Apparatuses and methods for providing a conscious patient relief from pain and anxiety associated with medical or surgical procedures according to appropriate clinical heuristics

• US 20030079746A1
• Filed: 10/08/2002
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scott Laboratories, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Scott Laboratories, Inc.
• Inventors: Hickle, Randall S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,308,894 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 128/203.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0051 with alarm devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0078 Breathing bags
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0084 self-reinflatable by elasticity, e.g. resuscitation squeeze bags
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/009 Removing used or expired gases or anaesthetic vapours filtering, sterilising or disinfecting the exhaust air in drainage systems A61M1/784; bacterial filters in the expiratory path A61M16/1065
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0093 by adsorption, absorption or filtration
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/01 specially adapted for anaesthetising A61M16/104, A61M16/18 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/026 specially adapted for predicting, e.g. for determining an information representative of a flow limitation during a ventilation cycle by using a root square technique or a regression analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/1015 using a gas flush valve, e.g. oxygen flush valve
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/107 in the inspiratory path
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/12 by mixing different gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/202 electrically actuated
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/203 Proportional
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/208 Non-controlled one-way valves, e.g. exhalation, check, pop-off non-rebreathing valves
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/209 Relief valves
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2016/0036 in the breathing tube and used in both inspiratory and expiratory phase
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2016/1025 the O2 concentration
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3561 local, e.g. within room or hospital
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/505 Touch-screens; Virtual keyboard or keypads; Virtual buttons; Soft keys; Mouse touches
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2209/084 Supporting bases, stands for equipment
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/205 partial oxygen pressure (P-O2)
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/43 : Composition of exhalation
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/432 : partial CO2 pressure (P-CO2)
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/17 : delivered via infusion or injection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 : for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A care system and associated methods are provided for alleviating patient pain, anxiety and discomfort associated with medical or surgical procedures. The system comprises: at least one patient health monitor device coupled to a patient and generating a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of the patient; a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs to the patient; a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting parameters of at least one patient physiological condition; and an electronic controller interconnected between the patient health monitor, the drug delivery controller and the safety data set. The electronic controller is capable of effecting a change in the drug supply delivered to the patient and the generation of current signals by the patient health monitor device depending on a comparison between at least one patient physiological condition at its corresponding value reflected in the safety data set.

Claims

1. A system for alleviating patient pain, anxiety and discomfort associated with medical or surgical procedures, the system comprising:

one or more patient health monitor devices coupled to a patient and generating at least one first signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of the patient;

a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs to the patient based upon the at least one first signal;

a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting safe and undesirable parameters of at least one monitored patient physiological condition; and

an electronic controller interconnected between the patient health monitor, the drug delivery controller and the memory device storing the safety data set;

wherein said electronic controller receives the at least one first signal and in response manages the application of the drugs by the drug delivery controller in accord with the safety data set; and

the generation of at least one second signal by the one or more patient health monitor devices in accord with the safety data set.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first signal reflects one or more of the following physiological conditions of the patient:

heart rate, SpO₂, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and responsiveness.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one second signal reflects one or more of the following physiological conditions of the patient:

blood pressure and responsiveness.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the management of the generation of the at least one second signal includes an assignment of an event condition to the at least one first signal in accord with the safety data set, and wherein the event condition triggers the one or more patient health monitor devices to generate the at least one second signal.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the electronic controller assigns an event condition in accord with the safety data set when the at least one first signal reflects a physiological condition of the patient that is outside of predetermined safe levels.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the event condition is high when the at least one first signal reflects a physiological condition of the patient that is above predetermined safe levels.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein the event condition is low when the at least one first signal reflects a physiological condition of the patient that is below predetermined safe levels.

8. The system according to claim 4, wherein the electronic controller assigns an event condition in accord with the safety data set when said at least one first signal reflects a trend in the physiological condition of the patient over time that suggests the condition will be outside of predetermined safe levels within a predetermined time period.

9. The system according to claim 4, the system further comprising a user interface, wherein notice of the event condition is communicated to a user of the system via the user interface.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the management of the application of the drugs by the electronic controller includes at least one of reducing or halting the flow of drugs.

11. A method for alleviating pain and anxiety in connection with medical and surgical procedures, the method comprising the steps of:

a) connecting to a patient a drug delivery device having a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs, said drug delivery controller being coupled to an electronic controller which controls the delivery of the drugs to the patient;

b) attaching at least one patient health monitor device to a patient, the health monitor devices generating a first value reflecting at least one physiological condition of a patient, the at least one patient health monitor device coupled to the electronic controller;

c) accessing a memory device which stores a safety data set reflecting parameters of at least one patient physiological condition;

d) delivering the drugs to the patient based upon the generated first value and in accord with the safety data set; and

e) generating a second value reflecting the current physiological condition of the patient, the second value generated by the at least one patient health monitor device in accord with the safety data set.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said first value reflects at least one of the following physiological conditions of the patient:

heart rate, SpO₂, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and responsiveness.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the second value reflects at least one of the following physiological conditions of the patient:

blood pressure and responsiveness.

14. The method according to claim 11, said method further including the step of assigning an event condition to the first value in accord with the safety data set, wherein the event condition triggers the at least one patient health monitor device to generate the second value.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the electronic controller assigns an event condition in accord with the safety data set when said first value reflects a physiological condition of the patient that is outside of predetermined safe levels.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the event condition is high when said first value reflects a physiological condition of the patient that is above predetermined safe levels.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the event condition is low when said first value reflects a physiological condition of the patient that is below predetermined safe levels.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the electronic controller assigns an event condition in accord with the safety data set when said first value reflects a trend in the physiological condition of the patient over time that suggests the condition will be outside of predetermined safe levels within a predetermined time period.

19. The method according to claim 14, said method further comprising the step of communicating an event condition to a user of the system via a user interface.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of delivering the drugs to the patient comprises at least one of the step of reducing and the step of halting the flow of drugs.

21. A method for alleviating pain and anxiety in connection with medical and surgical procedures, the method comprising the steps of:

a) measuring at least one physiological condition;

b) generating a first value based upon the at least one physiological condition;

c) correlating the generated first value with predetermined safety data;

d) delivering at least one medication based upon the correlating step; and

e) providing an updated measurement of the at least one physiological condition based upon the correlating step.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the at least one physiological condition is at least one of heart rate, SpO₂, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and responsiveness.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the physiological condition provided as an updated measurement is one of the same physiological condition used to generate the first value and is a different physiological condition.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein the physiological condition provided as an updated measurement is one of blood pressure or responsiveness.