vital sign of the caller; and

determining a priority for the emergency medical dispatch response based on the vital sign determined by the diagnostic tool to thereby dispatch emergency medical responders according to the priority.

60. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 59, wherein the method further comprises determining a vital sign result based on the determined vital sign.

61. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 60, wherein the vital sign result categorizes the determined vital sign in one of a plurality of pre-determined categories.

62. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 61, wherein the vital sign result is displayed to provide indication to the dispatcher of the categorization of the vital sign.