Real-time monitoring systems and methods in a healthcare environment

• US 10,285,592 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2018
• Issued: 05/14/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VCCB Holdings, Inc. (Masimo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NantHealth, LLC (NantWorks, LLC)
• Inventors: Dyell, David, Rogowski, Christopher, Kahler, Scott, Milan, Jennifer
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Nabil H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eustaquio, Cal J
• Application Number:
  US16/146,974
• Publication Number:
  US 20190029517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 228 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

An apparatus for real time monitoring of a patient is provided and includes a memory element for storing data, a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, an interface that receives sensor data from a sensor that takes measurements from the patient and sends the sensor data according to the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency, a latency calculator that frequently calculates a latency threshold that varies according to at least a health status of the patient, a timer that continuously monitors the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency, a comparator that frequently compares the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency with the calculated latency threshold, and a feedback module that automatically changes the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency to match with the calculated latency threshold.

Claims

1. An apparatus for real-time monitoring of a patient, comprising:

an interface that receives sensor data from a sensor;

a memory element that stores instructions; and

a processor that executes the instructions to perform operations comprising;

determining a delay criterion that varies according to at least a health status of the patient and latency sensitivity factors;

continuously monitoring a time delay between measurements of the sensor;

comparing the time delay with the determined delay criterion; and

generating an alert if the time delay fails to satisfy the determined delay criterion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the health status of the patient is determined from at least the sensor data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the time delay is based on two consecutive receipts of the sensor data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an adapter removably attached to the sensor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an adapter integrated with the sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an adapter that communicates wirelessly with the sensor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a network interface that receives various delay criterion settings and patient health status factors from a remote database in a network.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the apparatus communicates with the database through a clinical operating system executing remotely in the network.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein an administration user interface facilitates configuring the apparatus with algorithms to determine the delay criterion.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the patient health status comprises a data construct of an aggregate of health conditions, population characteristics, diseases, symptoms, medications and medical status of the patient, indicative of a context of measurements by the sensor.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the latency sensitivity factors include a function of the sensor data that affects the determination of the delay criterion.

12. A real-time monitoring system, comprising:

a first sensor interface that receives sensor data about a patient; and

a computer system having a processor that executes software stored on a non-transitory computer-readable memory to perform operations comprising;

retrieving sensor data from a plurality of system sensors,

storing a health status and a location of the patient,

determining a delay criterion for at least one of the system sensors as a function of at least the health status and the location of the patient, a type of sensor information from the at least one of the system sensors, and sensor data from at least one other system sensor, and

triggering an alert when a sensor'"'"'s measurement delay fails to satisfy the determined delay criterion.

13. The real-time monitoring system of claim 12, wherein the delay criterion is determined as a function of the location of the patient relative to a healthcare provider.

14. The real-time monitoring system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprising storing a buffer delay for the patient, and the delay criterion is further determined as a function of the buffer delay.

15. The real-time monitoring system of claim 12, further comprising a user interface that allows a user to select the function used to determine the delay criterion from a set of pre-defined functions.

16. The real-time monitoring system of claim 15 wherein said user interface provides a selectable menu for a user to select a function from a set of pre-defined functions for each sensor type and modify the selected function based upon patient information.

17. The real-time monitoring system of claim 12, further comprising at least a third sensor that monitors the patient, and wherein the delay criterion is determined as a function of sensor data received from the third sensor.

18. The real-time monitoring system of claim 12, wherein the delay criterion is determined as a function of a measurement delay of the at least one other system sensor.

19. A method for real-time monitoring of a patient, the method comprising:

determining a delay criterion that varies according to at least a health status of the patient and latency sensitivity factors;

continuously monitoring a time delay between measurements of a sensor;

comparing the time delay with the determined delay criterion; and

generating an alert if the time delay fails to satisfy the determined delay criterion.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

continuously monitoring a time delay between measurements of another sensor;

wherein the delay criterion varies according to the time delay between measurements of the another sensor.