USAGE MODELING FOR INTELLIGENT MANAGEMENT OF ALARMS AND MESSAGES IN MOBILE HEALTH SYSTEMS

• US 20160078750A1
• Filed: 09/14/2014
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voalte, Inc. (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Voalte, Inc. (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: King, Benjamin, Sanjay-Gopal, Sethumadavan, Sica, Michael G., Fletcher, Donnie C., Fibiger, Philip N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,649,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• 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 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• 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

Systems and methods can support usage modeling and the intelligent management of patient alarms. An alarm management system can maintain models of patient alarm operations. Modeling parameters related to clinical user behavior and modeling parameters related to alarm context can be incorporated into the models of patient alarm operations. The models of patient alarm operations can inform rules associated with intelligent alarm management. The rules may be applied to the presentation of alarms to the clinical users via mobile computing devices. The rules may also be applied to the interpretation of alarm responses from the clinical users. The rules may be adapted by the alarm management system to improve metrics of alarm efficacy and/or metrics of patient health outcomes.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for usage modeling and intelligent management of patient alarms, comprising:

maintaining, in association with an alarm management system, models of patient alarm operations;

incorporating, by the alarm management system, into the models of patient alarm operations one or more modeling parameters related to behaviors associated with clinical users;

incorporating, by the alarm management system, one or more modeling parameters related to alarm context into the models of patient alarm operations;

establishing rules associated with intelligent alarm management, by the alarm management system, based upon the models of patient alarm operations;

applying the established rules associated with intelligent alarm management, by the alarm management system, to presentation of alarms to the clinical users;

applying the established rules associated with intelligent alarm management, by the alarm management system, to interpretation of alarm responses from the clinical users; and

adapting the established rules associated with intelligent alarm management, by the alarm management system, to improve a metric of patient alarm efficacy.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the alarm management system comprises a rule engine and applying the rules comprises execution of rules with respect to the rule engine.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presentation of alarms to the clinical users comprises transmitting alarm information to a mobile computing device associated with one of the clinical users.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising applying the rules to determine alarm response options to offer to the clinical users along with presentation of the patient alarms.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the behaviors associated with clinical users comprise one of a location, a motion, or a change in motion associated with the clinical users.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the alarm context comprises one of a source of the alarm or patient clinical information associated with the alarm.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the behaviors associated with clinical users comprise a past alarm response time associated with a particular one of the clinical users.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising adapting the established rules to improve a metric of patient outcomes.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the models comprise thresholds used when applying the established rules.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 0, wherein the patient alarms are received by the alarm management system from one or more medical devices associated with one or more of the patients.

11. A medical alarm management system, comprising:

one or more processing units, and one or more processing modules, wherein the medical alarm management system is configured by the one or more processing modules to;

maintain models of patient alarm operations;

incorporate, into the models of patient alarm operations, one or more modeling parameters related to behaviors associated with clinical users;

incorporate one or more modeling parameters related to alarm context into the models of patient alarm operations;

establish rules associated with intelligent alarm management based upon the models of patient alarm operations;

apply the established rules associated with intelligent alarm management to presentation of alarms to the clinical users;

apply the established rules associated with intelligent alarm management to interpretation of alarm responses from the clinical users; and

adapt the established rules associated with intelligent alarm management to improve a metric of patient alarm efficacy.

12. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the medical alarm management system comprises a rule engine and applying the rules comprises execution of rules with respect to the rule engine.

13. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the patient alarms are received by the medical alarm management system from one or more medical devices associated with one or more of the patients.

14. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the presentation of alarms to the clinical users comprises transmitting alarm information to a mobile computing device associated with one of the clinical users.

15. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the medical alarm management system is further configured by the one or more processing modules to apply the rules to determine alarm response options to offer to the clinical users along with presentation of the patient alarms.

16. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the behaviors associated with the clinical users comprise one of a location, a motion, or a change in motion associated with the clinical user.

17. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the alarm context comprises one of a source of the alarm or patient clinical information associated with the alarm.

18. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the behaviors associated with the clinical users comprise a past alarm response time associated with a particular one of the clinical users.

19. The medical alarm management system of claim 11, wherein the medical alarm management system is further configured by the one or more processing modules to adapt the established rules to improve a metric of patient outcomes.

20. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein that, when executed by one or more computing devices, perform a method comprising;

maintaining models of patient alarm operations, where the patient alarms originate from medical devices associated with one or more patients;

incorporating, into the models of patient alarm operations, one or more modeling parameters related to behaviors associated with one or more clinical users;

incorporating one or more modeling parameters related to alarm context into the models of patient alarm operations;

establish rules associated with management of patient alarms based upon the models of patient alarm operations;

applying the established rules associated with management of patient alarms to presentation of alarms to mobile devices associated with the clinical users;

applying the established rules associated with management of patient alarms to determine alarm response options to offer to the clinical users along with presentation of the patient alarms;

applying the established rules associated with management of patient alarms to interpretation of alarm responses from the clinical users;

adapting the established rules associated with management of patient alarms to improve a metric of patient alarm efficacy; and

adapting the established rules associated with management of patient alarms to improve a metric of patient outcomes.