Naturally expressed medical procedure descriptions generated via synchronized diagrams and menus

Abstract

A computing device-based system and method are described for generating a medical procedure description recorded into the system by a physician. The system and method manipulate a set of database records comprising medical content which is naturally descriptive of clinical procedures and clinically accurate diagrams which are naturally descriptive to document a medical procedure. To support the generation of a set of said medical procedure descriptions, the system and method provide interchangeable, connected, ontologically-based medical procedure database cartridges of medical content terms, rules, and diagrams that naturally describe constrained procedure representations for clinical procedure descriptions.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 745,759 filed on Dec. 23, 2003, entitled NATURALLY EXPRESSED MEDICAL PROCEDURE DESCRIPTIONS GENERATED VIA SYNCHRONIZED DIAGRAMS AND MENUS, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The field of the present invention generally relates to systems and methods for medical procedure documentation, and in particular to a system and method for generating naturally expressed medical procedure descriptions via a synchronized diagram and menu system.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The invention generally relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to a graphical user interface used by physicians to quickly and concisely document procedures and / or exams conducted in healthcare facilities.[0004]The development of graphical user interfaces started in the development labs of Xerox, IBM, and others and ev...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The system provides the features that eliminate the error prone process of dictation and the often lengthy delays associated with transcribing, reviewing, recreating, and approving transcripts. Additionally, the system provides a diagram that can be used in a natural way to describe the findings, interventions, etc. that are part of the medical procedure. A minimal learning curve is required to become productive when using the invention.

[0017]The invention interface comprises a set of procedure descriptors designed as anticipatory driven drop down menus that controls the information input by a physician to document a medical procedure and an interface that allows for a simple interaction between a diagram and icons that represent, for example, various procedure or exam based findings, maneuvers, and interventions. The invention uses an anticipatory menu physician interface, which emulates a typical procedural workflow and a clinician's thought processes, instantly and automatically adapting to each piece of information that is input by the physician with a corresponding anatomic diagram that is tied to the procedure being documented.

[0018]A procedure description narrative is constructed based on the initial procedure category selected by a physician. As the physician documents the procedure using the anticipatory interface menus, the narrative is edited as the next procedure description item is selected from a next menu in the documentation process. While the physician is documenting the procedure using the anticipatory interface menus, a concurrent process is taking place that creates the synchronized diagram for printing, review, or editing. At the completion of the procedure documentation process, the procedure description narrative is completed and its description fields are filled in. The system reduces the time spent by the physician paging through a maze of screens to find the correct place to record information. The system also reduces the time spent by the physician scrolling through dozens of pull-down menus or the time spent by the physician reading through endless lists of words in search for terminology appropriate for the procedure at hand. The system reduces the time spent by the physician in documenting their procedure description by allowing the physician to document via a method that is more intuitive to their style.

Problems solved by technology

However, the prior art does not sufficiently address the issue of providing an efficient and effective means to solve these problems.

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