Pandemic diagnostic and intervention tool for emergency dispatch

• US 8,335,298 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2009
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey J. Clawson
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey J. Clawson
• Inventors: Clawson, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Assistant Examiner(s): King, Simon
• Application Number:
  US12/558,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20110066002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,191 Days
• Field of Search: 379/45, 379/265.01, 379/38, 600/300, 128/903, 128/904, 128/905, 705/2
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/60 relating to pathologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems

Abstract

A system and method to assist an emergency medical dispatcher in responding to emergency calls. A computer implemented emergency medical dispatch protocol includes interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an appropriate response. A diagnostic tool is provided to aid the dispatcher in gathering symptom information for a patient who may be suffering from a pandemic illness, such as a severe respiratory infection like influenza. The diagnostic tool facilitates uniform and consistent gathering of symptom information relating to a pandemic outbreak. The information may be stored and/or processed for use in monitoring and/or tracking pandemic outbreaks. The diagnostic tool can be launched automatically by the emergency dispatch protocol, or manually by a dispatcher. The diagnostic tool presents a user interface that provides, among other things, instructions, symptoms, and input fields.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to assist a dispatcher when communicating with a caller via telephone regarding a medical emergency of a patient, comprising:

a dispatch center computer system providing an emergency dispatch protocol to assist the dispatcher communicating with the caller via telephone regarding a medical emergency of a patient, the protocol presenting a plurality of interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller to collect information regarding the medical emergency and generate an emergency medical dispatch response by emergency responders based on the collected information;

the dispatch center computer system initiating a diagnostic tool on the dispatch center computer system, the diagnostic tool configured to aid the dispatcher in uniformly collecting information about symptoms of a pandemic illness in a uniform consistent manner;

the diagnostic tool presenting to the dispatcher a user interface;

the diagnostic tool providing an instruction via the user interface for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephone to guide the caller in identifying symptoms of the pandemic illness that the patient is manifesting;

the diagnostic tool receiving dispatcher-entered input that is indicative of information about symptoms of a pandemic illness gathered and relayed by the caller, wherein the caller relays the symptom information to the dispatcher vocally over the telephone;

the diagnostic tool collecting symptom information from the dispatcher-entered input and compiling the symptom information into data having a uniform format to be processed to monitor the spread of the pandemic illness; and

the dispatch center computer system transmitting the collected symptom information to a data analyzing module that is configured to identify patterns and relationships within data received by the data analyzing module.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the pandemic illness is a severe respiratory infection.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the pandemic illness is influenza.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic tool on the dispatch center computer system transmits the collected symptom information to the processing module.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic tool collecting information from the dispatcher-entered input comprises transferring the collected information to the emergency dispatch protocol of the dispatch center computer system, and wherein the emergency dispatch protocol transmits the collected symptom information to the processing module.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising the dispatch center computer transferring the collected information to a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising the dispatch center combining location information collected by the emergency dispatch protocol with symptom information before transferring the symptom information to the CAD system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the diagnostic tool making a determination whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness, wherein the determination is based on the dispatcher-entered input.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising the dispatch center computer system determining a priority for the emergency medical dispatch response based on the diagnostic tool determining that the patient is likely suffering from severe respiratory infection.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the dispatch center computer system determining the priority further comprises determining a determinant value.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising the diagnostic tool providing to the emergency medical dispatch protocol the results of the diagnostic tool determination whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the dispatch center computer system initiates the diagnostic tool based on dispatcher-entered input indicative of one or more responses of the caller to the interrogatories presented to the dispatcher by the protocol.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the dispatch center computer system presenting to the dispatcher an emergency medical dispatch protocol user interface having a diagnostic tool launch input to initiate the diagnostic tool, wherein the dispatch center computer system initiates the diagnostic tool in response to the diagnostic tool launch input.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic tool providing an instruction via the user interface includes providing an instruction that directs the caller to indicate to the dispatcher the symptoms of the pandemic illness that the patient is manifesting.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises the diagnostic tool providing one or more symptoms of the pandemic illness that the dispatcher can vocally relay to the caller to guide the caller'"'"'s observations of the patient'"'"'s symptoms.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the diagnostic tool providing one or more symptoms to the dispatcher includes providing one or more symptoms from a group of symptoms consisting of:

difficulty breathing or shortness of breath;

persistent cough;

measured body temperature at or above 101 degrees Fahrenheit;

chills;

unusual sweats;

hot to the touch in room temperature;

drainage from eyes;

sore throat;

nasal congestion (blocked nose);

runny nose;

contact with someone with flu (or flu-like symptoms); and

traveled recently.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the diagnostic tool providing input fields on the user interface by which the dispatcher can enter input indicative of the symptoms of the pandemic illness that the caller indicates the patient is manifesting.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the input fields comprise check boxes, wherein each check box is associated with a symptom of the pandemic illness, wherein the symptom associated with the pandemic illness is included in a list of symptoms presented by the user interface.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the diagnostic tool providing on the user interface a completed input configured to indicate to the diagnostic tool to collect the dispatcher-entered input.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 19, further comprising the diagnostic tool determining whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness upon receiving the completed input.

21. A computer system for collecting information to identify geographical clusters of symptoms of a pandemic illness, the computer system comprising:

a processor;

an input device in electrical communication with the processor;

an output device in electrical communication with the processor; and

a memory in electrical communication with the processor, and having stored thereon;

an emergency dispatch protocol configured to assist a dispatcher communicating with a caller via telephone regarding a medical emergency of a patient, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol provides a user interface to present a plurality of interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an emergency dispatch response, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol receives geographical location information, which is transmitted to a data analyzing module that is configured to identify patterns and relationships within data received by the data analyzing module; and

a diagnostic tool to assist the dispatcher in guiding the caller in a uniform manner to gather symptom information relating to symptoms of the pandemic illness that the patient may be manifesting;

wherein the diagnostic tool is configured to

present to the dispatcher a diagnostic tool user interface on an output device, including an instruction and a list of one or more symptoms for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephone to assist the caller in identifying symptoms of the pandemic illness the patient is manifesting,

receive, via the input device and the diagnostic tool user interface, dispatcher-entered input indicative of caller-relayed information regarding the symptoms of the pandemic illness that the patient is manifesting, and

collect symptom information from the dispatcher-entered input and compiling the symptom information into data having a uniform format that can be processed to monitor the spread of the pandemic illness, wherein the data is transmitted to the data analyzing module with the geographical location information to enable the data analyzing module to identify geographical clusters of symptoms of the pandemic illness.

22. The computer system of claim 21, further comprising a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system configured to manage dispatcher tools, including the emergency dispatch protocol, for processing emergency calls.

23. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol transfers symptom information collected by the diagnostic tool to the CAD system.

24. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the diagnostic tool transfers symptom information to the CAD system.

25. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol receives geographical location information from the CAD system.

26. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the geographical location information and the system information are combined together in a uniform data format and transferred to the CAD system, and wherein the CAD system is configured to transmit the data to the data analyzing module.

27. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the diagnostic tool determines whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness based on gathered symptom information.

28. The computer system of claim 27, the memory of the computer system further has stored thereon a determinant value calculator to calculate a determinant value that can be utilized to prioritize an emergency response, wherein the diagnostic tool is configured to provide to the determinant value calculator the results of determining whether the patient is likely suffering from severe respiratory infection.

29. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol initiates the diagnostic tool based on dispatcher-entered input indicative of one or more responses of the caller to the interrogatories presented to the dispatcher by the emergency dispatch protocol.

30. A computer system of claim 21, wherein the emergency dispatch protocol provides an input on the user interface to enable a dispatcher to manually initiate the diagnostic tool.

31. A computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for a dispatch center computer performing a method to assist a dispatcher when communicating with a caller via telephone regarding a medical emergency of a patient, the method comprising:

providing an emergency dispatch protocol to assist the dispatcher communicating with the caller via telephone regarding a medical emergency of a patient, the protocol presenting a plurality of interrogatories for the dispatcher to ask the caller to collect information regarding the medical emergency and generate an emergency medical dispatch response by emergency responders based on the collected information;

initiating a diagnostic tool on the dispatch center computer, the diagnostic tool configured to aid the dispatcher in gathering information about symptoms of a pandemic illness in a uniform consistent manner;

the diagnostic tool presenting to the dispatcher a user interface;

the diagnostic tool providing an instruction via the user interface for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephone to guide the caller in identifying symptoms of the pandemic illness that the patient is manifesting;

the diagnostic tool collecting symptom information from the dispatcher-entered input and compiling the symptom information into data having a uniform format to be processed to monitor the spread of the pandemic illness; and

the dispatch center computer system transmitting the collected symptom information to a data analyzing module that is configured to identify patterns and relationships within data received by the data analyzing module.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein the diagnostic tool is initiated based on dispatcher-entered input indicative of one or more responses of the caller to the interrogatories presented to the dispatcher by the emergency dispatch protocol.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises presenting to the dispatcher an emergency medical dispatch protocol user interface having a diagnostic tool launch input to initiate the diagnostic tool, wherein the diagnostic tool is initiated in response to the diagnostic tool launch input.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises the emergency dispatch protocol determining a priority for the emergency medical dispatch response based on the diagnostic tool determining that the patient is likely suffering the pandemic illness.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises the diagnostic tool providing input fields via the user interface by which the dispatcher can enter input indicative of caller-relayed information concerning the caller'"'"'s observations of the patient'"'"'s symptoms.

36. A computer system to assist a dispatcher when communicating with a caller via telephone regarding a medical emergency of a patient, the computer system comprising:

a processor;

an input device in electrical communication with the processor;

an output device in electrical communication with the processor; and

a memory in electrical communication with the processor, and having stored thereon;

an emergency dispatch protocol including a plurality of interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an emergency medical dispatch response;

a diagnostic tool to assist the dispatcher in guiding the caller to obtain information that can be used by the diagnostic tool to diagnose whether the patient is likely suffering from a pandemic illness by performing a method of;

presenting to the dispatcher a user interface on the output device, including instructions for the dispatcher to vocally relay to the caller over the telephone to assist the caller in identifying symptoms that indicate the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness;

receiving dispatcher-entered input that is indicative of information about symptoms of a pandemic illness gathered and relayed by the caller, wherein the caller relays the information to the dispatcher vocally over the telephone;

collecting symptom information from the dispatcher-entered input and compiling the symptom information into data having a uniform format to be analyzed to monitor the spread of the pandemic illness; and

transmitting the collected symptom information to a data analyzing module that is configured to identify patterns and relationships within data received by the data analyzing module.

37. The computer system of claim 36, wherein the method of the diagnostic tool further comprises determining whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness, wherein the determination is based on the dispatcher-entered input.

38. The computer system of claim 37, wherein the method of the diagnostic tool further comprises providing to the emergency medical dispatch protocol the results of the determination whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness.

39. The computer system of claim 37, further comprising a determinant value calculator stored on the memory to calculate a determinant value that can be utilized to prioritize an emergency response, and wherein the method of the diagnostic tool further comprises providing to the determinant value calculator the results of determining whether the patient is likely suffering from the pandemic illness.