Medical reporting system and method

• US 9,898,586 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2013
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mortara Instrument, Inc. (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Mortara, Justin, Dorsey, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan, Christopher L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tiedeman, Jason S
• Application Number:
  US14/020,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20150073828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,628 Days
• Field of Search: 715261, 705 2, 705 3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/40 for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/60 relating to pathologies

Abstract

Systems and methods for use in providing input relating to medical data are provided. A method includes receiving a partial textual input relating to medical data. The method further includes determining one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input. Determining the suggested input string(s) includes: (1) for each of a plurality of reference input strings contained within one or more of a plurality of reference files within a database, identifying a frequency with which the reference input string appears in the plurality of reference files, and (2) determining the suggested input string(s) further includes determining the suggested input string(s) from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the plurality of reference files. The method further includes providing the suggested input string(s) to the user as suggestions for completing the partial textual input.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device and from a user, a partial textual input relating to medical data comprising a medical image, the medical image comprising a waveform, the partial textual input comprising a string of one or more characters, wherein the partial textual input is received within a data form, the data form comprising a plurality of input fields, and wherein the partial textual input is received within a first input field of the plurality of input fields;

determining, using the computing device, one or more most clinically common input strings associated with the partial textual input based in part on a portion of the data form within which the user provided the partial textual input, wherein determining the one or more most clinically common input strings comprises;

analyzing the waveform of the medical image to determine a type of arrhythmia for the medical image;

identifying, within a database, a plurality of reference files matching the determined type of arrhythmia for the medical image, wherein the plurality of reference files comprise different textual data relating to the determined type of arrhythmia in reference medical images, and wherein two or more of the plurality of reference files comprise a data field corresponding to the first input field of the data form;

for each reference input string of a plurality of reference input strings contained within one or more of the plurality of reference files, identifying a frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field in the identified plurality of reference files; and

determining the one or more most clinically common input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the data field corresponding to the first input field within the identified plurality of reference files, such that the one or more most clinically common input strings are determined from reference files matching the type of arrhythmia for the medical image to which the partial textual input relates; and

providing the one or more most clinically common input strings to the user as suggestions for completing the partial textual input.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the user with one or more suggested textual strings based on automated analysis of the medical data, wherein receiving the partial textual input comprises receiving a modification from the user to at least one of the one or more suggested textual strings to produce at least one modified suggested textual string, and wherein determining the one or more most clinically common input strings associated with the partial textual input comprises determining the one or more most clinically common input strings associated with the at least one modified suggested textual string.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the partial textual input is received within one of a plurality of portions of the data form, and wherein determining the one or more most clinically common input strings associated with the partial textual input comprises determining the one or more most clinically common input strings based in part on textual input received within another of the plurality of portions of the data form.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more most clinically common input strings associated with the partial textual input comprises determining the one or more most clinically common input strings further based in part on the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user comprises at least one of an individual or an institution.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of reference files are files associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of reference files comprises a first plurality of reference files associated with the user and a second plurality of reference files comprising files not associated with the user, and wherein determining the one or more most clinically common input strings comprises:

for each of the plurality of reference input strings;

identifying a first frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field in the first plurality of reference files and a second frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field in the second plurality of reference files;

applying a first weighting value to the first frequency to determine a first weighted frequency;

applying a second weighting value to the second frequency to determine a second weighted frequency; and

determining a combined weighted frequency for the reference input string based on a combination of the first weighted frequency and the second weighted frequency; and

determining the one or more most clinically common input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the combined weighted frequencies.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the medical data to which the partial textual input relates comprises an electrocardiogram (ECG) image.

9. A system comprising:

an electronic processor operably coupled to at least one memory and configured to;

receive, from a user, a partial textual input relating to medical data comprising a medical image, the medical image comprising a waveform, the partial textual input comprising a string of one or more characters;

determine one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input, based in part on the user, by;

analyzing the waveform of the medical image to determine a type of arrhythmia for the medical image;

identifying, within a database, a plurality of reference files matching the determined type of arrhythmia for the medical image, the plurality of reference files comprising a plurality of reference input strings, wherein the plurality of reference files comprise different textual data relating to the determined type of arrhythmia in reference medical images, and wherein the plurality of reference files comprises a first plurality of reference files associated with the user and a second plurality of reference files comprising files not associated with the user;

for each reference input string;

identifying a first frequency with which the reference input string appears in the first plurality of reference files and a second frequency with which the reference input string appears in the second plurality of reference files;

applying a first weighting value to the first frequency to determine a first weighted frequency,

applying a second weighting value to the second frequency to determine a second weighted frequency; and

determining a combined weighted frequency for the reference input string based on a combination of the first weighted frequency and the second weighted frequency; and

determining the one or more suggested input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the combined weighted frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the plurality of reference files; and

provide the one or more suggested input strings to the user as suggestions for completing the partial textual input.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronic processor is configured to provide the user with one or more initial textual strings based on automated analysis of the medical data, wherein the electronic processor is configured to receive the partial textual input by receiving a modification from the user to at least one of the one or more initial textual strings to produce at least one modified textual string, and wherein the electronic processor is configured to determine the one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input by determining the one or more suggested input strings associated with the at least one modified textual string.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the user comprises at least one of an individual or an institution.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the medical data to which the partial textual input relates comprises a medical image, wherein the medical image comprises a waveform characteristic, and wherein the electronic processor is further configured to determine the one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input by:

for each reference input string of the plurality of reference input strings, identifying a frequency with which the reference input string appears in one or more of the plurality of reference files having a same waveform characteristic as the medical image to which the partial textual input relates, each of the reference files comprising a reference medical image and textual data relating to the reference medical image; and

determining the one or more suggested input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the combined weighted frequencies and based on the frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the one or more of the plurality of reference files having the same waveform characteristic as the medical image to which the partial textual input relates.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the partial textual input is received within a data form, and wherein the electronic processor is configured to determine the one or more suggested input strings based in part on a portion of the data form within which the user provided the partial textual input.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data form comprises a plurality of input fields, wherein the partial textual input is received within a first input field of the plurality of input fields, wherein two or more of the plurality of reference files comprise a data field corresponding to the first input field of the data form, and wherein the electronic processor is configured to determine the one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input by:

for each of the plurality of reference input strings, identifying a first frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field in the first plurality of reference files and a second frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field in the second plurality of reference files; and

determining the one or more suggested input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the combined weighted frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the data field corresponding to the first input field within the plurality of reference files.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to:

receive, from a user comprising at least one of an individual or an institution, a partial textual input relating to a medical image, the medical image comprising a waveform, the partial textual input comprising a string of one or more characters, wherein the partial textual input is received within a data form, the data form comprising a plurality of input fields, and wherein the partial textual input is received within a first input field of the plurality of input fields;

determine one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input based in part on a portion of the data form within which the user provided the partial textual input by;

analyzing the waveform of the medical image to determine a type of arrhythmia for the medical image;

identifying, within a database, a plurality of reference files matching the determined type of arrhythmia for the medical image, the plurality of reference files comprising a plurality of reference input strings, wherein the plurality of reference files comprise different textual data relating to the determined type of arrhythmia in reference medical images, and wherein two or more of the plurality of reference files comprise a data field corresponding to the first input field of the data form;

for each reference input string of a plurality of reference input strings contained within one or more of the plurality of reference files within the database, identifying a frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field within the plurality of reference files; and

determining the one or more suggested input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the data field corresponding to the first input field within the plurality of reference files, such that the one or more suggested input strings are determined from reference files matching the type of arrhythmia for the medical image to which the partial textual input relates; and

provide the one or more suggested input strings to the user as suggestions for completing the partial textual input.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to provide the user with one or more initial textual strings based on automated analysis of the medical image, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to receive the partial textual input by receiving a modification from the user to at least one of the one or more initial textual strings to produce at least one modified textual string, and wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to determine the one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input by determining the one or more suggested input strings associated with the at least one modified textual string.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the medical image to which the partial textual input relates comprises a waveform characteristic, and wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to determine the one or more suggested input strings associated with the partial textual input by:

for each reference input string of the plurality of reference input strings, identifying a frequency with which the reference input string appears in the data field corresponding to the first input field within one or more of the plurality of reference files having a same waveform characteristic as the medical image to which the partial textual input relates, each of the reference files comprising a reference medical image and textual data relating to the reference medical image; and

determining the one or more suggested input strings from among the plurality of reference input strings based on the frequencies with which the reference input strings appear in the data field corresponding to the first input field within the one or more of the plurality of reference files having the same waveform characteristic as the medical image to which the partial textual input relates.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to determine the one or more suggested input strings based in part on the user, wherein the user comprises at least one of an individual or an institution, and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of reference files are files associated with the user.