System and method for improving hospital patient care by providing a continual measurement of health

• US 8,092,380 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2006
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spacelabs Healthcare LLC (OSI Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Rothman Healthcare
• Inventors: Rothman, Michael, Rothman, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Sam
• Assistant Examiner(s): JIAN, SHIRLEY XUEYING
• Application Number:
  US11/362,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20060206013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,146 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A system for improving hospital patient care by generating a Health Score. The system includes an interface module for receiving incoming medical data from a patient, a transformation module for transforming each of the medical datum into a transformed Health Score value, and a combination module for combining the transformed Health Score values corresponding to each of the medical datum into a single Health Score. A presentation and comparison module displays the Health Score as a Health Score plot over a predetermined time frame, such that a user may identify health trends in a patient by evaluating said Health Score plot.

Claims

1. A system for improving hospital patient care by continually plotting and displaying health scores as a function of time, the system comprising:

an interface module, executing on a computer, for receiving incoming disparate medical data relating to a patient collected at a point in time, the incoming disparate medical data including at least one datum from a nursing assessment, wherein the nursing assessment is performed by a nurse;

a transformation module, executing on a computer, for transforming each of the incoming disparate medical data collected at the point in time into a transformed numerical quantity health score value, wherein each of the transformed health score values are in a format for combining together;

a combination module, executing on a computer, for combining each of the transformed health score values corresponding to each of the incoming disparate medical data into a single health score, the single health score representing the health of the patient at the point in time at which the incoming disparate medical data was collected; and

a presentation and comparison module, executing on a computer, for continually plotting and displaying on a health score plot single health scores that have been calculated for the patient as a function of time, wherein each of the single health scores displayed at a given point in time are recalculated using any new incoming disparate medical data and represent the health of the patient at the given point in time, such that a user may identify health trends in the patient as a function of time by evaluating the health score plot.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a storage module, executing on a computer, for storing past health scores and related historical medical data of the patient; and

a collection module, executing on a computer, for receiving the incoming disparate medical data from the interface module and for collecting the stored past health scores and related historical medical data of the patient from the storage module, wherein the collection module sends the incoming disparate medical data and the stored past health scores and related historical medical data of the patient to at least one of the transformation module and the presentation and comparison module.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an alert module, executing on a computer, for alerting the user when a health score falls below a predetermined threshold.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the transformation module transforms each of the incoming disparate medical data into a scaled number and wherein the combination module adds together the scaled numbers, and applies a predetermined algorithm to the added scaled numbers to generate the health score.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the user can modify the algorithm used to generate the single health score based on an illness or condition of the patient.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation and comparison module includes a statistical reference curve on the health score plot.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation and comparison module further supplies principal corresponding measurements of direct medical data on the health score plot.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation and comparison module displays a smoothed health score curve that provides a running average of the health score plot over time.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the smoothed health score curve plot incorporates at least one of a slope and a curvature.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one datum from the nursing assessment includes at least one of:

respiration, pain, cardiac, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, nutrition, musculoskeletal, skin, Braden score, neurological, psycho-social, peripheral vascular, and safety.

11. A method for improving hospital patient care by continually plotting and displaying health scores as a function of time, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, on a computer, incoming disparate medical data related to a patient and collected at a point in time at an interface module, the incoming disparate medical data including at least one datum from a nursing assessment, wherein the nursing assessment is performed by a nurse;

transforming, on a computer, each of the incoming disparate medical data collected at the point in time into a transformed numerical quantity health score value at a transformation module, wherein each of the transformed health score values are in a format for combining together;

combining, on a computer, each of the transformed health score values corresponding to each of the incoming disparate medical data into a single health score at a combination module, the single health score representing the health of the patient at the point in time at which the incoming disparate medical data was collected;

generating, on a computer, a health score plot of single health scores that have been calculated for the patient as a function of time at a presentation and comparison module, wherein each of the single health scores are recalculated using any new incoming disparate medical data and represent the health of the patient at a point in time; and

continually plotting and displaying, on a computer, the health score plot such that a user may identify health trends in the patient as a function of time by evaluating the health score plot.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

storing, on a computer, past health scores and related historical medical data of the patient in a storage module;

receiving, on a computer, the incoming disparate medical data from the interface module;

collecting, on a computer, the stored past health scores and related historical medical data of the patient from the storage module at a collection module; and

sending, on a computer, the incoming disparate medical data and the stored past health scores and related historical medical data of the patient to at least one of the transformation module and the presentation and comparison module.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of alerting, on a computer, the user when a single health score falls below a predetermined threshold via an alert module.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

converting, on a computer, each of the incoming disparate medical data into a scaled number at the transformation module;

adding, on a computer, the scaled numbers; and

applying, on a computer, a predetermined algorithm to the added scaled numbers to generate a health score at the combination module.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the algorithm used to generate the single health score is modified based on an illness or condition of the patient.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

including a statistical reference curve on the health score plot via the presentation and comparison module so that the health score plot can be compared to a health score plot of a patient with similar conditions and circumstances.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the presentation and comparison module further supplies principal corresponding measurements of direct medical data on the health score plot.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the presentation and comparison module displays a smoothed health score curve that provides a running average of the health score plot over time.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the smoothed health score curve incorporates at least one of a slope and a curvature.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one datum from the nursing assessment includes at least one of:

respiration, pain, cardiac, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, nutrition, musculoskeletal, skin, Braden score, neurological, psycho-social, peripheral vascular, and safety.