Medical support system, medical support method, and medical support program

Abstract

To more properly support medical practices such as an explanation or instruction by medical staff members.SOLUTION: A medical support system 1 comprises an attribute identification unit 252, an element information selection unit 253, a support information generation unit 254, and a presentation unit 255. The attribute identification unit 252 is configured to identify an attribute of a patient. The element information selection unit 253 is configured to select element information becoming a component of support information on a medical treatment, and suitable for the patient on the basis of the attribute of the patient the attribute identification unit 252 identifies. The support information generation unit 254 is configured to generate support information on a medical treatment suitable for the patient on the basis of the element information that the element information selection unit 253 selects. The presentation unit 255 is configured to make a presentation of the support information on the medical treatment suitable for the patient the support information generation unit 254 generates to the patient.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medical support system, a medical support method, and a medical support program. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, information processing techniques are known that support medical professionals, such as doctors and pharmacists, in providing explanations and guidance to patients. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for managing data on a patient's medical history using a database. According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, when a pharmacist dispenses medicine to a patient, the pharmacist can refer to the database and provide medication instructions based on the patient's medical history. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-064161 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a general technique such as that disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, information regarding explanations and guidance is presented to a medical professional, thereby supporting oral explanations and guidance by the medical professional. Furthermore, if explanations and guidance can be given to patients using means other than verbal explanations and guidance, patients can have a deeper understanding. In other words, it will be possible to more appropriately support medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to more appropriately support medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, a medical support system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: A means for identifying patient attributes; a selection means for selecting element information that is a component of medical support information and that is suitable for the patient, based on the attributes of the patient identified by the identification means; a generating means for generating medical support information suited to the patient based on the element information selected by the selecting means; a presentation means for presenting to the patient the medical support information generated by the generation means and adapted to the patient; The present invention is characterized by comprising: Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals can be more appropriately supported. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a medical support system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the concept of support information presentation processing executed by the medical support system 1. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing device 800 constituting each device. [Figure 4] 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the support terminal 10. FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the medical support server 20. [Figure 6] 13 is a table showing specific examples of patient attributes stored in a patient attribute DB 271 and selection conditions stored in a selection condition DB 274. [Figure 7] 13 is a table showing specific examples of support information stored in a support information DB 276. [Figure 8] 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of a support information presentation process executed by the support terminal 10. [Figure 9] 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of support information presentation processing executed by the medical support server 20. [Figure 10] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a medical support system 1a according to a first modified example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] [System Configuration] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a medical support system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The medical support system 1 in this embodiment is a system that more appropriately supports medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals. In the following, as an example for explanation, it is assumed that the medical professional to be supported is a pharmacist working at an insurance pharmacy. Also, as an example for explanation, it is assumed that the medical procedure to be supported is medication guidance performed at the time of dispensing. However, this is merely an example for the purpose of explanation and is not intended to limit the scope of application of this embodiment. In addition, this embodiment can support various medical practices, such as medical or pharmaceutical explanations and guidance, performed by various medical professionals, such as pharmacists, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists, in various medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics.

[0011] 1, the medical support system 1 includes a support terminal 10, a medical support server 20, a pharmacy computer, and an external server. These devices constituting the medical support system 1 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via a network N. This network N is realized, for example, by the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network) installed in an insurance pharmacy.

[0012] In the figure, one each of the devices and terminals are shown, but this is not limited to the above. For example, there may be a plurality of medical support servers 20 and pharmacy computers corresponding to a plurality of insurance pharmacies. In addition, there may be a plurality of support terminals 10 corresponding to a plurality of medical staff who use the terminals to provide medical guidance. In addition, there may be a plurality of external servers corresponding to a variety of functions.

[0013] A pharmacy computer is an information processing device such as a server computer that executes processes related to the operations of an insurance pharmacy, and has the function of acting as a prescription computer that creates medical fee statements (receipt computer function) and the function of managing patients' medical histories (medical history management function).

[0014] The external server is an information processing device such as a server computer that works in conjunction with a pharmacy computer, and has the function of a server that stores various medical information related to electronic medication records, electronic prescriptions, MID-NET (Medical Information Database Network), etc. as a database, and the function of a server that realizes medical systems such as a regional medical network system.

[0015] The support terminal 10 is used by a medical professional (here, a pharmacist) who provides various medical or pharmaceutical explanations and guidance, and is configured with an information processing device such as a tablet terminal or a PC (Personal Computer). When a pharmacist provides medication guidance to a patient, the support terminal 10 presents various information to support the medication guidance and accepts input of various information by the pharmacist. For example, the support terminal 10 presents "support information" as information to support medication guidance in a support information presentation process described later. The support information is information suited to the patient that is presented to the patient to support medical procedures such as medical explanations and guidance. For example, the support information is information such as a video for explaining the medicine to be prescribed. This support information is presented to the patient by being displayed or output as audio on the support terminal 10. By presenting support information in this manner, medical support system 1 can provide medication instructions through multiple means, including oral explanation by a pharmacist and the presentation of videos, etc. by support terminal 10, as shown in the figure, thereby enabling patients to better understand the content of the explanations and guidance that medical professionals should provide.

[0016] The medical support server 20 cooperates with the support terminal 10 to more appropriately support medical procedures, and is composed of an information processing device such as a server computer. In order to support medical procedures, the medical support server 20 receives various information managed by a pharmacy computer (if there are multiple pharmacy computers, each of them) or an external server (if there are multiple external servers, each of them) connected via the network N. The medical support server 20 also manages the various received data in a database group (including a medical history database) similar to that of the pharmacy computer and the external server. In other words, the medical support server 20 acquires a part or all of the various information managed by the pharmacy computer and the external server.

[0017] In this configuration, the support terminal 10 and the medical support server 20 execute a "support information presentation process." Fig. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the concept of this support information presentation process. The following describes the process steps indicated as (1) to (3) in the diagram.

[0018] (1) Select element information appropriate for the patient based on the patient's attributes The medical support server 20 first identifies the attributes (e.g., age, sex, etc.) of the patient to whom medication instruction is to be given. Then, based on the identified attributes of the patient, the medical support server 20 selects element information that is a component of medical support information and that is suitable for the patient. For example, when the support information is a video, the medical support server 20 selects the element information suitable for the patient from image data, text data, and audio data that are the element information for generating the video.

[0019] (2) Generate support information suited to the patient based on the selected element information The medical support server 20 generates medical support information suited to the patient based on the selected element information. For example, when the support information is a video as described above, the medical support server 20 generates video data by combining the selected image data, text data, and audio data according to the time series when playing the video.

[0020] (3) Present support information to patients The medical support server 20 presents the generated support information related to medical care suited to the patient to the patient. For example, when the support information is a video as described above, the medical support server 20 presents the support information by playing the generated video data on the support terminal 10. For example, a video explaining how to take the inhaled medicine currently prescribed is presented as the support information.

[0021] In this way, the medical support system 1 presents support information generated from various element information related to medical care (for example, visual information such as images and text, and auditory information such as voice) to the patient. This allows explanations and guidance to be given to the patient using means other than oral explanations and guidance by medical staff. In addition, the support information presented at this time is not uniformly generated, but is generated based on the patient's attributes and tailored to the patient, which allows the patient to better understand the content of the explanation or guidance that medical professionals should provide. Therefore, the medical support system 1 can more appropriately support medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical personnel.

[0022] [Hardware configuration] Next, the hardware configuration of each device and each terminal included in the medical support system 1 will be described. As described above, each device and each terminal included in the medical support system 1 is configured by an information processing device such as a PC, a server computer, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone, and each device and terminal has the same basic configuration.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing device 800 constituting each device and each terminal. As shown in FIG. 3, the information processing device 800 constituting each device includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 811, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 812, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 813, a bus 814, an input unit 815, an output unit 816, a memory unit 817, a communication unit 818, and a drive 819.

[0024] The CPU 811 executes various processes according to a program recorded in a ROM 812 or a program loaded from a storage unit 817 to a RAM 813 . The RAM 813 also stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 811 to execute various processes.

[0025] The CPU 811, the ROM 812, and the RAM 813 are connected to one another via a bus 814. To the bus 814, an input unit 815, an output unit 816, a storage unit 817, a communication unit 818, a drive 819, and an imaging unit 820 are connected.

[0026] The input unit 815 is made up of various buttons and the like, and is used to input various information in response to instruction operations. The output unit 816 is composed of a display, a speaker, etc., and outputs images and sounds. The storage unit 817 is composed of a hard disk or a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or the like, and stores various data managed by each server. The communication unit 818 controls communication with other devices via the network N.

[0027] Removable media 831, such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, is appropriately loaded into the drive 819. A program read from the removable media 831 by the drive 819 is installed in the storage unit 817 as necessary.

[0028] In addition, when the information processing device 800 is configured as, for example, a tablet terminal, the input unit 815 can be configured with a touch sensor and placed over the display of the output unit 816, thereby providing a configuration with a touch panel.

[0029] [Functional configuration] Next, the functional configuration of each device and each terminal in the medical support system 1 will be described.

[0030] [Functional configuration of the support terminal 10] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the support terminal 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, in the CPU 811 of the support terminal 10, a user interface display control unit (UI display control unit) 151, a support information acquisition unit 152, and a presentation unit 153 function.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 4, in the storage unit 817 of the support terminal 10, a user interface information storage unit (UI information storage unit) 171 and a support information storage unit 172 are formed.

[0032] The UI display control unit 151 controls the display of various input / output screens (hereinafter referred to as "UI screens") in the support information presentation process described below, based on information for displaying a user interface screen (hereinafter referred to as "UI information"). For example, in the support information presentation process, the UI display control unit 151 outputs and displays a screen including a display area for displaying various information such as a prescription and a patient's medical history, a display area for displaying icons for accepting various operations from a pharmacist, and a display area for support information, on a display included in the output unit 816. Furthermore, the UI display control unit 151 outputs sound from a speaker included in the output unit 816 together with these displays, as necessary.

[0033] In order to realize such a UI screen display, the UI display control unit 151 acquires UI information by receiving it from the medical support server 20. Furthermore, the support information acquisition unit 152 stores this acquired UI information in the UI information storage unit 171. Then, the UI display control unit 151 appropriately reads out the UI information stored in the UI information storage unit 171 to realize the display of the UI screen. That is, the UI information storage unit 171 functions as a storage unit that stores the UI information. Furthermore, the UI display control unit 151 outputs various information input by the pharmacist on the UI screen and the contents of operational instructions input by the pharmacist to other functional blocks or transmits them to the medical support server 20.

[0034] The support information acquisition unit 152 acquires support information suited to the patient. To this end, the support information acquisition unit 152 transmits an acquisition request including information identifying the patient for whom medication instruction is to be provided this time to the medical support server 20 as a request for acquiring support information. Note that this acquisition request may be transmitted with further inclusion of the patient's attributes (for example, new attributes of the patient identified by interviewing the patient this time). Then, the support information acquisition unit 152 acquires support information suited to the patient, which has been generated based on the attributes of the patient, by receiving it from the medical support server 20 as a response. Furthermore, the support information acquisition unit 152 stores the acquired support information in the support information storage unit 172. That is, the support information storage unit 172 functions as a storage unit that acquires support information.

[0035] The presentation unit 153 presents the support information stored in the support information storage unit 172 to the patient. To this end, the presentation unit 153 reads out support information stored in the support information storage unit 172 and suitable for the patient to whom medication instruction is currently being given. Then, the presentation unit 153 plays and displays the support information in a display area of ​​the support information on the UI screen. In addition, the UI display control unit 151 outputs the sound included in the support information from a speaker included in the output unit 816 together with this display. In the following, it is assumed that the support information is a video including audio as an example for the purpose of explanation, but this is merely an example. The support information may be, for example, composed of still images or text only, or composed of audio only.

[0036] [Functional configuration of medical support server 20] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the medical support server 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the CPU 811 of the medical support server 20 functions as a user interface information generation unit (UI information generation unit) 251, an attribute identification unit 252, an element information selection unit 253, a support information generation unit 254, a presentation unit 255, and a database management unit (DB management unit) 256.

[0037] Also, as shown in FIG. 5, in the memory unit 817 of the medical support server 20, a patient attribute database (patient attribute DB) 271, a prescription database (prescription DB) 272, a medication history database (medication history DB) 273, a selection condition database (selection condition DB) 274, an element information database (element information DB) 275, and a support information database (support information DB) 276 are formed.

[0038] In the patient attribute DB 271, data on the attributes of a patient, such as the address, name, date of birth, age, sex, underlying disease, commonly used medicine (including non-medicinal products), language used, the symbol number of the insured person's certificate, and emergency contact information, are stored in association with information for identifying each patient. The attributes of a patient are configured by information acquired by a pharmacist in a conversation with the patient, information provided by the patient in response to a questionnaire or the like, and a doctor's findings, and include, for example, information on the patient's hobbies, work, family structure, favorite foods, and the like. In addition, the attributes of a patient include, for example, information on the patient's lifestyle habits, such as whether or not the patient consumes alcoholic beverages, whether or not the patient drives a vehicle, and whether or not the patient exercises regularly. In addition, the attributes of a patient include, for example, information on test values ​​for various items examined in a health checkup, and fluctuations in test values ​​(for example, fluctuations such as recent weight gain).

[0039] Prescription DB272 stores data on prescriptions issued to patients (such as the name of the insured medical institution and the name of the insured physician who prescribed the prescription, the prescription date, and the prescription contents) in correspondence with information that identifies each patient and the date the prescription was brought in.

[0040] The medical history DB 273 stores data on the history (medicinal history) of drugs prescribed to patients (prescription history, information on medical history including complications, whether or not the patient has visited other departments, etc.) in association with information identifying each patient and information identifying each pharmacist who prescribed the drug. In addition, the medical history also stores data on the history of the drug use instructions given to the patient by the pharmacist (medicinal use instructions, etc.).

[0041] The selection condition DB274 stores selection conditions that are criteria for the element information selection unit 253 to select element information suitable for a patient. The selection conditions define which element information is selected when each drug is prescribed and the attributes of the patient are certain. Specific examples of the patient attributes stored in the patient attribute DB271 and the selection conditions stored in the selection condition DB274 will be described later with reference to FIG. 6.

[0042] Element information that is a component of the support information is stored in the element information DB 275. For example, when the support information is a video, various image data, text data, and audio data that are the components of the video are stored as element information.

[0043] The support information DB 276 stores support information suited to the patient, which is generated by the support information generating unit 254 based on the element information. For example, when the support information is a moving image, the moving image data corresponding to the moving image is stored in a predetermined file format. A specific example of the support information stored in the support information DB 276 will be described later with reference to FIG. 7.

[0044] The UI information generating unit 251 generates UI information for the support terminal 10 and the patient terminal 30 to display a UI screen, and transmits the generated UI information to the support terminal 10. For example, the UI information generating unit 251 generates a frame format for displaying the UI screen and substantial content to be inserted into the format as UI information. For example, the substantial content to be inserted into the format includes various information such as prescriptions and patient medical history stored in each database in the support information presentation process. Furthermore, the UI information generating unit 251 receives various information and operation instructions transmitted from the support terminal 10 in response to input from the pharmacist on the UI screen generated in accordance with the UI information.

[0045] When the attribute specification unit 252 receives a request to acquire support information from the support terminal 10, it specifies the attributes of the patient to whom medication instruction is currently being provided. As described above, this request includes information for identifying the patient to whom medication instruction is currently being provided. The attribute specification unit 252 then searches the patient attribute DB 271 using the information for identifying this patient as a search key to specify the attributes of the patient in the attribute items required for selection based on the selection conditions. For example, when the attribute item required for selection based on the selection conditions is "age," the attribute specification unit 252 specifies the age of this patient (i.e., how old this patient is currently) as an attribute of the patient.

[0046] In addition, the attribute specification unit 252 specifies the medicine currently prescribed for the patient together with the patient's attributes. To this end, the attribute specification unit 252 searches the prescription DB 272 using information identifying the patient as a search key to specify the medicine currently prescribed for the patient. Then, the attribute specification unit 252 outputs the specified attributes of this patient and the prescribed drug to the element information selection unit 253.

[0047] The element information selection unit 253 selects element information suitable for this patient based on the patient attributes and the prescribed drug input from the attribute specification unit 252. To this end, the element information selection unit 253 checks the selection conditions stored in the selection condition DB 274 against the input patient attributes and the prescribed drug, and selects element information that matches (i.e., matches) this patient. For example, if the attribute is "XX age" and the prescribed drug is "ZZ drug," the element information selection unit 253 selects element information that matches (i.e., matches) a patient of XX age who is prescribed the ZZ drug. Then, the element information selection unit 253 reads out the element information selected in this manner from the element information DB 275 , and outputs this element information to the support information generation unit 254 .

[0048] The support information generating unit 254 generates support information suited to the patient based on the element information suited to the patient input from the element information selecting unit 253. For example, when the input element information is image data, text data, and audio data, the support information generating unit 254 generates video data by combining these data according to the time sequence when playing back the video. Then, the support information generating unit 254 outputs the generated video data to the presenting unit 255 and stores it in the support information DB 276 .

[0049] The presentation unit 255 transmits the video data input from the support information generation unit 254 to the support terminal 10 to present it to the patient. As a result, support information suitable for the patient to whom medication instruction is to be given is returned as a response to the support information acquisition request received by the attribute specification unit 252. After that, the support terminal 10 that receives this support information (here, video data) plays the support information as a video and presents it to the patient.

[0050] In addition, if there are multiple drugs being prescribed this time, the attributes, etc. are identified by the attribute identification unit 252, element information is selected by the element information selection unit 253, and support information is generated by the support information generation unit 254 for each of the multiple drugs. Also, depending on the attributes of the patient and the prescribed drug, there may be cases where it is not necessary to generate support information. For example, this may be the case when the patient has been prescribed the drug many times in the past, or when a drug is prescribed that does not require a video explanation of how to take the drug. In such cases, the element information selection unit 253 does not select element information, and the support information generation unit 254 does not generate support information. Then, instead of support information, the presentation unit 255 transmits to the support terminal 10 a message indicating that presentation of support information is not necessary.

[0051] The DB management unit 256 performs management to synchronize data in various databases managed by the pharmacy computer or the external server with data in various databases provided in the medical support server 20. For example, the DB management unit 256 transmits updated data in various databases managed by the medical support server 20 to the pharmacy computer or the external server at a preset time (for example, a time such as 3:00 a.m. when the servers are not used frequently) or at the timing when various databases are updated, and receives data in various databases updated in the pharmacy computer or the external server from the pharmacy computer or the external server, thereby updating various databases provided in the medical support server 20. As a result, the contents of data in various databases provided in the medical support server 20 are appropriately updated to the latest contents. In addition to synchronizing with the pharmacy computer or the external server, the DB management unit 256 may update the contents of various databases by other methods. For example, the contents of various databases (e.g., the selection condition DB 274) may be updated in response to an input operation by a pharmacist or a data manager to the medical support server 20. Alternatively, the contents of various databases (e.g., the element information DB 275) may be updated based on data acquired by communication or the like from a computer other than the pharmacy computer or the external server, or data read from the removable media 831.

[0052] Next, specific examples of support information generated by the functional blocks of the support terminal 10 and the medical support server 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. Fig. 6 is a table showing specific examples of patient attributes stored in the patient attribute DB 271 and selection conditions stored in the selection condition DB 274. Fig. 7 is a table showing specific examples of support information stored in the support information DB 276.

[0053] 6(a), in this table showing a specific example of patient attributes stored in the patient attribute DB 271, a column (row) is provided for each patient identifier, which is information for identifying each of a plurality of patients. Also, a record (column) is provided corresponding to each of a plurality of item names for the attribute. Then, the attribute of each patient is stored in each field (cell) where the column and the record intersect.

[0054] For example, there are multiple attribute items such as "gender," "age," and "language used." For example, for the attribute item "gender," an attribute of each patient such as "male" or "female" is stored in a field (cell) corresponding to each patient, and for the attribute item "age," an attribute of each patient such as "a value indicating age" is stored in a field (cell) corresponding to each patient. In addition, attributes regarding items related to medication instructions, such as the patient's underlying disease, commonly used medications (including quasi-drugs), whether or not the patient consumes alcoholic beverages, whether or not the patient drives a vehicle, etc. may also be stored.

[0055] As shown in Fig. 6(b), in this table showing specific examples of selection conditions stored in the selection condition DB 274, a column (row) is provided for each combination of a drug prescribed for a patient and the attributes of the patient. Also, a record (column) is provided corresponding to each of a plurality of types of element information. Then, in each field (cell) where a column and a record intersect, which element information should be selected is stored.

[0056] For example, the drugs prescribed to a patient include "aerosol preparation", ..., "Ellipta preparation", etc. Also, the attributes of the patient include "up to 15 years old (i.e., 15 years old or younger)", "16 to 30 years old (i.e., 16 years old or older to 30 years old)", ..., "66 years old or older (i.e., 66 years old or older)", etc. Then, for example, if the attribute of a patient to whom an aerosol preparation is prescribed is "16 to 30 years old", the element information is stored in the corresponding fields (cells) such that the first image data is selected for image data, the second text data is selected for text data, and the second image data is selected for voice data.

[0057] In this example, the attribute item used in the selection condition is assumed to be "age", but is not limited to this. For example, other attribute items such as gender and language used may be used as the selection condition.

[0058] In addition, a combination of attributes of a plurality of items may be used as a selection condition. For example, even if two patients have the same age, "up to 15 years old," a patient with an attribute combination of "up to 15 years old" and "Japanese" language may be distinguished from a patient with an attribute combination of "up to 15 years old" and "English" language, and different text data or different voice data may be selected as element information for each patient. By using a combination of attributes of a plurality of items as a selection condition in this way, it is possible to set a so-called AND condition, such as "select element information C if the attribute of the first item is A and the attribute of the second item is B," as a selection condition, or to set a so-called OR condition, such as "select element information C if the attribute of the first item is A or the attribute of the second item is B," as a selection condition.

[0059] Furthermore, the element information may include both common element information that is selected in common for each patient even if the attributes are different when the medicine prescribed to the patients is the same, and individual element information that is selected differently for each patient when the attributes of the patients are different. For example, image data is used as common element information, while text data and voice data are used as individual element information. This makes it possible to reduce the amount of data of the entire element information and simplify management by sharing the common element information regardless of the attributes, and to generate support information suited to the patient using the individual element information. Here, image data, which has a large data size compared to text data and voice data, is used as common element information, thereby further enhancing the effect of reducing the amount of data of the entire element information.

[0060] FIG. 7 shows a specific example of support information generated from element information selected based on the selection conditions shown in FIG. 6 when an aerosol preparation is prescribed as an inhalation medication for a patient. FIG. 7(A) shows a specific example of support information generated when the age (i.e., attribute) of a patient to whom an aerosol formulation is prescribed is "up to 15 years old." In this case, the first image data, the first text data, and the first voice data are selected as element information, and support information is generated from these element information. Here, the first image data is common image data corresponding to the aerosol formulation, and is common element information selected in common for each patient even if the attributes are different. On the other hand, the first text data and the first voice data are individual element information selected in correspondence with the attribute "up to 15 years old." Here, taking into consideration that the comprehension ability of a patient "up to 15 years old" is poorer than that of an adult, text written in hiragana with a general font size using easy-to-understand and simple expressions is displayed superimposed on the image, and voice data with a general playback speed using easy-to-understand and simple expressions is output.

[0061] FIG. 7(B) shows a specific example of support information generated when the age (i.e., attribute) of the patient to whom the aerosol formulation is prescribed is "16 to 30 years old." In this case, the first image data, the second text data, and the second voice data are selected as element information, and support information is generated from these element information. Here, the first image data is common image data corresponding to the aerosol formulation as described above. Meanwhile, the second text data and the second voice data are selected corresponding to the attribute "16 to 30 years old." Here, taking into consideration that the patient's age of "16 to 30 years old" has sufficient comprehension ability, text with a general font size including kanji characters using detailed expressions is displayed superimposed on the image, and voice data with a general playback speed and detailed expressions is output.

[0062] FIG. 7(C) shows a specific example of support information generated when the age (i.e., attribute) of the patient to whom the aerosol formulation is prescribed is "66 years old or older". In this case, the first image data, the third text data, and the third voice data are selected as element information, and support information is generated from these element information. Here, the first image data is common image data corresponding to the aerosol formulation as described above. Meanwhile, the third text data and the third voice data are selected corresponding to the attribute "66 years old or older". Here, considering that the patient's age of "66 years old or older" is sufficient for comprehension but has deteriorated vision and hearing, text in a large font size that includes detailed expressions and Chinese characters is displayed superimposed on the image, and voice data with detailed expressions and a slow playback speed is output. As shown in these examples, this embodiment presents support information suited to the patient's level of understanding, etc., based on the patient's attributes (here, age). This allows the patient to have a deeper understanding of the content that medical professionals should explain and teach. Therefore, the medical support system 1 makes it possible to more appropriately support medical procedures, such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals.

[0063] The display modes of the support information shown in FIG. 7 are merely examples, and the support information may be generated in other modes. For example, text may be displayed in which the contents of the precautions regarding the drug usage and dosage that are particularly desired to be conveyed to the patient are highlighted with a marker or the like. Alternatively, the video portion corresponding to the contents that are particularly desired to be conveyed to the patient may be played repeatedly or in slow motion. Alternatively, if the patient is young, a part of the video may be added or deleted, such as adding a video of a pill cutter (drug cutter) dividing a tablet in advance.

[0064] As described above, the attribute item used in the selection condition is assumed to be age, but is not limited to this. For example, other attribute items such as gender, test results from a health check, commonly used medicines (including non-medicinal drugs), medicines prescribed in the past, underlying diseases, lifestyle habits, and language used may be used as selection conditions. For example, when gender is used as a selection condition, female patients are considered to have relatively weaker grip strength than male patients. Therefore, when the patient is female, a caution such as "When opening the lid of the medicine container, be careful not to spill the contents" may be added for each patient and displayed in text or output as audio. Similarly, when age is used as a selection condition, elderly patients and children (e.g., elementary school students) are considered to have relatively weaker grip strength than other age groups. Therefore, when the patient is elderly or a child, the same caution as for women may be added for each patient and displayed in text or output as audio.

[0065] In addition, elderly people and children may accidentally swallow the film or container that packs the medicine. For example, the film or container that is heat-sealed may be accidentally swallowed together with the medicine without opening it. In this case, when age is used as a selection condition, for elderly people and children, a caution such as "Please open the medicine packaging and take only the medicine" may be added for each patient and displayed in text or output as audio. In addition to this, a video showing a series of actions such as "Open the medicine packaging and take only the medicine" may be additionally generated for each patient, and this additionally generated video may be played as part of the support information. In this way, by generating and playing additional videos about cautions and details of the medicine, etc., the patient's understanding can be further promoted. Also, although not limited to this example, when additional videos are generated individually for each patient, playing the additionally generated videos as part of the support information may result in a long overall playback time, which may be inappropriate. There may also be cases where the additionally generated videos are desired to be played at a different timing. Taking these cases into consideration, the additionally generated videos may be played when a pharmacist or patient issues an instruction to play the additionally generated videos. This allows the additionally generated videos to be played at an appropriate timing, taking into consideration the playback time, the progress of the medication instruction, and the like.

[0066] Furthermore, when an additional video is generated for each patient in this manner, information for playing the additional video may be transmitted to the patient. For example, a uniform resource locator (URL) for playing the additional video may be converted into a two-dimensional code conforming to the QR Code (registered trademark) standard. The converted two-dimensional code may be displayed as part of the support information. Then, the patient photographs the two-dimensional code with a smartphone or tablet terminal that the patient owns to obtain a URL for playing the additionally generated video. This allows the patient to play the additionally generated video at any time on his or her own smartphone, etc. In this case, a similar method may be used to allow not only the additionally generated video but also the video generated as support information (i.e., a video common to all patients) to be played on the patient's smartphone, etc. This allows the patient to check the support information and the additionally generated images and take the medicine appropriately even after the pharmacist has given medication instructions. In other words, it becomes possible to support the medical practice of medication instructions even at the patient's home, etc.

[0067] In addition, for example, when commonly used medications or medications prescribed in the past are used as selection criteria, if these medications have an inappropriate relationship with the medication being prescribed, or are contraindicated or require caution when used together, it is a good idea to add a warning such as "Never use this medication in combination with this medication" for each patient and display it in text or output it as audio. In addition, for example, when test results from a health check or the like are used as selection conditions, for patients whose weight is increasing (i.e., tending to become obese), a warning such as "Continue moderate exercise regularly" can be added for each patient and displayed in text or output as audio. In particular, for patients who are still gaining weight despite having been presented with such warnings as support information in the past, it is advisable to highlight the warning and display it in more emphasized text.

[0068] In addition, for example, when using underlying diseases as a selection criterion, for patients with high blood pressure or diabetes, it is advisable to add particularly important precautions related to these underlying diseases for each patient and display them in text or output them as audio. In addition, for example, when lifestyle habits are used as a selection condition, for patients who consume alcohol (i.e., drink alcohol) or who drive a vehicle, cautions regarding alcohol consumption, cautions regarding driving, etc. may be added for each patient and displayed in text or output as audio.

[0069] In either case, these precautions, etc. may be displayed in text or output as audio, but the portions of the video related to the precautions, etc. may be emphasized by, for example, playing them slowly or repeatedly. Alternatively, videos explaining these precautions, etc. may be added before or after the same videos for other patients. In addition, for example, when the language of use is used as a selection condition, text may be displayed or audio may be output in a language corresponding to the language used by the patient.

[0070] [Operation] Next, the operation of each device and each terminal included in the medical support system 1 during support information presentation processing will be described.

[0071] [Operation of the support terminal 10] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the support information presentation process executed by the support terminal 10. The support information presentation process in the support terminal 10 is started in response to the support terminal 10 receiving, from the pharmacist, a transition instruction operation to a screen on which the support information presentation operation is performed.

[0072] In step S11, the UI display control unit 151 starts displaying a UI screen based on the UI information. The UI information for display may be obtained in advance from the medical support server 20 and stored in the UI information storage unit 171, or may be obtained in real time at the time of display.

[0073] In step S12, the support information acquisition unit 152 judges whether or not an acquisition instruction operation for the support information has been received from the pharmacist. If an acquisition instruction operation has been received from the pharmacist, the result of step S12 is judged as Yes, and the process proceeds to step S13. On the other hand, if an acquisition instruction operation has not been received from the pharmacist, the result of step S12 is judged as No, and the process repeats the judgment of step S12.

[0074] In step S13, the support information acquisition unit 152 transmits, to the medical support server 20, a request to acquire support information, the request including information for identifying the patient for whom medication instruction is to be given this time.

[0075] In step S14, the support information acquisition unit 152 acquires support information suitable for this patient, which has been generated based on the attributes of this patient, from the medical support server 20 in response to the acquisition request.

[0076] In step S15, the support information acquisition unit 152 stores the acquired support information in the support information storage unit 172. In step S16, the presentation unit 153 presents the support information stored in the support information storage unit 172 to the patient.

[0077] In step S17, the presentation unit 153 determines whether or not to end the presentation of the support information. For example, when the presentation of the video, which is the support information, is completed, or when the pharmacist instructs the presentation to be stopped, the presentation unit 153 determines to end the presentation of the support information. If the presentation of the support information is to be ended, the result is determined as Yes in step S17, and the process ends. On the other hand, if the presentation of the support information is not to be ended, the result is determined as No in step S17, and the process returns to step S16, and the presentation continues.

[0078] [Operation of medical support server 20] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the support information presentation process executed by the medical support server 20. The support information presentation process in the medical support server 20 is started when the medical support server 20 is powered on, and is repeatedly performed while the medical support server 20 is powered on.

[0079] In step S21, the attribute specification unit 252 determines whether or not a request to acquire support information has been received from the support terminal 10. If a request to acquire support information has been received, the result of step S21 is determined as Yes, and the process proceeds to step S22. On the other hand, if a request to acquire support information has not been received, the result of step S21 is determined as No, and the process repeats step S21.

[0080] In step S22, the attribute specification unit 252 specifies the attributes of the patient to whom medication instruction is to be given this time, Identify the medication that will be prescribed for this patient.

[0081] In step S23, the support information generating unit 254 checks the selection conditions against the inputted attributes of the patient and the prescribed medicine, and selects element information that matches (that is, is suitable for) this patient.

[0082] In step S24, the support information generating unit 254 generates support information suited to the patient based on the element information suited to the patient.

[0083] In step S25, the presentation unit 255 transmits the support information to the support terminal 10 to present it to the patient.

[0084] In step S26, the presentation unit 255 stores the support information in the support information DB 276. This ends the process.

[0085] By performing the support information presentation process described above, the medical support system 1 presents the patient with support information generated from various element information related to medical care (for example, visual information such as images and text, and auditory information such as voice). This allows medical staff to provide explanations and guidance to the patient using means other than oral explanations and guidance. In addition, the support information presented at this time is not uniformly generated, but is generated based on the patient's attributes and tailored to the patient, which allows the patient to better understand the content of the explanation or guidance that medical professionals should provide. Therefore, the medical support system 1 can more appropriately support medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical personnel.

[0086] [Variations] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this embodiment is merely an example and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. The present invention can take various other embodiments and can be modified in various ways, such as omissions and substitutions, without departing from the gist of the present invention. In this case, these embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention described in this specification, etc., and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and their equivalents. As an example, the embodiment of the present invention described above may be modified as follows. In addition, the following modifications may be combined.

[0087] [Variation 1] In the above embodiment, when the pharmacist is providing medication instruction to the patient regarding the medication prescribed to the patient, the support information is presented from the support terminal 10. That is, real-time support for the medical practice of medication instruction is realized. The present invention is not limited to this, and the support information may be presented at other times. For example, the support information may be presented after the medication is administered to the patient, for example, when the patient takes the medication at home. 10 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a medical support system 1a according to this modification. This medical support system 1a is basically the same as the medical support system 1 in the above-mentioned embodiment, but differs in that it further includes a patient terminal 30.

[0088] The patient terminal 30 is realized by the hardware configuration of the information processing device 800, similar to the support terminal 10. The functional configuration of the patient terminal 30 is the same as that of the support terminal 10. Therefore, a duplicated explanation of these points will be omitted. The patient terminal 30 is also capable of communicating with the medical support server 20, etc., via the network N. In this example, the patient terminal 30 presents the support information at any timing in response to the patient's operation. For example, the support information is presented when the patient takes medicine at home. This allows the patient to check the support information and take the medicine appropriately even after the pharmacist has given them medication guidance. In other words, it is possible to support the medical practice of medication guidance even at the patient's home.

[0089] Furthermore, as described above, in addition to medication instructions, this embodiment (including this modified example) is capable of supporting various medical procedures, such as medical or pharmaceutical explanations and guidance provided by various medical professionals, such as pharmacists, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists, in various medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics. Therefore, by using the patient terminal 30 of this modified example, it is possible to support online medical procedures, such as online medical examinations by doctors and online medication instructions by pharmacists.

[0090] The patient terminals 30 are realized by different information processing devices owned by individual patients. For example, the patient terminal 30 of the first patient is realized by a smartphone, the patient terminal 30 of the second patient is realized by a smartphone of a different model from the patient terminal 30 of the first patient, and the patient terminal 30 of the third patient is realized by a personal computer. In addition to this, it is also assumed that the patient terminal 30 is realized by a television or the like having a communication function. Therefore, information for identifying the type of information processing device owned by the patient to realize the patient terminal 30 (for example, the model number of the information processing device) is stored as one of the attributes of the patient in the patient attribute DB 271. Then, when generating support information, the medical support server 20 identifies the type of information processing device owned by the patient, and changes the mode of the support information to suit the identified information processing device. For example, support information is generated in a size that matches the size and aspect ratio of the display of the information processing device. In addition, for example, the arrangement of text data in the support information (for example, the position and size at which text is displayed on the video) is varied. In addition, for example, the resolution of the support information, the presence or absence of audio data, etc. are varied. In this way, by generating support information that is suitable for the patient and also compatible with the information processing device owned by the patient, the support information can be presented smoothly to the patient, thereby enabling the patient to further deepen their understanding.

[0091] Furthermore, it is not always the patient himself who refers to the support information on the patient terminal 30, but it is also assumed that the support information may be referred to by the patient's family, medical professionals who care for the patient, or the like. Therefore, information identifying the person who will be referring to the support information on the patient terminal 30 of the patient (for example, the patient's parent or spouse) is stored as one of the patient's attributes in the patient attribute DB 271. Then, when generating support information, the medical support server 20 identifies the person who will be referring to the support information on the patient terminal 30 of the patient, and changes the form of the support information to suit this identified person. For example, if the identified person is the patient's parent or spouse, support information is generated so that text in a communication sentence format, such as "Please tell the patient that..." or "Please ask the patient to do...", is displayed. In this case, all information may be in the communication sentence format, but, for example, information that only the guardian parent needs to understand may not be in the communication sentence format, and only information that should be conveyed to the patient's child may be in the communication sentence format. In this case, it is more preferable to further consider the attributes (e.g., age) of the parent or spouse and generate support information expressed in a way that is easy for the parent or spouse to understand. In this way, by assuming that the person referencing the support information may be someone other than the patient, and by using a communication text format, the person referencing the support information can communicate the necessary information to the patient without forgetting, rather than simply understanding it for themselves. This makes it possible to properly communicate the contents of the support information to the patient, even in cases where the patient is unable to refer to the support information himself.

[0092] [Variation 2] In the above embodiment, the support terminal 10 is used to present support information to the patient. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the support terminal 10 may present support information to a medical professional such as a pharmacist. In this case, the medical support server 20 generates support information indicating the contents of the interviews and medical questions that the pharmacist should ask the patient and the contents of the medication instructions based on, for example, the medicine to be prescribed and the attributes of the patient. Then, the support terminal 10 presents this support information to the pharmacist. This allows the pharmacist to appropriately interview and provide medication instructions to the patient with the contents appropriate for the patient while referring to the support information. According to this modification, from a different perspective than the above-described embodiment, it is possible to more appropriately support medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals.

[0093] [Configuration example] As described above, the medical support system 1 according to this embodiment includes the attribute specification unit 252, the element information selection unit 253, the support information generation unit 254, and the presentation unit 255. The attribute specification unit 252 specifies the attributes of the patient. The element information selection section 253 selects element information that is a component of medical support information and that is suitable for the patient, based on the attributes of the patient identified by the attribute identification section 252 . The support information generating section 254 generates medical support information suited to the patient based on the element information selected by the element information selecting section 253 . The presentation unit 255 presents to the patient the support information related to medical care suited to the patient, which is generated by the support information generation unit 254. In this way, the medical support system 1 presents support information generated from various element information related to medical care (for example, visual information such as images and text, and auditory information such as voice) to the patient. This allows explanations and guidance to be given to the patient using means other than oral explanations and guidance by medical staff. In addition, the support information presented at this time is not uniformly generated, but is generated based on the patient's attributes and tailored to the patient, which allows the patient to better understand the content of the explanation or guidance that medical professionals should provide. Therefore, the medical support system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention can more appropriately support medical procedures such as explanations and guidance by medical professionals.

[0094] The element information is information that is a component of a moving image. The support information generating unit 254 generates support information consisting of moving images adapted to the patient as support information related to medical care adapted to the patient. This will allow patients to better understand the explanations and guidance that medical professionals should give them by using video content rather than just still images and text.

[0095] The element information selection unit 253 selects element information based on the drug prescribed for the patient as well as the attributes of the patient. The support information generating unit 254 generates support information corresponding to medication instructions for medicines prescribed to the patient as support information related to medical care suited to the patient. This makes it possible to support medication instructions regarding this drug when a pharmacist performs dispensing duties for a patient.

[0096] The presentation unit 255 presents information when a medical professional is providing a patient with medication instructions regarding the medicine prescribed to the patient. This allows for real-time support during medication instructions.

[0097] The presentation unit 255 presents the prescribed medicine on the terminal used by the patient after the medicine is administered to the patient. This makes it possible to provide support after the patient has been prescribed medication, for example, at the time when the patient takes the medication at home.

[0098] The element information includes both common element information that is selected by the element information selection unit 253 for each patient even if the attributes are different when the medication prescribed to the patients is the same, and individual element information that is selected differently for each patient by the element information selection unit 253 when the attributes of the patients are different. This enables common element information to be shared regardless of attributes, thereby reducing the overall data volume of element information and simplifying management, while also enabling support information tailored to the patient to be generated using individual element information.

[0099] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications and improvements within the scope of the present invention that can achieve the object of the present invention are included in the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where medication instruction by a pharmacist is supported as a target has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the target of support in the present invention includes various types of medical information.

[0100] The above-described series of processes can be executed by hardware or software. In other words, the functional configurations in the above-mentioned embodiments are merely examples and are not particularly limited. That is, it is sufficient that any of the computers constituting the medical support system 1 has a function capable of executing the above-mentioned series of processes as a whole, and the type of functional block used to realize this function is not particularly limited to the examples shown. Furthermore, one functional block may be configured as a single piece of hardware, a single piece of software, or a combination of both.

[0101] In addition, the recording medium containing the program for executing the series of processes described above may be composed not only of a removable medium distributed separately from the device body in order to provide the program to the user, but also of a recording medium etc. provided to the user in a state in which it is pre-installed in the device body.

[0102] Furthermore, the effects described in the above-mentioned embodiments are merely a list of the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are not limited to those described in the present embodiments. [Explanation of symbols]

[0103] 1, 1a medical support system, 10 support terminal, 20 medical support server, 30 patient terminal, N network, 151 user interface display control unit (UI display control unit), 152 support information acquisition unit, 153 presentation unit, 171 user interface display storage unit (UI information storage unit), 172 support information storage unit, 251 user interface information generation unit (UI information generation unit), 252 attribute specification unit, 253 element information selection unit, 254 support information generation unit, 255 presentation unit, 256 database management unit (DB management unit), 271 patient attribute database (patient attribute DB), 272 prescription database (prescription DB), 273 medication history database (medication history DB), 274 selection condition database (selection condition DB), 275 element information database (element information DB), 276 support information database (support information DB), 800 information processing device, 811 CPU, 812 ROM, 813 RAM, 814 bus, 815 input section, 816 output section, 817 storage section, 818 communication section, 819 drive, 831 removable media

Claims

1. A means for identifying patient attributes; an acquisition means for acquiring, as the support information, content in which a plurality of element information items suitable for the patient are simultaneously reproduced, the element information items being constituent elements of medical support information based on the attributes of the patient identified by the identification means; a presentation means for presenting the acquired support information to the patient via a network when a medical procedure is performed online by a medical professional on the patient via the network; A medical support system comprising:

2. The presenting means presents the support information on a terminal used by the patient after the online medical procedure is completed.

2. The medical support system according to claim 1.

3. When the support information is presented to a person other than the patient, The identification means identifies who the other person is, The acquisition means acquires support information suitable for the patient and the other person, The presentation means presents the acquired support information suitable for the patient and the other person to the other person.

3. The medical support system according to claim 1 or 2.

4. When the support information is presented on a terminal used by the patient, The identification means identifies the type of the terminal, The acquisition means acquires support information suitable for the patient and the type of the terminal, The presentation means presents, on the terminal, the acquired support information suited to the type of the patient and the terminal.

3. The medical support system according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The identification means identifies attributes of the patient newly obtained in association with the implementation of the medical procedure, The acquisition means acquires support information based on the newly acquired attributes of the patient, The presentation means presents the acquired support information to the patient based on the newly obtained attributes of the patient.

3. The medical support system according to claim 1 or 2.

6. The element information is Even if the attributes of each patient are different, the support information for each patient contains common elements that are used relatively frequently. When the attributes of each patient are different, individual element information is included in only one of the patient's support information, and is therefore used relatively infrequently. Includes: The common element information is data having a larger data size than the individual element information.

3. The medical support system according to claim 1 or 2.

7. A medical support method executed by a medical support system, comprising: An identification step of identifying patient attributes; an acquisition step of acquiring, as the support information, content in which a plurality of element information items suitable for the patient are simultaneously reproduced, the element information items being constituent elements of medical support information based on the attributes of the patient identified in the identification step; a presentation step of presenting the acquired support information to the patient via a network when a medical procedure is performed online by a medical professional on the patient via the network; A medical support method comprising:

8. A feature for identifying patient attributes; an acquisition function for acquiring, as the support information, content in which a plurality of element information items suitable for the patient are simultaneously reproduced, the element information items being constituent elements of medical support information based on the attributes of the patient identified by the identification function; a presentation function for presenting the acquired support information to the patient via a network when a medical procedure is performed online by a medical professional on the patient via the network; A medical support program characterized by causing a computer to realize the above.

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