Automated interpretation and/or translation of clinical encounters with cultural cues

• US 8,655,668 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Optum360, LLC (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: A-Life Medical, LLC
• Inventors: Heinze, Daniel T.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALBERTALLI, BRIAN LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US13/836,234
• Publication Number:
  US 20130211834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 340 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 704/277
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30

Abstract

A method, system and a computer program product for an automated interpretation and/or translation are disclosed. An automated interpretation and/or translation occurs by receiving language-based content from a user. The received language-based content is processed to interpret and/or translate the received language-based content into a target language. Also, a presence of a cultural sensitivity in the received language-based content is detected. Further, an appropriate guidance for dealing with the detected cultural sensitivity is provided.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive a communication between a practitioner and a patient;

a processing unit in communication with the receiving unit, the processing unit configured to identify a presence of a cultural sensitivity of the patient in the received communication, determine guidance for dealing with the identified cultural sensitivity, and interpret and/or translate the received communication into a target language.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit comprises a speech recognition unit configured to convert the received communication into a written format.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processing unit is further configured to render an output of the interpretation and/or translation into one or more of electronic text data and electronic speech data in a clinical encounter with the patient.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to detect a presence of a social sensitivity of the patient in the received communication.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to generate an interlingua for automated interpretation and/or translation of the received communication in a clinical encounter with the patient.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the generated interlingua comprises a representation of a semantic content of a written or spoken utterance in conjunction with a formal medical vocabulary system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processing unit is further configured to determine whether interpreting and/or translating the received verbal communication requires a human review when the utterance is of importance even though a full intent is not comprehended.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to classify the received communication as having an immediate importance during a medical encounter with the patient.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to classify the received communication as having a durable importance beyond a temporal scope of a medical encounter with the patient, in which the communication is received.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is further configured to store in an electronic health record a formal representation of a semantic content of the received communication classified as having the durable importance.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to flag clinical content of the received communication related to a subject matter known to have cultural sensitivities for the patient.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to flag clinical content of the received communication that is difficult to translate into the target language.

13. A computer program product embodied in a non-volatile computer readable data storage medium, the computer program product operable by execution on a processor to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a communication in a medical encounter with a patient;

processing the received communication to interpret and/or translate the received communication into a target language;

identifying a presence of a cultural sensitivity in the received communication; and

determining guidance for dealing with the identified cultural sensitivity in the clinical encounter.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to convert the received communication into a written format.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to generate an output of the interpretation and/or translation as one or more of electronic text data and electronic speech data.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to detect a presence of a social sensitivity in the received communication.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to generate an interlingua for an automated interpretation and/or translation of the received communication in a clinical encounter with the patient.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to implement the interlingua as a formal representation of a written or spoken utterance in conjunction with a formal medical vocabulary system.

19. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to determine whether processing the received communication requires a human review.

20. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to classify the received communication as having an immediate importance during the medical encounter with the patient.

21. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to classify the received communication as having a durable importance beyond a temporal scope of the medical encounter with the patient.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to store in an electronic health record a formal representation of a semantic content of the received communication classified as having the durable importance.

23. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to apply one or more identifiers to the received communication, wherein the identifiers are associated with one or more warnings related to a subject matter known to have cultural sensitivities for the patient in the target language.

24. The computer program product of claim 13, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to apply one or more identifiers to the received communication, wherein the identifiers are associated with a subject matter that is difficult to translate into the target language.