Enterprise imaging worklist server and method of use

• US 8,775,210 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2010
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Bao, Yongjian, Stoval, William III, Xu, Xiaofeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Holcomb, Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/765,429
• Publication Number:
  US 20100205011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,538 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2/3, 705 2- 4, 705/7.27
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a networked healthcare data management system. Certain embodiments of the data management system include a healthcare data archive connected to a network wherein the archived data comprises diagnostic, therapeutic, and demographic data. Certain embodiments further include a worklist server connected to the network wherein the worklist server receives data descriptors from the healthcare data archive and compiles the data descriptors into worklists. Certain embodiments also include a client system connected to a network wherein the client system queries the worklist server and the worklist server answers the queries by providing at least the network location of the archived data.

Claims

1. A method for translating healthcare data from a device-centric model of data management to a procedure-centric model of data management, comprising:

performing, by at least one computer processing device;

providing healthcare data received from an imaging modality to an imaging archive at one of a plurality of organizational domains, wherein each of the plurality of organizational domains comprises an associated imaging archive and at least one client system, wherein the healthcare data comprises image data and procedure data related to the image data, the healthcare data organized according to a device-centric model according to the imaging modality, the procedure data providing information regarding an imaging procedure with respect to the image data according to the device-centric model for the imaging modality, the device-centric model organizing the healthcare data in a device-centric hierarchy comprising patient, study, series, and service-object pair (SOP) instance for the imaging modality, wherein an SOP instance comprises information used to at least one of push and pull information between Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) applications;

mapping the procedure data from the imaging archive to a worklist server, wherein the mapping includes information about the relationship between the image data and the procedure data, the worklist server mapping the procedure data using a procedure-centric hierarchy, wherein the worklist server is accessible to each of the plurality of organizational domains to map data from a plurality of device-centric models to the procedure-centric hierarchy, the mapping including taking the patient, study, series, and SOP instance information from the device-centric model and mapping to the procedure-centric hierarchy comprising patient, visit, order, service request, and procedure via the worklist server to decouple clinical information management from SOP instance persistency and place SOP instances within a procedure;

organizing the procedure data into image worklists based on the procedure-centric hierarchy; and

accepting submission of an image access query to the worklist server for the image data and the imaging procedure data related to the image data from at least one client system at one of the plurality of organizational domains, wherein the query answer from the worklist server includes the procedure data related to the image data and information to identify the network location of the image data at the imaging archive of the one of the plurality of organizational domains.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the imaging archive is a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS).

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising mapping data to the worklist server relating to the availability status of the image data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the healthcare data further comprises patient demographic data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the procedure data further comprises Procedure Views (PV).

6. A method for managing the retrieval of medical imaging data across an enterprise connected via a network, comprising:

performing, by at least one computer processing device;

identifying diagnostic data related to a patient via an imaging modality at one of a plurality of organizational domains, wherein each of the plurality of organizational domains comprises an imaging archive and at least one client system, wherein the diagnostic data includes procedure messages and image data, and wherein the procedure messages provide information regarding an imaging procedure with respect to the image data according to a device-centric model for the imaging modality, the device-centric model organizing the diagnostic data according to a device-centric hierarchy comprising patient, study, series, and service-object pair (SOP) instance for the imaging modality, wherein an SOP instance comprises information used to at least one of push and pull information between Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) applications;

transmitting via the network the procedure messages and the image data from the imaging modality to the imaging archive at the associated one of the plurality of organizational domains, wherein the imaging archive has a network location;

transmitting via the network the procedure messages from the imaging archive and the network location of the image data to a worklist server, wherein the procedure messages are organized in the device-centric hierarchy, wherein the worklist server is accessible to each of the plurality of organizational domains to map data from a plurality of device-centric models to the procedure-centric hierarchy;

mapping the procedure messages in the worklist server into a worklist having a procedure-centric hierarchy by reordering the device-centric procedure data into a procedure-centric format, wherein the mapping includes information about the relationship between the image data and the procedure data, the mapping including taking the patient, study, series, and SOP instance information from the device-centric model and mapping to the procedure-centric hierarchy comprising patient, visit, order, service request, and procedure via the worklist server to decouple clinical information management from SOP instance persistency and place SOP instances within a procedure;

accepting an image access query for image data at the worklist server from the at least one client system at one or more of the plurality of organizational domains connected to the network;

filling the query at the worklist server using the worklist; and

returning an answer from the worklist server to the client system, wherein the answer includes data selected by the worklist server from the procedure-centric worklist and the network location at the imaging archive of the associated one of the plurality of organizational domains of the queried image data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising mapping the procedure messages into a plurality of work lists.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the worklist server maps the procedure messages into a worklist specific to a medical specialty.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the worklist specific to a medical specialty is used to fill a query from a specialist in the medical specialty.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein only specialists in the medical specialty are able to query the worklist specific to a medical specialty.

11. The method of claim 6;

further comprising collecting diagnostic data from a single patient using a plurality of imaging modalities, wherein the diagnostic data includes procedure messages and image data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the procedure messages from the plurality of imaging modalities are mapped in the worklist server into a single worklist having a procedure-centric hierarchy by reordering the device-centric procedure data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the procedure messages from the plurality of imaging modalities are mapped in the worklist server into a plurality of worklists having a procedure-centric hierarchy by reordering the device-centric procedure data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of worklists is specific to a different medical specialty.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform the following:

an archiving routine that transmits procedure messages and image data collected using an imaging modality from the imaging modality to an imaging archive at one of a plurality of organizational domains, wherein each of the plurality of organizational domains comprises an associated imaging archive and at least one client system, and wherein the procedure messages provide information regarding an imaging procedure with respect to the image data according to a device-centric model for the imaging modality, the device-centric model organizing the procedure messages according to a device-centric hierarchy comprising patient;

study;

series; and

service-object pair (SOP) instance for the imaging modality, wherein an SOP instance comprises information used to at least one of push and pull information between Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) applications;

a submission routine that transmits procedure messages from the imaging archive at the associated one of the plurality of organizational domains to a worklist server on a network, the worklist server mapping the procedure data using a procedure-centric hierarchy, wherein the worklist server is accessible to each of the plurality of organizational domains to map data from a plurality of device-centric models to the procedure-centric hierarchy, wherein the mapping includes information about the relationship between the image data and the procedure data, the mapping including taking the patient, study, series, and SOP instance information from the device-centric model and mapping to the procedure-centric hierarchy comprising patient, visit, order, service request, and procedure via the worklist server to decouple clinical information management from SOP instance persistency and place SOP instances within a procedure;

a worklist-generating routine that reorders the procedure messages in the worklist server into at least one worklist based on the procedure-centric hierarchy, wherein the procedure messages are in a device-centric hierarchy and the worklist is in a procedure-centric hierarchy;

a query-filling routine that accepts at least one image access query for image data at the worklist server from a client system at one or more of the plurality of organizational domains and filling the query at the worklist server using the at least one worklist; and

a query-answer routine that returns an answer from the worklist server to the client system, wherein the answer includes data selected by the worklist server from the worklist and a network location of the image data at the imaging archive of the one of the plurality of organizational domains.

16. The set of instructions of claim 15, wherein the worklist generating routine reorders the procedure messages in the worklist server into a plurality of worklists, wherein each of the plurality of work lists is specific to a different medical specialty.

17. The set of instructions of claim 15, wherein the query-filling routine identifies a medical specialty associated with the image access query.

18. The set of instructions of claim 15, further comprising a retrieval routine for transmitting image data from the imaging archive to the client system.