Automated system and method for prioritization of waiting patients

• US 8,484,048 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Children's Hospital & Medical Center, University of Cincinnati
• Original Assignee: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (University of Cincinnati)
• Inventors: Halsted, Mark J., Froehle, Craig M., Johnson, Neil D.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HIEP VAN
• Application Number:
  US11/603,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20070226008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,421 Days
• Field of Search: 705/3
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

The present invention provides an automated triage system performs a computerized method that includes the steps of: (1) for plurality of patients, gathering medical factor(s) associated with each patient'"'"'s medical condition, where the medical condition may be (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of a patient, and/or (d) a demographic statistic of the patient; (2) for the same plurality of patients, gathering subjective perception(s) associated with each patient'"'"'s medical condition, which may be (a) the anxiety of the patient, (b) the anxiety/concern of the referring physician, and/or (c) the anxiety of the reviewing attendee; and (3) ordering, by a computerized algorithm, the plurality of patients for medical treatment and/or medical assessment, based upon the medical factors and subjective perceptions gathered for each of the plurality of patients. The method may also include the step of gathering operational aspect(s), such as (a) waiting time of the patient, (b) medical treatment facilities availability, (c) medical treatment staff availability, (d) medical assessment facilities availability, and/or (e) medical assessment staff availability; where the ordering step includes the step of ordering, by the computer algorithm, the plurality of patients for medical treatment and/or medical assessment, based at least upon the medical factors, subjective perceptions and operational aspects gathered for each of the plurality of patients.

Claims

1. A computerized method for automated prioritization of waiting patients, comprising the steps of:

for a plurality of patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one medical factor associated with each patient'"'"'s medical condition taken from a group consisting of (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of the patient, and (d) a demographic statistic of the patient;

for the plurality of the patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one subjective perception associated each patient'"'"'s medical condition taken from a group consisting of (a) anxiety of the patient, (b) anxiety of the referring physician, (c) anxiety of the reviewing attendee, and (d) whether the referring physician ordered the case STAT;

generating, by a software tool on a computer server, an acuity score for each of the plurality of patients based at least upon weights applied to the at least one medical factor and the at least one subjective perception respectively gathered for each of the plurality of patients; and

ordering, in a prioritized list by the software tool on the computer server, the plurality of patients for at least one of (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment, based at least upon the respective acuity scores generated for each of the plurality of patients;

wherein the prioritized list is organized from top to bottom based upon the acuity scores generated for each of the plurality of patients.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

for a new patient, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one medical factor associated with the new patient'"'"'s medical condition taken from a group consisting of (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of the new patient, and (d) a demographic statistic of the new patient;

for the new patient, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one subjective perception associated the new patient'"'"'s medical condition taken from a group consisting of (a) anxiety of the new patient, (b) anxiety of the referring physician, (c) anxiety of the reviewing attendee and (d) whether the referring physician ordered the case STAT;

generating, by the software tool on the computer sever, an acuity score for the new patient based at least upon weights applied to the at least one medical factor and the at least one subjective perception gathered for the new patient; and

re-ordering, by the software tool on the computer server, the plurality of patients and the new patient for at least one of (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment, based at least upon the respective acuity scores generated for each of the plurality of patients and the new patient;

wherein the re-ordered prioritized list is organized from top to bottom based upon the acuity scores generated for each of the plurality of patients and the new patient.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the prioritized list to an individual associated with providing the at least one medical treatment or medical assessment.

4. The computerized method of claim 3, further comprising the step of indicating with the assistance of a computer, that a patient in the prioritized list has received the at least one medical treatment or medical assessment.

5. The computerized method of claim 4, further comprising the step of re-ordering, by the software tool on the computer server, the plurality of patients, less the indicated patient, for at least one of (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment, based at least upon the respective acuity scores generated for each of the plurality of patients, less the indicated patient.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the prioritized list on a display viewable by at least one of the plurality of patients.

7. The computerized method of claim 6, wherein the display is viewable by an attendant situated within a waiting room.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

for the plurality of the patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer operational aspects including (a) whether the patient is waiting in a waiting area of a medical facility or not, and (b) waiting time of the patient;

wherein the acuity score generated for each the plurality of patients is based at least upon weights applied to the at least one medical factor, the at least one subjective perception and the operational aspects gathered for each of the plurality of patients.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the weights are based upon mental heuristics gathered from a plurality of experienced professionals who perform the at least one medical treatment or medical assessment.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the software tool on the computer server generates a higher acuity score if the patient is waiting in the waiting area of the medical facility as opposed to if the patient is not waiting in the waiting area of the medical facility.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the software tool on the computer server generates a higher acuity score if the gathered subjective perception of the patient'"'"'s anxiety is relatively high as opposed to if the gathered subjective perception of the patient'"'"'s anxiety is relatively low.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the software tool on the computer server generates a higher acuity score if at least one of the gathered subjective perception of the anxiety of the referring physician, and gathered subjective perception of the anxiety of the reviewing attendee is high as opposed to if the respective at least one of the gathered subjective perception of the anxiety of the referring physician and the gathered subjective perception of the anxiety of the reviewing attendee is relatively low.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the software tool on the computer server generates a more urgent acuity score depending upon a perceived severity of the type of injury.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the software tool on the computer server generates a higher acuity score the longer the patient has been waiting in the waiting area of the medical facility.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the acuity score becomes exponentially higher in relation to the amount of time the patient has been waiting in the waiting area of the medical facility.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the software tool on the computer server generates a higher acuity score if the referring physician ordered the case STAT as opposed to if the referring physician did not order the case STAT.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the acuity score is a function of a STAT time factor.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the weights are based upon mental heuristics gathered from a plurality of experienced professionals who perform the at least one medical treatment or medical assessment.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of estimating an additional waiting time until the at least one of the (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment will occur for each of the plurality of patients.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of estimating a the additional waiting time for each of the plurality of patients is based upon a consideration of:

(i) an average medical treatment or medical assessment time for previous patients and (ii) a number of patients ahead of a given patient in the ordered plurality of patients.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the average medical treatment or medical assessment time is a rolling average.

22. The computerized method of claim 21, further comprising the step of displaying the prioritized list of patients on a viewable display and including the estimated additional waiting time for each patient in the display.

23. The computerized method of claim 21, further comprising the step of communicating an estimated additional waiting time to a corresponding waiting patient.

24. The computerized method of claim 23, wherein the estimating and communicating steps are repeated periodically.

25. A computerized method for automated prioritization of waiting patients, comprising the steps of:

for a plurality of patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one medical factor associated with each patient'"'"'s medical condition taken from a group consisting of (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of the patient, (d) a reason for seeking a medical treatment, and (e) a reason for seeking a medical assessment;

for the plurality of patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one demographic item associated with each patient;

for the plurality of the patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one operational aspect taken from a group consisting of (a) whether the patient is waiting or not, (b) waiting time of the patient, (c) medical treatment facilities availability, (d) medical treatment staff availability, (e) medical assessment facilities availability, and (f) medical assessment staff availability;

generating, by a software tool on a computer server, an acuity score for each of the plurality of patients based upon the at least one medical factor, the at least one demographic item and the at least one operational aspect respectively gathered for each of the plurality of patients; and

ordering, in a prioritized list by the software tool on the computer server, the plurality of patients for at least one of (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment, based at least upon the respective acuity score generated for each of the plurality of patients;

wherein the prioritized list is organized from top to bottom based upon the acuity score generated for each of the plurality of patients.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

for the plurality of the patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer at least one subjective perception associated each patient'"'"'s medical condition taken from a group consisting of (a) anxiety of the patient, (b) anxiety of the referring physician, and (c) anxiety of the reviewing attendee;

wherein the acuity score is generated in the generating step based at least upon a combination of the at least one operational aspect, the at least one medical factor, the at least one demographic item and the at least one subjective perception gathered for each of the plurality of patients.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the software tool on the computer server in the generating step applies weights to the at least one operational aspect, the at least one medical factor, the at least one demographic item and the at least one subjective perception; and

the weights are based upon mental heuristics gathered from a plurality of experienced professionals who perform the at least one medical treatment or medical assessment.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

for the plurality of the patients, gathering with the assistance of a computer whether the referring physician ordered the case STAT;

wherein the acuity score is further generated in the generating step based upon whether or not the referring physician ordered the case STAT for each of the plurality of patients.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein:

the operational aspect includes (b) the waiting time of the patient; and

in the generating step, the acuity score is generated in exponential relation to the gathered waiting time of the patient.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein:

the operational aspect includes whether or not the patient is waiting in a waiting area of a medical facility for the at least one of (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment; and

the generating step generates a higher acuity score if the patient is waiting in the waiting area as opposed to if the patient is not waiting in the waiting area.

31. A computerized method for automated prioritization of waiting patients, comprising the steps of:

calculating, by a software tool on a computer server, an acuity score for each of a plurality of patients for at least one of (a) medical treatment and (b) medical assessment, based at least upon a combination of two or more of, (i) at least one operational aspect, (ii) at least one medical factor, (iii) at least one demographic item, and (iv) at least one subjective perception gathered for each of the plurality of patients; and

ordering the plurality of patients into a prioritized list that is organized from top to bottom based upon the acuity score generated for each of the plurality of patients;

in the calculating step, the software tool on the computer server applies weights to the two or more of, (i) the at least one operational aspect, (ii) the at least one medical factor, (iii) the at least one demographic item, and (iv) the at least one subjective perception gathered for each of the plurality of patients;

the weights being previously generated from a step of collecting mental heuristics of a plurality of experienced professionals who perform the at least one medical treatment or medical assessment and a step of calculating the weights based upon, at least in part, the collected mental heuristics;

the at least one operational aspect being taken from a group consisting of (a) whether the patient is waiting in a waiting area of a medical facility or not, (b) an updated waiting time of the patient, (c) medical treatment facilities availability, (d) medical treatment staff availability, (e) medical assessment facilities availability, and (f) medical assessment staff availability;

the at least one medical factor being condition taken from a group consisting of (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of the patient, (d) a reason for seeking a medical treatment, and (e) a reason for seeking a medical assessment; and

the at least one subjective perception being taken from a group consisting of (a) anxiety of the patient, (b) anxiety of the referring physician, and (c) anxiety of the reviewing attendee.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of collecting mental heuristics of a plurality of experienced professionals include the steps of:

providing to a first group of experienced medical professionals a form that includes a first plurality of test-cases; and

rating by each of the first group of experienced medical professionals each of the test-cases in the form, the rating being a numerical rating based upon a level of urgency perceived for each test-case.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein each test case in the first plurality of test-cases includes (i) at least one hypothetical indication of operational aspect, (ii) at least one hypothetical indication of a medical factor, (iii) at least one hypothetical demographic item, and (iv) at least one hypothetical indication of a subjective perception.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein each test case in the first plurality of test-cases includes (i) at least one hypothetical indication of operational aspect, (ii) at least one hypothetical indication of a medical factor, and (iii) at least one hypothetical indication of a subjective perception.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising the steps of:

generating a test-set of weights from the numerical ratings provided by the first group of experienced professionals;

ordering a second plurality of hypothetical test-cases using the test-set of weights;

providing the ordered second plurality of hypothetical test-cases to a second group of experienced medical professionals for review by the second group of experienced medical professionals; and

from the results of the review by the second group of experienced medical professionals, generating the weights to be applied to the two or more of, (i) the at least one operational aspect, (ii) the at least one medical factor, (iii) the at least one demographic item, and (iv) the at least one subjective perception gathered for each of the plurality of patients.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the step of, from the results of the review by the second group of experienced medical professionals, generating the weights to be applied to the two or more of, (i) the at least one operational aspect, (ii) the at least one medical factor, (iii) the at least one demographic item, and (iv) the at least one subjective perception gathered for each of the plurality of patients, further includes a step of:

generating, by each of the second group of medical professionals, a numerical ranking of the how well each of the medical professionals considered the ordered second plurality of hypothetical test-cases to be prioritized.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the step of generating the weights includes a step of modifying the test-set of rates.

38. A method for processing radiology cases comprising the steps of:

providing a software tool on a computer server accessible by a plurality of workstations coupled to the computer server over a computer network, wherein the software tool has access to a plurality of radiology case files corresponding to a plurality of pending radiology cases, and wherein the plurality of radiology case files includes information sufficient for one or more radiologists to conduct radiological examinations on the plurality of pending radiology cases;

assigning, with the assistance of the software tool, one or more of the plurality of pending radiology cases to a first radiologist and one or more of the remaining plurality of pending radiology cases to a second radiologist;

accessing the software tool over the computer network by the first radiologist utilizing a first one of a plurality of workstations to view one or more radiology case files pertaining to a pending radiology case assigned to the first radiologist, and recording an examination of the pending radiology case assigned to the first radiologist in the software tool by the first radiologist utilizing the first one of the plurality of workstations;

removing, by the software tool, the pending radiology case assigned to the first radiologist from the plurality of pending radiology cases;

accessing the software tool over the computer network by the second radiologist utilizing a second one of a plurality of workstations to view one or more radiology case files pertaining to a pending radiology case assigned to the second radiologist, and recording an examination of the pending radiology case assigned to the second radiologist in the software tool by the second radiologist utilizing the second one of the plurality of workstations; and

removing, by the software tool, the pending radiology case assigned to the second radiologist from the plurality of pending radiology cases.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising the steps of:

communicating at least one of the recorded examinations recorded by at least one of the first and second radiologists to a referring physician; and

storing a record of the communicating step, by or with the assistance of the software tool.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein

the communicating step includes the step of accessing, with the assistance of the software tool and utilizing a third one of the plurality of workstations, the recorded examinations recorded by at least one of the first and second radiologists by a communication assistant responsible for communicating data from the recorded examinations to the referring physician;

and

the step of storing a record of the communication step includes a step of recording by the communication assistant, with the assistance of the software tool and utilizing the third one of the plurality of workstations, a record of communications with the referring physician.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the assigning step includes a step of accessing, with the assistance of the software tool and utilizing a third one of the plurality of workstations, a graphical user interface that provides list of the plurality of pending radiology cases by an third individual, and utilizing the graphical user interface to assign from the list one or more of the plurality of pending radiology cases to a first radiologist and one or more of the remaining plurality of pending radiology cases to a second radiologist.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the list is ordered on the graphical user interface, from top to bottom, according to an acuity algorithm output.

43. The method of claim 38, wherein the assigning step includes a step of accessing, with the assistance of the software tool and utilizing one of the plurality of workstations, a graphical user interface that provides list of the plurality of pending radiology cases by the first radiologist, and utilizing the graphical user interface to assign from the list one or more of the plurality of pending radiology cases to the first radiologist.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the list is ordered on the graphical user interface, from top to bottom, according to an acuity algorithm output.

45. The method of claim 38, wherein the assigning step includes a step of providing a graphical user interface by the software tool that provides a prioritized list of the plurality of pending radiology cases.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein:

the prioritized list is generated by the software tool utilizing an acuity algorithm that calculates priority based at least upon a combination of least one medical factor and at least one subjective perception gathered for each of the plurality of pending radiology cases;

the at least one medical factor is taken from a group consisting of (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of the patient, and (d) a demographic statistic of the patient; and

the at least one subjective perception is taken from a group consisting of (a) anxiety of the patient, (b) anxiety of the referring physician, (c) anxiety of the reviewing attendee, and (d) whether the referring physician ordered the case STAT.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the acuity algorithm further calculates priority based at least one operational aspect, the at least one operational aspect being taken from a group consisting of (a) whether the patient is waiting or not, (b) waiting time of the patient, (c) medical treatment facilities availability, (d) medical treatment staff availability, (e) medical assessment facilities availability, and (f) medical assessment staff availability.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein:

the prioritized list is generated by the software tool utilizing an acuity algorithm that calculates priority based at least upon one aspect gathered for each of the plurality of pending radiology cases; and

the at least one aspect is taken from a group consisting of (a) whether the patient is waiting or not, (b) waiting time of the patient, and (c) whether the referring physician ordered the case STAT.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the acuity algorithm calculates priority based at least upon a combination of (a) whether the patient is waiting or not, (b) waiting time of the patient, and (c) whether the referring physician ordered the case STAT.