Support device, support system, support method, program, and program set for medical professionals

Abstract

To provide a medical professional support device capable of appropriately grasping interests of medical professionals such as doctors.SOLUTION: A support device disclosed herein comprises a transmission unit 102 for transmitting first medical content related to pharmaceuticals to multiple doctor terminal devices 20 used by respective doctors, and an access history acquisition unit 103 configured to acquire the number of times the first medical content is accessed by each of the doctors.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an assistance device, assistance system, assistance method, program, and program set for medical professionals. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 below proposes an information provision system for doctors. This system provides electronic medical records, and is configured to provide information such as pharmaceutical advertisements and seminar information on a screen separate from the electronic medical records. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-032110 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] With the advancement of medical technology, the amount of information required for various medical procedures, such as diagnosing illnesses, selecting medications, and calculating drug dosages, is increasing. Therefore, systems that provide such information to medical professionals, such as doctors, are becoming increasingly useful. Therefore, if such systems can properly grasp the interests of medical professionals, it will be possible to provide more useful information to medical professionals, and this will also be beneficial to providers of medical products, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical device manufacturers.

[0005] The present disclosure provides an assistance device, assistance system, assistance method, program, and program set that can appropriately grasp the interests of medical professionals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An example of a medical worker support device proposed in the present disclosure includes a transmitting means for transmitting first medical content related to medical products to a plurality of terminal devices used by a plurality of medical workers, and an access history acquiring means for acquiring the number of times the first medical content has been accessed by each of the plurality of medical workers. This support device can appropriately grasp the interests of medical workers.

[0007] An example of a method for supporting medical professionals proposed in the present disclosure includes a transmission step of transmitting first medical content related to a medical product to multiple terminal devices used by multiple medical professionals, and an access history acquisition step of acquiring the number of times the first medical content has been accessed by each of the multiple medical professionals.

[0008] An example of a program proposed in the present disclosure causes a computer to function as a transmission means for transmitting first medical content related to medical products to multiple terminal devices used by multiple medical professionals, and an access history acquisition means for acquiring the number of times the first medical content has been accessed by each of the multiple medical professionals.

[0009] An example of a medical worker support system proposed in the present disclosure includes a plurality of terminal devices used by a plurality of medical workers, and a support device including a transmission means for transmitting first medical content related to a medical product to the plurality of terminal devices. Each of the plurality of terminal devices accepts access operations to the first medical content by the medical workers. The support device includes an access history acquisition means for acquiring, for each of the plurality of medical workers, an access count, which is the number of times the plurality of medical workers have accessed the first medical content.

[0010] An example of a program set proposed in the present disclosure includes a plurality of first programs that cause a plurality of first computers to function as input means for accepting access operations by medical professionals to first medical content related to medical products, a transmission means for transmitting the first medical content to the plurality of first computers, and a second program that causes a second computer to function as access history acquisition means for acquiring, for each of the plurality of medical professionals, the number of access operations to the first medical content by the plurality of medical professionals.

[0011] Another example of a medical worker support device proposed in the present disclosure includes support information for assisting medical treatment by each medical worker, calculated based on the patient's condition input into multiple terminal devices used by each of the multiple medical workers, an access history acquisition means for acquiring at least one of the calculation counts of the support information, an extraction means for extracting a portion of the multiple medical workers based on at least one of the support information and the calculation count, and a transmission means for transmitting medical content related to medical products to the extracted portion of the medical workers.

[0012] Another example of a method for supporting medical professionals proposed in the present disclosure includes support information for assisting medical treatment by each medical professional, calculated based on the condition of a patient entered into multiple terminal devices used by each of the multiple medical professionals, an access history acquisition step for acquiring at least one of the number of times the support information was calculated, an extraction step for extracting a portion of the multiple medical professionals based on at least one of the support information and the number of times the calculation was performed, and a transmission step for transmitting medical content related to medical products to the extracted portion of medical professionals.

[0013] Another example of a program proposed in the present disclosure causes a computer to function as an access history acquisition means for acquiring support information to assist medical treatment by each medical professional, calculated based on the patient's condition entered into multiple terminal devices used by each of the multiple medical professionals, and at least one of the number of times the support information was calculated, an extraction means for extracting a portion of the multiple medical professionals based on at least one of the support information and the number of times the support information was calculated, and a transmission means for transmitting medical content related to medical products to the extracted portion of medical professionals. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a support system. [Figure 2A] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a home screen displayed on the doctor terminal device. [Figure 2B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen that presents drug-related articles and is displayed on a doctor terminal device. [Figure 2C] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a medical assistance tool screen displayed on a doctor terminal device. [Figure 2D] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a dosage calculation screen displayed on a doctor's terminal device. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the support system. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an access history table as an example of access history information. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of functions realized by the support system. [Figure 6A] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in a doctor DB. [Figure 6B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a drug-related article DB. [Figure 6C] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a support information calculation program DB. [Figure 6D] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a timeline article table created for each doctor. [Figure 7]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an effect display table that presents effect information. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in an additional medical content DB. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an extraction condition reception screen. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation related to transmission of additional medical content. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] An example of a medical worker support device and a system including the support device proposed in the present disclosure will be described below. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the support system.

[0016] [Support system hardware] As shown in FIG. 1, the support system S includes a support device 10. The support system S also includes a plurality of terminal devices used by a plurality of medical professionals, and a terminal device used by a provider of medical products. In FIG. 1, a doctor terminal device 20 is shown as an example of a terminal used by a medical professional, and a manufacturer terminal device 30 is shown as an example of a terminal used by a medical product provider. The medical professionals are typically doctors. The medical products are typically drugs administered to patients, and the providers of the medical products are typically pharmaceutical manufacturers. The support device 10, the doctor terminal device 20, and the manufacturer terminal device 30 can be connected to a network N such as the Internet.

[0017] The medical products may be medical equipment, chemicals used in testing, etc. The medical professionals may be nurses, medical technicians, etc. The medical product providers may be pharmaceutical manufacturers that manufacture medicines for medical use but not for administration to patients (e.g., diagnostic reagents), medical equipment manufacturers, wholesalers that sell medical products to medical institutions, etc. In the following, the support system S will be explained using a doctor as an example of a medical professional and a pharmaceutical manufacturer as an example of a medical product provider.

[0018] [Support Device Hardware] The support device 10 is configured, for example, by a server computer. As shown in FIG. 1, the support device 10 includes a control unit 11, a memory unit 12, and a communication unit 13. The control unit 11 includes at least one processor. The control unit 11 executes processing according to programs and data stored in the memory unit 12. The memory unit 12 includes a main memory unit and an auxiliary memory unit. For example, the main memory unit is a volatile memory such as a random access memory (RAM), and the auxiliary memory unit is a non-volatile memory such as a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, or a hard disk. The memory unit 12 stores medical content such as drug-related articles and information such as access history to each medical content. This information will be described later. The communication unit 13 is a communication interface for wired or wireless communication, and performs data communication via a network N.

[0019] The assistance device 10 may also include a display unit 14 and an input unit 15. The display unit 14 is, for example, a liquid crystal display unit or an organic EL display unit. The display unit 14 displays an image according to instructions from the control unit 11. The input unit 15 is a pointing device such as a touch panel or a mouse. The input unit 15 may also include a keyboard, buttons, etc. The input unit 15 inputs a signal to the control unit 11 in response to an operation by the user.

[0020] The support device 10 may be configured with multiple server computers interconnected via a network. In this case, a server computer that distributes medical content and a server computer that stores access history to the medical content may be provided separately.

[0021] [Physician terminal hardware] The doctor terminal device 20 may be a mobile phone (including a smartphone), a portable information terminal (including a tablet computer or a wearable terminal), a personal computer, etc. The doctor terminal device 20 includes a control unit 21, a memory unit 22, a communication unit 23, a display unit 24, an input unit 25, etc. The control unit 21 executes processing according to programs and data stored in the memory unit 22. The memory unit 22, like the memory unit 12 of the support device 10, includes a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory. The communication unit 23 is a communication interface for wired or wireless communication, and performs data communication via the network N.

[0022] The display unit 24 is, for example, a liquid crystal display unit or an organic EL display unit. The display unit 24 displays an image according to instructions from the control unit 21. The input unit 25 is a pointing device such as a touch panel or a mouse. The input unit 25 may include a keyboard, buttons, etc. The input unit 25 inputs a signal to the control unit 21 in response to an operation by a user.

[0023] [Manufacturer terminal device hardware] The manufacturer terminal device 30 is, for example, a personal computer. The manufacturer terminal device 30 may be a mobile phone (including a smartphone) or a personal digital assistant (including a tablet computer or a wearable device). The manufacturer terminal device 30 includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, a communication unit 33, a display unit 34, an input unit 35, etc. The physical configurations of the control unit 31, the storage unit 32, the communication unit 33, the display unit 34, and the input unit 35 may be similar to those of the control unit 21, the storage unit 22, the communication unit 23, the display unit 24, and the input unit 25, respectively.

[0024] [Screen displayed on doctor's terminal] 2A to 2D show examples of screens displayed on the display unit 24 of the doctor terminal device 20. These screens are displayed, for example, as a result of processing performed by the control unit 21 using application software installed on the doctor terminal device 20. The application software may be transmitted to the doctor terminal device 20 from the support device 10 or a separately provided application server via the network N. Alternatively, the screens shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D may be displayed by the doctor terminal device 20 accessing the support device 10 through a web browser installed on the doctor terminal device 20. Note that these screen configurations are merely examples and may be modified as appropriate.

[0025] [Home screen] 2A is an example of a home screen of the doctor terminal device 20. The home screen is, for example, the screen that is first displayed when a doctor starts up application software installed on the doctor terminal device 20, or the screen that is first displayed (first provided by the support device 10) when the doctor accesses the support device 10 through a web browser.

[0026] 2A, the home screen may display, for example, titles R11 to R14 of multiple articles distributed from the support device 10. These article titles may be displayed in chronological order. That is, the home screen may include a timeline that displays the article titles in chronological order.

[0027] The titles R11 to R14 displayed on the home screen may be the titles of articles such as advertisements for medicines, articles introducing how to use medicines, advertisements for medical devices, which are another example of medical products, guidelines for medical procedures, papers, etc. Also, the timeline may display article summaries instead of article titles. Article titles or summaries may be scrollable on the home screen.

[0028] It should be noted that the article titles and the like do not necessarily have to be displayed in chronological order, but may instead be displayed in the order of article type or content.

[0029] The home screen may display a search box R15 for searching for content provided by the support system S through the doctor terminal device 20, a menu area R16 with links to other screens, etc. The menu area R16 includes, for example, a drug article button B1, a medical assistance button B2, a dosage calculation button B3, etc. These buttons will be described later.

[0030] Furthermore, in this support system S, the doctor user can bookmark articles and the like that interest him or her and save them in a storage area provided for him or her. The home screen may display a bookmark list button R17 that displays a list of content that has been bookmarked in the past, and a saved content button R18 that displays a list of content that has been saved in the past. The operations related to registering and saving these bookmarks will be explained later.

[0031] [Drug-related article screen] FIG. 2B is an example of a screen displaying a drug-related article, which is an example of medical content. A drug-related article is, for example, a drug advertisement. As shown in FIG. 2B, a drug advertisement may present information such as the drug name, pharmaceutical manufacturer name, efficacy, usage, and dosage. Drug advertisements may also present information such as drug price, side effects, contraindications, and precautions.

[0032] Drug-related articles are not limited to drug advertisements. Drug-related articles include peripheral information about the drug, such as information about diseases related to the drug (e.g., medical treatment manuals, medical treatment charts, symptoms, etc.) and information about measures to address side effects. These drug-related articles are transmitted from the support device 10 to the doctor terminal device 20. Drug-related articles may be created, for example, by a pharmaceutical manufacturer and transmitted from the manufacturer terminal device 30 to the support device 10. They may then be transmitted from the support device 10 to the doctor terminal device 20. Alternatively, drug-related articles may be received through the input unit 15 of the support device 10 and transmitted from the support device 10 to the doctor terminal device 20.

[0033] The drug-related article exemplified in FIG. 2B may be displayed, for example, by a doctor selecting the title of the drug-related article from among the titles R11 to R14 displayed on the home screen (FIG. 2A). Here, the operation of selecting a title is, for example, an operation of tapping the title of the drug-related article if the doctor terminal device 20 includes a touch panel. If the doctor terminal device 20 is a personal computer, the operation is an operation of clicking the title of the drug-related article with a pointer. Furthermore, when the drug article button B1 is operated in the menu area R16 of the home screen, the doctor terminal device 20 may display a list of drug-related article titles. Then, a drug-related article selected from the list may be displayed as shown in FIG. 2B. Furthermore, the drug-related article may be displayed on a display page displaying drug-related articles from a specific pharmaceutical manufacturer, or as related content of a predetermined content.

[0034] [Support information calculation program] The support device 10 transmits a support information calculation program to the doctor terminal device 20 as an example of medical content. The support information calculation program is a program that receives information about a patient and displays or calculates support information used in medical treatment (diagnosis or treatment). Here, "support information" refers to information that supports medical treatment, such as a drug dosage, a drug administration interval, physical quantities such as BMI, disease occurrence risk, disease prognosis prediction, treatment effect prediction, and medical support information indicating the state of a disease or the probability of the disease (e.g., severe, moderate, etc.). The support information calculation program may receive information about a patient from, for example, the input unit 25. The support information calculation program may receive information about a drug to be administered to the patient (such as the type of drug and the dosage) in addition to the patient information, and display or calculate support information. In the support system S, a medical support program that calculates medical support information and a dosage calculation program that calculates the dosage of a drug are provided as examples of support information calculation programs.

[0035] [Screen displayed by the medical assistance program] FIG. 2C is an example of a screen presented by the medical assistance program. Hereinafter, this screen will be referred to as the "medical assistance tool screen." As shown in FIG. 2C, the medical assistance tool screen includes one or more input fields R31 for inputting information about the patient, such as the patient's condition (age, sex, height, weight, test results, symptoms, etc.). The medical assistance program calculates the above-mentioned medical assistance information based on the input patient condition. The medical assistance information is displayed in a calculation result field R37 on the medical assistance tool screen.

[0036] A medical assistance program is created for each target (in other words, for each event that may occur to a patient). For example, a medical assistance program is created for each disease or symptom. When the medical assistance button B2 is operated in the menu area R16 of the home screen, the doctor terminal device 20 displays a list of the titles of multiple medical assistance programs. The doctor may then be able to select the medical assistance program he or she wishes to use from the list of titles. As a result of this selection, a medical assistance tool screen such as the one shown in FIG. 2C may be displayed.

[0037] [Screen displayed by the dosage calculation program] FIG. 2D is an example of a screen presented by the dosage calculation program. Hereinafter, this screen will be referred to as the "dosage calculation screen." As shown in FIG. 2D, the dosage calculation screen also includes one or more input fields R41 for inputting the patient's condition (age, test results, symptoms, etc.). The dosage calculation program calculates the drug dosage based on the input patient condition. The dosage calculation screen is provided with a calculation result field R47 that displays this dosage.

[0038] A dosage calculation program is created for each of multiple drugs. For example, when the dosage calculation button B3 is operated in the menu area R16 of the home screen, the doctor terminal device 20 displays a list of the titles of multiple dosage calculation programs. The doctor then selects the dosage calculation program he or she wishes to use from the list of titles. As a result of this selection, the dosage calculation screen shown in FIG. 2D may be displayed.

[0039] The calculation process for the dosage and medical assistance information is executed on the doctor terminal device 20. The results are then displayed on the doctor terminal device 20. Support information calculation programs such as the dosage calculation program and medical assistance program may be executed on application software transmitted from the support device 10 and installed on the doctor terminal device 20, or may be executed on a web browser installed on the doctor terminal device 20.

[0040] In another example, the medical assistance program may display a medical assistance tool screen (FIG. 2C) including an input area R31 on the doctor terminal device 20 and transmit the input contents to the support device 10. Then, the medical assistance information may be calculated on the support device 10. The calculated medical assistance information may be transmitted to the doctor terminal device 20 and displayed in a calculation result area R37 on the medical assistance tool screen. Similarly, the dosage calculation program may display a dosage calculation screen (FIG. 2D) including an input area R41 on the doctor terminal device 20 and transmit the input contents to the support device 10. Then, the dosage may be calculated on the support device 10. The calculated dosage may be transmitted to the doctor terminal device 20 and displayed in a calculation result area R47.

[0041] [Sequence for calculating effect information] 3 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the support system S. Here, an operation for calculating the advertising effectiveness of a drug-related article about drug A1 will be described. Also, here, an example will be described in which medical content such as a drug-related article associated with drug A1 is created by a user (a pharmaceutical manufacturer) of the manufacturer terminal device 30.

[0042] The medical content is transmitted, for example, from the manufacturer terminal device 30 to the support device 10. In the example shown in FIG. 3, first, a drug-related article including an advertisement for the drug A1 is transmitted from the manufacturer terminal device 30 to the support device 10 (S101). At this time, the manufacturer terminal device 30 may also transmit the display start time and display end time of the drug-related article to the support device 10. In addition, a support information calculation program for supporting the use of the drug A1 may be transmitted from the manufacturer terminal device 30 to the support device 10 (S102). As described above, the support information calculation program is, for example, a dosage calculation program for the drug A1 or a medical assistance program for a disease for which the drug A1 is effective.

[0043] The support device 10 stores the received drug-related article and support information calculation program in the storage unit 12 (S103). The support device 10 also performs processing for distributing the received drug-related article (S104). That is, the support device 10 performs processing for displaying the title of the drug-related article on the home screen exemplified in FIG. 2A (S104). The specific content of this processing will be described later.

[0044] The doctor terminal device 20 transmits a connection request to the support device 10 (S105). At this time, the doctor terminal device 20 transmits a doctor ID and password issued in advance by the support device 10 to the support device 10. The support device 10 uses the received doctor ID and password to perform authentication processing for the doctor terminal device 20 (S106). If the authentication is successful, the support device 10 transmits the titles of articles to be displayed on the home screen to the doctor terminal device 20 (S107). As a result, a timeline including the titles of drug-related articles about drug A1 is displayed on the home screen of the doctor terminal device 20.

[0045] In addition, when the support device 10 and the doctor terminal device 20 are connected, the title to be displayed on the home screen may be transmitted at a predetermined time interval. In this case, the title of the latest timeline may be transmitted from the support device 10 to the doctor terminal device 20 at each transmission. In addition, the title to be displayed on the home screen may be transmitted in response to a request from the doctor terminal device 20.

[0046] Furthermore, the support device 10 may transmit the doctor ID and other information received from the doctor terminal device 20 to an external authentication device. The authentication process may be executed by this authentication device. When the authentication is successful, the support device 10 may issue an access token, a session ID, and other information to the doctor terminal device 20. After the authentication is successful, the doctor terminal device 20 may communicate with the support device 10 using the access token and session ID.

[0047] Furthermore, the support device 10 may transmit the medical content itself (i.e., the drug-related article and the support information calculation program) stored in the storage unit 12 to the doctor terminal device 20 at the same time as transmitting the article title in S107. By transmitting the medical content itself to the doctor terminal device 20 along with the title to be displayed on the home screen in this way, the doctor can access the medical content even if the communication environment of the doctor terminal device 20 deteriorates thereafter. Alternatively, the support device 10 may transmit the drug-related article and the support information calculation program to the doctor terminal device 20 when a request is received from the doctor terminal device 20.

[0048] The doctor terminal device 20 accepts access operations to medical content. Access operations to medical content are operations on the medical content performed on the screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the doctor terminal device 20. The doctor terminal device 20 allows multiple types of access operations.

[0049] For example, the doctor terminal device 20 accepts an operation to access a drug-related article (S108). The operation to access a drug-related article includes, for example, a viewing operation. The viewing operation is an operation for displaying a drug-related article on the display unit 24 of the doctor terminal device 20 as shown in FIG. 2B. For example, a doctor user can display a drug-related article by tapping or clicking a title displayed on the timeline illustrated in FIG. 2A.

[0050] The access operation of a drug-related article also includes the operation of registering the article in a bookmark list (associated with each doctor ID) provided for each doctor. As shown in FIG. 2B, a bookmark button R21 may be provided on the drug-related article screen. When a doctor operates the bookmark button R21, for example, the drug-related article is added to the bookmark list. The bookmark list is stored in the memory unit 12 of the support device 10, as will be described later. The bookmark list may also be stored in the memory unit 22 of the doctor terminal device 20. The list stored in the memory unit 12 of the support device 10 and the list stored in the memory unit 22 of the doctor terminal device 20 may be synchronized.

[0051] The access operation of the drug-related article may include a save operation to a memory area reserved for each doctor (assigned to each doctor ID). For example, on the screen displaying the drug-related article shown in FIG. 2B, a "save button" may be provided together with or instead of the bookmark button R21. When the doctor who is the user operates the save button, a copy of the drug-related article is saved in a memory area reserved for that doctor in the memory unit 12 of the support device 10. The copy of the drug-related article may be stored in the memory unit 22 of the doctor terminal device 20. The article stored in the memory unit 12 of the support device 10 and the article stored in the memory unit 22 of the doctor terminal device 20 may be synchronized.

[0052] When the doctor terminal device 20 receives such an access operation, it transmits an operation record (access information) representing this access operation to the support device 10 (S109). Items in the operation record include the type of access operation, information identifying the medical content that was the target of the operation, and the date and time of access. As described above, types of access operations include a viewing operation, a registration operation to a bookmark list, and a saving operation. Information identifying the medical content is, for example, an ID assigned by the support device 10 to identify each medical content (hereinafter, this ID will be referred to as a "content ID"). Items in the operation record are not limited to this, and may include, for example, the viewing time. When the support device 10 receives the operation record from the doctor terminal device 20, it updates and stores the access history information (linked to the doctor ID) provided for each doctor (S110).

[0053] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an access history table, which is an example of access history information. An access history table is provided for each of multiple doctors. As shown in the figure, the access history table includes, as its items, a content ID, a type of access operation (viewing, bookmarking, saving), and access date and time. Furthermore, when the type of access operation is viewing, the access history table includes, as its items, the viewing start time as the access date and time, and may further include a separate access end time (viewing end time). The viewing time can be calculated from the difference between the viewing start time and the viewing end time. When the support device 10 receives an operation record from the doctor terminal device 20, it adds this operation record to the access history table, for example.

[0054] The doctor terminal device 20 also receives an execution command (execution command) to access the support information calculation program (S111). When the support information calculation program is executed, the calculation results (such as the "medical support information" described in FIG. 2C and the "dosage" described in FIG. 2D) are displayed in the calculation result areas R37 and R47 of the doctor terminal device 20.

[0055] Then, the doctor terminal device 20 transmits an operation record representing the execution of the support information calculation program to the support device 10 (S112). The operation record includes, as its items, the operation content (execution), content ID, access date and time (execution date and time), etc. When the support device 10 receives the operation record from the doctor terminal device 20, it updates and stores the access history information provided for each doctor, similar to S110 (S113). For example, the support device 10 adds the received operation record to an access history table (see FIG. 4). Note that, as shown in FIG. 4, the operation record representing the execution of the support information calculation program may include the calculation results of the program (support information such as medical support information and dosage). Furthermore, this operation record may also include the patient's condition input on the medical support tool screen or the dosage calculation screen.

[0056] Furthermore, the access operation to the support information calculation program may include a registration operation to a bookmark list (associated with each doctor ID) provided for each doctor. As shown in Figures 2C and 2D, bookmark buttons R33 and R43 may be provided on the medical support tool screen and the dosage calculation screen. When a doctor operates, for example, bookmark button R33 or R43, this program is added to the bookmark list.

[0057] 3, the doctor terminal device 20 accepts an access operation to a drug-related article in S108, and then accepts an access operation to the support information calculation program in S112, but the order and number of times may be arbitrary. The access operation to the drug-related article may be repeatedly executed, and the access operation to the support information calculation program may be repeatedly executed.

[0058] 3, the doctor terminal device 20 transmits an operation record to the support device 10 each time it receives an access operation. Alternatively, the doctor terminal device 20 may store the operation record in its own memory unit 22. The doctor terminal device 20 may then transmit one or more operation records stored in the memory unit 22 to the support device 10 at a predetermined timing. For example, if the doctor terminal device 20 receives an access operation while not connected to the support device 10, it may store the operation record in the memory unit 22. The next time the doctor terminal device 20 connects to the support device 10, it may transmit the operation record stored in the memory unit 22 to the support device 10.

[0059] Furthermore, the doctor terminal device 20 does not necessarily have to transmit the operation record to the support device 10. When the support device 10 transmits medical content to the doctor terminal device 20 in response to a request from the doctor terminal device 20, the support device 10 may determine that a doctor has accessed the medical content and update the access history table.

[0060] The manufacturer terminal device 30 transmits a request for effectiveness information to the support device 10 (S113). The effectiveness information is information that indicates the effectiveness of the drug-related article transmitted from the support device 10 to the doctor terminal device 20 as an advertisement. Upon receiving this request, the support device 10 refers to an access history table (see FIG. 4) of multiple doctors and calculates effectiveness information (S114). The effectiveness information includes, for example, the number of accesses by multiple doctors, the number of doctors who accessed the drug-related article, and the number of times the support information calculation program has been executed. The number of accesses is the number of times an access operation has been performed, and for drug-related articles, for example, the number of times the article has been viewed, registered in a bookmark list, or saved. The number of times the support information calculation program has been executed is the number of times the support information has been calculated. The calculated support information is displayed in the calculation result areas R37 and R47 (see FIGS. 2C and 2D), so the number of calculations matches the number of times the support information has been displayed in the calculation result areas R37 and R47. The effectiveness information will be described in detail later. The support device 10 transmits the calculated effect information to the manufacturer terminal device 30 (S115).

[0061] In the example shown in FIG. 3, a request for effect information is transmitted from the manufacturer terminal device 30 to the support device 10, but such a request does not necessarily have to be transmitted. For example, the effect information may be calculated in the support device 10 at a predetermined timing (for example, a display end date specified for a drug-related article) and transmitted to the manufacturer terminal device 30. Furthermore, the support device 10 may periodically calculate effect information and transmit it to the manufacturer terminal device 30. As yet another example, transmission of effect information from the support device 10 to the manufacturer terminal device 30 does not necessarily have to be performed automatically. For example, the operator of the support device 10 may manually transmit the effect information.

[0062] [Support system functions] 5 is a block diagram showing an example of functions realized by the support system S. In this embodiment, functions realized by each of the support device 10, the doctor terminal device 20, and the manufacturer terminal device 30 will be described.

[0063] The support device 10 has a data storage unit 200 as one of its functions. The data storage unit 200 is realized by the control unit 11 operating in accordance with a program and storing data in the storage unit 12. The data storage unit 200 has, for example, a doctor database (DB) 101, a content management DB 202, a bookmark DB 203, and an access history DB 204. The content management DB 202 includes a drug-related article DB 202a, a support information calculation program DB 202b, and an additional medical content DB 202c.

[0064] [Doctor database] The doctor DB 201 is a database that stores information about doctors who are users. FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the doctor DB 201. The doctor DB stores, for example, an identification number (doctor ID) assigned to each doctor, the doctor's name, the institution to which the doctor belongs, and the doctor's attribute information, in association with each other. The institution to which the doctor belongs may be the name of the hospital or facility to which the doctor belongs, or the ID thereof. The doctor's attribute information may include, for example, the doctor's specialty, such as gastroenterology or cardiology. The doctor's attribute information may also include the name of the region where the doctor works, the doctor's medical history, etc.

[0065] [Drug-related article database] The drug-related article DB 202a is a database that stores information related to document information to be transmitted to the doctor terminal device 20, such as the drug-related article exemplified in FIG. 2B. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the drug-related article DB 202a. The drug-related article DB 202a stores identification information (content ID) assigned to an article and the ID of a drug associated with the article, in association with each other. The drug-related article DB 202a may also store the name of the drug manufacturer and attributes of the drug-related article (for example, "drug explanation" or "countermeasures for side effects") in association with the content ID.

[0066] As described with reference to FIG. 2A, the title of an article is displayed on the home screen of the doctor terminal device 20. The period during which the article title is displayed on the home screen is also predefined for each article. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6B, the drug-related article DB 202a may store the title to be displayed on the home screen, the display start date and time on the home screen, and the display end date and time in association with the content ID.

[0067] Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 6B, the drug-related article DB202a may store distribution target attributes in association with content IDs. The distribution target attributes are information that specifies the attributes of the doctor displaying the article title, such as the doctor's specialty. Furthermore, the doctor DB201 illustrated in Fig. 6A includes, in addition to "specialty," "area" and "medical experience" as doctor attribute information. Therefore, the distribution target attributes specified in the drug-related article DB202a may include "area" and "medical experience."

[0068] Note that the article (document information) transmitted from the support device 10 to the doctor terminal device 20 does not necessarily have to be related to a drug. For example, the support device 10 may transmit information about a medical device to the doctor terminal device 20. In this case, the drug-related article DB 202a may store information about the article about the medical device.

[0069] [Support Information Calculation Program Database] The support information calculation program DB202b is a database that stores information related to the support information calculation programs (medical treatment assistance program and dosage calculation program) described in Figures 2C and 2D. Figure 6C is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the support information calculation program DB202b. This database stores identification information (content ID) assigned to a support information calculation program and the ID of a drug associated with that program, in association with each other. The support information calculation program DB202b may also store the name (title) assigned to each program and the program attributes (for example, "medical treatment assistance" or "dosage calculation") in association with the content ID.

[0070] As mentioned above, it includes an additional medical content DB 202c, which is described below.

[0071] [Bookmark Database] The bookmark DB 203 is a database that stores bookmark lists. A bookmark list is provided for each of multiple doctors. Each bookmark list lists, for example, the IDs of medical content registered by the doctor. For example, when the bookmark buttons R21, R33, and R43 provided on the screen displaying drug-related articles (see Figure 2B), the medical support tool screen (see Figure 2C), and the dosage calculation screen (see Figure 2D) are operated, the ID of the medical content is added to the bookmark list.

[0072] [Access history database] The access history DB 204 is a database that stores access history information for each doctor. For example, the access history DB 204 stores the access history table shown in FIG.

[0073] 5, the support device 10 has, as its functions, a timeline generation unit 101, a transmission unit 102, an access history acquisition unit 103, an effect calculation unit 104, and an extraction unit 105. These functions are realized, for example, by the control unit 11 operating in accordance with a program stored in the storage unit 12 and controlling the communication unit 13 and the like.

[0074] The doctor terminal device 20 also has, as one of its functions, an operation record transmission unit 211. The function of the operation record transmission unit 211 is realized, for example, by the control unit 21 executing a program stored in the storage unit 22 and controlling the communication unit 23 and the like. The manufacturer terminal device 30 also has, as one of its functions, a content reception unit 311 and an extraction condition reception unit 312. These functions are realized, for example, by the control unit 31 executing a program stored in the storage unit 32 and controlling the communication unit 33 and the like.

[0075] [Timeline generation section] The timeline generation unit 101 generates a list of drug-related articles for each doctor, the titles of which are displayed on the home screen, based on, for example, the distribution target attributes stored in the drug-related article DB 202a and the doctor attributes stored in the doctor DB 201. Hereinafter, this list will be referred to as a timeline article table. FIG. 6D is a diagram showing an example of a timeline article table created for each doctor. In this table, for example, the content ID of the drug-related article and the title of the article to be displayed on the timeline are displayed. In addition, in this table, the content ID of the drug-related article may be associated with the display end date and time.

[0076] For example, when a new article is registered in the drug-related article DB 202a, the timeline generation unit 101 refers to the "distribution target attributes" stored in the drug-related article DB 202a and the doctor DB 201, and updates the timeline article table of doctors who have attributes that match the distribution target attributes. Furthermore, the timeline generation unit 101 may delete from the timeline article table any article whose "display end date and time" in the timeline article table has passed.

[0077] [Transmitter] The transmitting unit 102 transmits medical content to the doctor terminal device 20. In the present disclosure, the medical content includes document information that is a drug-related article and a program executed in relation to the drug. As described above, the drug-related article may be an article containing drug advertisements or peripheral information about the drug. The peripheral information about the drug may include information about diseases related to the drug (including treatment manuals for the disease and tables for treatment) and information about measures to deal with side effects caused by the drug. The program includes a program for calculating medical assistance information that assists in the treatment of diseases for which the drug is effective (see FIG. 2C) and a program for calculating the dosage of the drug (see FIG. 2D). Note that the document information transmitted by the transmitting unit 102 may be an article about medical equipment.

[0078] The transmission of medical content by the transmission unit 102 may be performed at various times. For example, the transmission unit 102 may transmit the medical content to the doctor terminal device 20 when the support device 10 receives a connection request from the doctor terminal device 20 and authentication of the doctor terminal device 20 is successful.

[0079] Furthermore, when the transmission unit 102 receives a transmission request from the doctor terminal device 20, it may transmit medical content related to the request to the doctor terminal device 20. For example, when the title of a drug-related article is selected (e.g., tapped) on the doctor terminal device 20, the transmission unit 102 may transmit the drug-related article to the doctor terminal device 20. Furthermore, when a program is selected from a list of dosage calculation programs or a list of medical assistance programs on the doctor terminal device 20, the transmission unit 102 may transmit the selected program to the doctor terminal device 20.

[0080] The transmitting unit 102 transmits the titles of articles in the timeline article table to the doctor terminal device 20. This transmission may also be performed at various times. For example, the transmitting unit 102 may transmit the titles of articles at predetermined time intervals while the doctor terminal device 20 and the support device 10 are connected. When the transmitting unit 102 receives an update request from the doctor terminal device 20, it may transmit the titles of articles in the latest timeline article table to the doctor terminal device 20.

[0081] [Access History Acquisition Section] The access history acquisition unit 103 acquires the access history of each doctor to the medical content. In the access history DB 204, an access history table (see FIG. 4) is provided for each doctor. The access history acquisition unit 103 has a history table update unit 103a. The history table update unit 103a updates this access history table in response to an access operation by the doctor. For example, when an access operation is performed by a doctor, the history table update unit 103a receives an operation record indicating the access operation from the doctor terminal device 20. Then, the operation record is added to the access history table.

[0082] For example, when the doctor terminal device 20 and the support device 10 are connected, the history table update unit 103a receives an operation record from the doctor terminal device 20 each time an access operation is performed. On the other hand, when an access operation to medical content is performed while the doctor terminal device 20 and the support device 10 are not connected, the operation record may be stored in the memory unit 22 of the doctor terminal device 20. Then, the next time the doctor terminal device 20 connects to the support device 10, the history table update unit 103a may receive the operation record stored in the memory unit 22 from the doctor terminal device 20. This makes it possible to grasp access operations performed when the doctor terminal device 20 and the support device 10 are not connected (so-called offline). In the doctor terminal device 20, the operation record transmission unit 211 transmits the operation record to the support device 10 and stores the operation record in the memory unit 22.

[0083] [Personal History Counting Department] The access history acquisition unit 103 acquires the number of times the medical content has been accessed for each doctor. The access history acquisition unit 103 has an individual history counting unit 103b. The individual history counting unit 103b refers to an access history table, for example, and counts the number of times the medical content has been accessed for each doctor.

[0084] In the support system S proposed in the present disclosure, the medical content includes drug-related articles (document information) and a medical treatment support program. The personal history counting unit 103b counts the number of times each doctor has viewed the drug-related articles. The counting by the personal history counting unit 103b makes it possible to grasp the degree of interest each doctor has in the drugs and diseases related to the drug-related articles.

[0085] Furthermore, the individual history counting unit 103b calculates the number of times the support information calculation program is executed as the number of accesses. Specifically, the individual history counting unit 103b counts the number of times the medical assistance program is executed for each doctor. As described above, the medical assistance program is a program that calculates medical assistance information that assists in the diagnosis of diseases for which drugs are effective. Therefore, it is presumed that a doctor who has executed the medical assistance program many times sees many patients with that disease. Furthermore, the individual history counting unit 103b counts the number of times the dosage calculation program is executed for each doctor. The dosage calculation program is a program that calculates the dosage of a drug based on the patient's condition. Therefore, it is presumed that a doctor who has executed the dosage calculation program many times sees many patients with that disease and uses that drug.

[0086] The access history table (see FIG. 4) may be stored in the memory unit 22 of the doctor terminal device 20. In this case, the doctor terminal device 20 may count the number of accesses to the medical content. The access history acquisition unit 103 may then receive the counting result from the doctor terminal device 20. In this case, the operation record does not need to be transmitted from the doctor terminal device 20 to the support device 10.

[0087] [Effect calculation section] The effect calculation unit 104 performs calculations regarding the advertising effect of medical content (articles) about medical products such as drugs and medical devices. The effect calculation unit 104 performs calculations regarding the advertising effect based on the access history by multiple doctors. For example, the effect calculation unit 104 performs calculations regarding the advertising effect by referring to a table of access history by multiple doctors. The effect calculation unit 104 outputs, for example, the calculation results as effect information. Figure 7 is a diagram showing an example of an effect display table that presents effect information.

[0088] As shown in FIG. 5, the effect calculation unit 104 includes a counting unit 104a, an operation type integrated evaluation unit 104b, a content integrated evaluation unit 104c, and a re-view information calculation unit 104d.

[0089] [Counting section] As described above, medical content allows multiple types of access operations. For example, for drug-related articles, viewing operations, registration operations in a bookmark list stored in the bookmark DB 203, and saving operations in a storage area reserved for each doctor in the storage unit 12 are possible. Furthermore, for support information calculation programs, execution operations and registration in a bookmark list are possible. The counting unit 104a calculates the number of accesses for each type of access operation.

[0090] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the tallying unit 104a calculates the number of views, the number of bookmarks, and the number of saves by multiple doctors for a drug-related article (content ID: D0001, D0002). For example, if this drug-related article is sent only to doctors with certain attributes, the tallying unit 104a may refer to the access history table of the doctor with the attribute to whom the drug-related article was sent and tally the number of views. Alternatively, the tallying unit 104a may refer to the access history table of all doctors and tally the number of views. Similarly, if the drug-related article is sent only to doctors with certain attributes, the tallying unit 104a may refer to the access history table of the doctor with the attribute to whom the drug-related article was sent and tally the number of bookmarks and the number of saves. Alternatively, the tallying unit 104a may refer to the access history table of all doctors and tally the number of bookmarks and the number of saves.

[0091] If each doctor can only save one drug-related article once, the number of saved articles calculated by the counting unit 104a corresponds to the number of doctors who have saved this drug-related article. If each doctor can only register one drug-related article in the bookmark list once, the number of bookmarks calculated by the counting unit 104a corresponds to the number of doctors who have registered this drug-related article in the bookmark list.

[0092] 7, the counting unit 104a calculates the number of times the support information calculation program (content ID: P0001) has been executed by multiple doctors and the number of bookmarks. The counting unit 104a may, for example, count the number of times the program has been executed by referring to the access history tables of all doctors. Furthermore, if the support information calculation program has only been sent to doctors with certain attributes, the counting unit 104a may count the number of times the program has been executed by referring to only the access history tables of the doctors with the attributes to whom the program has been sent.

[0093] [Operation Type Integrated Evaluation Section] In this way, one medical content can be accessed by multiple methods. The operation type integrated evaluation unit 104b may integrate the number of accesses by the first access operation (e.g., a browsing operation) and the number of accesses by the second access operation (e.g., a bookmark registration operation and / or a save operation) to calculate the integrated information as effectiveness information. This allows the effectiveness of the medical content as an advertisement to be more appropriately understood.

[0094] For example, the content display table shown in Fig. 7 has an item "integrated evaluation." The operation type integrated evaluation unit 104b may calculate a weighted sum of the number of accesses to a drug-related article by the first access operation and the number of accesses by the second access operation, and use this as effectiveness information based on the integrated evaluation. In this case, the weight of an access operation that can be evaluated as having a high advertising effectiveness may be increased.

[0095] It is expected that doctors who are highly interested in drug-related articles will not only simply view the drug-related articles, but also register them in a bookmark list or save them in a memory area, thereby increasing their accessibility to the drug-related articles. Therefore, the operation type integrated evaluation unit 104b may relatively increase the weight of the number of bookmark lists (or the number of saves in a memory area) when calculating the weighted sum. Note that the effect information based on the integrated evaluation is not limited to this, and may also be the sum of the number of accesses by multiple types of access operations.

[0096] The operation type integrated evaluation unit 104b may perform similar processing on the support information calculation program. For example, the operation type integrated evaluation unit 104b may calculate a weighted sum of the number of accesses (e.g., number of executions) by the first access operation of the support information calculation program and the number of accesses (e.g., number of bookmarks) by the second access operation, and use this as effect information based on the integrated evaluation.

[0097] [Content Integrated Evaluation Department] The support device 10 transmits multiple medical contents for one drug. For example, in FIG. 3, for drug A1, a drug-related article and a support information calculation program are transmitted as medical contents. The effect calculation unit 104 calculates the number of times the multiple medical contents associated with one drug have been accessed.

[0098] In the drug-related article DB 202a (FIG. 6B) and the support information calculation program DB 202b (FIG. 6C), content IDs are associated with drug IDs. For example, in the drug-related article DB 202a, the same drug ID ("ID:X0001") is assigned to two drug-related articles ("ID:D0001" and "ID:D0002"). In the support information calculation program DB 202b, the same drug ID ("ID:X0001") is assigned to two support information calculation programs ("ID:P0001" and "ID:P0002"). In other words, four medical contents are associated with one drug.

[0099] The effect calculation unit 104 refers to the drug-related article DB 202a and the support information calculation program DB 202b and counts the number of accesses to multiple medical contents associated with a drug for which calculation of the advertising effect is requested. In the above example, as shown in FIG. 7, the effect calculation unit 104 calculates the number of accesses by multiple doctors and the effect information of the integrated evaluation for two drug-related articles associated with the drug "ID: X0001" and two support information calculation programs also associated with the drug "ID: X0001". The ID of the drug for which calculation of the advertising effect is requested may be received by the support device 10 or the manufacturer terminal device 30.

[0100] The content integrated evaluation unit 104c calculates the number of doctors who accessed these multiple medical contents. For example, if multiple articles are associated with one drug, such as an article explaining its effectiveness and an article explaining countermeasures for side effects, the content integrated evaluation unit 104c calculates the number of doctors who accessed these multiple articles.

[0101] For example, the number of doctors who viewed multiple drug-related articles is calculated. This process can be performed, for example, as follows: The content integrated evaluation unit 104c refers to an access history table provided for each doctor and lists the doctor IDs who viewed the first drug-related article. The content integrated evaluation unit 104c also refers to the access history table and lists the doctor IDs who viewed the second drug-related article. Then, the number of doctor IDs that overlap in the two lists is calculated. This makes it possible to calculate the number of doctors who viewed both the first drug-related article and the second drug-related article. The number of doctors who viewed three drug-related articles can also be calculated in a similar manner.

[0102] By calculating the number of doctors in this way, the advertising effectiveness of multiple drug-related articles that are related to each other in content can be comprehensively evaluated. Note that the content integrated evaluation unit 104c may also calculate the number of doctors who have registered multiple drug-related articles in their bookmark lists. Also, the content integrated evaluation unit 104c may calculate the number of doctors who have saved multiple drug-related articles.

[0103] Furthermore, the content integrated evaluation unit 104c may calculate a weighted sum of the number of doctors who accessed multiple drug-related articles. For example, the content integrated evaluation unit 104c may calculate, as effectiveness information, a weighted sum of the number of accesses (e.g., number of views) of a first drug-related article and the number of accesses (e.g., number of views) of a second drug-related article. In this case, the weight may be set according to the content of the drug-related article. For example, it is estimated that the advertising effectiveness of a drug-related article that describes a drug is higher than the advertising effectiveness of a drug-related article that describes a disease related to the drug. In this case, the weight of a drug-related article that describes a disease related to the drug may be set higher than the weight of a drug-related article that describes a disease.

[0104] The content integrated evaluation unit 104c may integrate and evaluate the number of accesses to multiple medical contents for one drug through multiple types of access operations. Referring to FIG. 7, for example, the number of views, the number of bookmarks, and the number of saves for two drug-related articles (D0001, D0002) may be integrated and evaluated. Specifically, a weighted sum of these numbers may be calculated as the effect information. In this case, for example, the weight of a drug-related article that explains a disease related to the drug may be greater than the weight of a drug-related article that explains the disease. Furthermore, the weight of the number of bookmarks and the number of saves may be relatively greater than the weight of the number of views.

[0105] Furthermore, the effect calculation unit 104 may integrate and evaluate the number of multiple types of access operations (e.g., number of views, number of bookmarks, and number of saves) for one or more drug-related articles and the number of access operations (e.g., number of executions, number of bookmarks) for one or more support information calculation programs. Specifically, a weighted sum of these numbers may be calculated as effect information. Referring to FIG. 7, for example, a weighted sum may be calculated for the number of views, number of bookmarks, and number of saves for two drug-related articles (ID: D0001, D0002) and the number of bookmarks for one support information calculation program (ID: P0001).

[0106] Furthermore, in the drug-related article DB 202a, search words may be stored in association with the content ID of each drug-related article. For example, an article about a drug A1 may be associated with the name of a disease to which the drug A1 is applicable as a search word. In this case, the effect calculation unit 104 may evaluate the effectiveness of the drug-related article as an advertisement by integrating the number of accesses (e.g., number of views, number of bookmarks, and number of saves) to one or more drug-related articles and the number of searches using search words associated with the drug.

[0107] [Review Information Calculation Unit] The re-view information calculation unit 104d calculates re-view information, which is information regarding the second or subsequent views of one drug-related article. The re-view information is, for example, the number of doctors whose number of views has reached a predetermined number of 2 or more. The re-view information calculation unit 104d may, for example, calculate the number of doctors whose number of views has been 2 or more, or the number of doctors whose number of views has been 3 or more. This number of doctors may then be displayed as "number of doctors who have re-viewed" in the effect display table, as shown in FIG. 7.

[0108] This process can be performed, for example, as follows: The re-view information calculation unit 104d refers to the access history table for each doctor. Then, it calculates, for each doctor, the number of times each drug-related article for which re-view information is requested has been viewed. For example, referring to the access history table in FIG. 4, it calculates that the doctor with "ID: M0001" has viewed the article with "ID: D0001" two times. If the number of views calculated in this way is a predetermined number equal to or greater than two, it adds the ID of that doctor to a list of doctors who have re-viewed the article. Then, it executes this process for all doctors to whom drug-related articles have been distributed. Then, it calculates the number of doctors added to the list as re-view information.

[0109] Furthermore, the re-view information calculation unit 104d may calculate re-execution information, which is information regarding the second or subsequent execution of one support information calculation program. The re-execution information is, for example, the number of doctors whose execution count has reached a predetermined number of 2 or more. The re-view information calculation unit 104d may, for example, calculate the number of doctors whose execution count has reached 2 or more, or the number of doctors whose execution count has reached 3 or more.

[0110] The re-view information calculation unit 104d may also calculate the number of re-views as shown in Fig. 7. The number of re-views may be, for example, the total number of views by a doctor who has re-viewed the program. The re-view information calculation unit 104d may also calculate the number of re-executions as shown in Fig. 7. The number of re-executions may be, for example, the total number of executions by a doctor who has executed the program two or more times.

[0111] [Content Reception Department] As described above, the manufacturer terminal device 30 has a content receiving unit 311 as one of its functions. The content receiving unit 311 receives medical content to be transmitted to the doctor terminal device 20 and information related to the content through the input unit 35. Specifically, for a drug-related article, the content receiving unit 311 receives various information (such as related drug ID and display start date and time) associated with the content ID in the drug-related article DB 202a (FIG. 6B). For a support information calculation program, the content receiving unit 311 receives various information associated with the content ID in the support information calculation program DB 202b (FIG. 6C). The content receiving unit 311 then transmits the received medical content and related information to the support device 10. Note that the function of the content receiving unit 311 may be realized by the support device 10.

[0112] [Additional medical content distribution] After delivering medical content such as drug-related articles to the doctor terminal device 20, the support device 10 extracts a portion of the medical content from multiple doctors based on each doctor's access history to the medical content. For example, the support device 10 extracts doctors who are presumed to have a high interest in the drug related to the medical content based on the number of times the medical content is accessed. Then, the support device 10 transmits additional medical content related to the drug to the extracted doctors.

[0113] The additional medical content to be transmitted may be, for example, a drug-related article. Specifically, it may be an advertisement article for a drug, an article explaining the efficacy of a drug, or an article explaining countermeasures for side effects. This processing can improve the effectiveness of the drug-related article as an advertisement. Hereinafter, the additional medical content to be transmitted will be referred to as "additional medical content."

[0114] The process of transmitting additional medical content is realized by the additional medical content DB 202c, the extraction unit 105, and the extraction condition receiving unit 312 shown in FIG.

[0115] [Additional Medical Content Database] The additional medical content DB202c is a database that stores information related to additional medical content. Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the additional medical content DB202c. Similar to the drug-related article DB202a, the additional medical content DB202c may store a content ID, a drug ID, a manufacturer name, a title to be displayed on the timeline, a display start date and time on the timeline, and a display end date and time in association with each other. Also, unlike the drug-related article DB202a, the additional medical content DB202c stores extraction conditions in association with the content ID.

[0116] [Extraction conditions] The extraction conditions include, for example, conditions regarding the number of executions or calculation results (support information) of a support information calculation program associated with the same drug as the additional medical content. For example, the extraction conditions include conditions regarding the number of executions or calculation results (medical support information) of a medical support program associated with the same drug as the additional medical content. For example, in FIG. 8, for the additional medical content with "ID: D0015," one of the conditions is that the number of executions of the medical support program is greater than 0. If the access history table includes medical support information, that medical support information (e.g., "severe illness") may be specified as one of the conditions. Furthermore, if the access history table includes information entered on the medical support tool screen, that input information may be specified as one of the conditions.

[0117] The medical assistance program related to this extraction condition is a program that has the attribute "medical assistance" in the support information calculation program DB 202b (Fig. 6C). Furthermore, the medical assistance program related to this extraction condition is a program that is associated with the same drug as the additional medical content in the support information calculation program DB 202b (Fig. 6C). For example, the medical assistance program with "ID: P0001" shown in Fig. 6C and the additional medical content with "ID: D0015" shown in Fig. 8 are associated with the same drug ("ID: X0001"). In this case, the number of times the medical assistance program with "ID: P0001" has been executed and the medical assistance information can be used as extraction conditions.

[0118] The extraction conditions may also include a condition regarding the access history of drug-related articles. In the example of Figure 8, one of the conditions is that the number of views of drug-related articles with the attribute "drug explanation" for the additional medical content "ID: D0015" is 0.

[0119] The drug-related articles that satisfy this condition are articles that are associated with the same drug as the additional medical content in the drug-related article DB 202a (FIG. 6B). For example, the article with "ID: D0001" shown in FIG. 6B and the additional medical content with "ID: D0015" shown in FIG. 8 are associated with the same drug ("ID: X0001"). In this case, the access history of the article with "ID: D0001" can be used as the extraction condition. The condition for the access history of the drug-related article may be that the number of views is less than a predetermined number, or that there is no operation to register or save the article in a bookmark list, etc.

[0120] Using these two conditions (i.e., a condition on the number of times the medical assistance program has been executed or the calculation results (medical assistance information), and a condition on the access history to drug-related articles), doctors who are treating patients for whom a drug associated with additional medical content is available but who have not viewed the drug-related articles for that drug will be extracted.

[0121] The medical content related to the extraction conditions may be identified not by the program attributes (in the above example, "medical assistance" or "medication explanation") but by the ID of the medical content.

[0122] The extraction conditions may include a condition regarding the number of executions or calculation results (medical support information) of the medical assistance program and a condition regarding the number of executions of the dosage calculation program. In the example of FIG. 8, for the additional medical content "ID: D1015," the conditions are that the number of executions of the medical assistance program is greater than 0, and that the number of executions of the dosage calculation program is 0. According to this extraction condition, doctors who are likely not using a drug associated with the additional medical content, even though they are treating patients who would benefit from the drug, will be extracted. Note that the condition regarding the number of executions of the dosage calculation program may be equal to or less than a predetermined number greater than 0. Note that the dosage calculation program related to this condition is also a program associated with the same drug as the additional medical content in the support information calculation program DB 202b (FIG. 6C).

[0123] In this way, the doctor extraction conditions include conditions regarding the number of times the medical assistance program has been run or the medical assistance information, and conditions regarding the access history to medical content other than the medical assistance program (such as viewing of drug-related articles). This allows the article to be sent to doctors who are likely to have a strong interest in the additional medical content.

[0124] The extraction conditions are not limited to the above examples. The extraction conditions may be conditions regarding the number of times the dosage calculation program is executed or the calculation result (dosage). In this case, the condition may be that the number of times the program is executed is greater than 0, or that the calculation result (dosage) is greater than (or less than) a predetermined value. This makes it possible to extract doctors who are in charge of diseases requiring drugs whose dosages can be calculated using the dosage calculation tool.

[0125] The extraction conditions may also be conditions regarding the access history of one or more drug-related articles. In this case, the extraction conditions may not include the number of executions of the medical assistance program or the medical assistance information, or the number of executions of the dosage calculation program.

[0126] [Extraction part] The extraction unit 105 extracts doctors to whom additional medical content is to be distributed based on the access history to the medical content. Specifically, the extraction unit 105 refers to the access history DB 204 and extracts doctors whose access history meets the extraction conditions defined in the additional medical content DB 202c.

[0127] The timeline generation unit 101 adds the titles of the additional medical content and the like to the timeline article table (FIG. 6D) of the doctor extracted by the extraction unit 105. Then, the transmission unit 102 transmits the titles of the articles in the timeline article table to the doctor terminal device 20.

[0128] [Accept extraction conditions] The extraction condition receiving unit 312 receives the extraction conditions described above. Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a reception screen displayed by the extraction condition receiving unit 312 on the display unit 34. The reception screen for the extraction conditions may include, for example, an input field R91 for the target drug ID. The reception screen may also include input fields R93 and R94 for the attributes of the medical content related to the extraction conditions, and input fields R96 and R97 for the access history or calculation results (e.g., medical support information or dosage) of each medical content.

[0129] The extraction condition receiving unit 312 transmits the received extraction conditions to the support device 10. Upon receiving the extraction conditions, the support device 10 updates the additional medical content DB 202c and adds information about the additional medical content. Note that the extraction condition receiving unit 312 does not necessarily have to be provided in the manufacturer terminal device 30. In this case, the extraction conditions may be input via the input unit 15 of the support device 10.

[0130] [Process flow for sending additional medical content] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation related to the transmission of additional medical content.

[0131] The manufacturer terminal device 30 (extraction condition receiving unit 312) receives extraction conditions (S201). Specifically, as shown in Fig. 9, a reception screen for the extraction conditions is displayed on the display unit 34, and the extraction conditions are received through this screen. The manufacturer terminal device 30 transmits the extraction conditions entered on this reception screen to the support device 10 (S202).

[0132] When the support device 10 receives the extraction conditions, it updates the additional medical content DB 202c using the received extraction conditions (S203). Then, the extraction unit 105 refers to the access history DB 104 and extracts doctors who meet the conditions (S204). The support device 10 may transmit the extraction result of S204 to the manufacturer terminal device 30 (S205). At this time, the support device 10 may transmit the IDs of the extracted doctors and / or the number of extracted doctors to the manufacturer terminal device 30.

[0133] The manufacturer terminal device 30 transmits a request to send the additional medical content to the support device 10 (S206). Upon receiving the request to send the additional medical content, the support device 10 distributes the additional medical content to the doctors extracted in S204 (S207). Specifically, the title of the additional medical content, etc., is added to the timeline article table of each doctor.

[0134] Thereafter, the support device 10 (transmission unit 102) transmits the title etc. in the timeline article table to which the title of the additional medical content has been added to the doctor terminal device 20 (S208). At this time, the support device 10 (transmission unit 102) may transmit the additional medical content itself to the doctor terminal device 20. Alternatively, when the title of the additional medical content displayed on the timeline is selected in the doctor terminal device 20 and the doctor terminal device 20 transmits a request for this additional medical content to the support device 10, the support device 10 may transmit the additional medical content itself to the doctor terminal device 20.

[0135] [summary] (1) The support device 10 includes a transmitter 102 that transmits first medical content related to drugs to multiple doctor terminal devices 20 used by multiple doctors, and an access history acquisition unit 103 that acquires the number of times each doctor has accessed the first medical content. This allows doctors' interests to be properly understood. As a result, it becomes possible to provide more useful information to doctors, or to provide information that is useful to drug providers such as pharmaceutical manufacturers. (2) In the support device 10 of (1), medical content related to medical products such as medicines is document information. Specifically, the medical content is medicine-related articles. The medicine-related articles include advertisements for medicines, information about diseases related to medicines (for example, medical treatment manuals and tables for medical treatment), and articles about countermeasures for side effects. The access history acquisition unit 103 acquires the number of times the medical content has been viewed as the number of accesses for each doctor. (3) In the support device 10 of (2), the effect calculation unit 104 calculates re-view information, which is information about the second or subsequent viewing of medical content by each doctor. This makes it possible to obtain information about doctors who are highly interested in medical content. (4) In the support device 10 of (3), the effect calculation unit 104 calculates, as the re-viewing information, the number of doctors who have viewed the medical content a predetermined number of times equal to or greater than 2. This makes it possible to grasp the number of doctors who have a strong interest in the medical content. (5) In the support device 10 described in (1) to (4), the transmission unit 102 transmits multiple medical contents associated with the same medical product to multiple doctor terminal devices. The effectiveness calculation unit 104 calculates the number of accesses to each of the multiple medical contents by multiple doctors. This allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the advertising effectiveness of multiple medical contents that are related to each other in terms of content. (6) In the support device 10 of (5), the effect calculation unit 104 calculates the number of doctors who have accessed at least two of the multiple medical contents. This makes it possible to grasp the number of doctors who have a strong interest in the drugs associated with the medical contents. (7) The medical content transmitted by the support device 10 of (1) to (6) includes a support information calculation program executed in relation to a medical product, and the access history acquisition unit 103 acquires the number of times the support information calculation program has been executed by multiple doctors as the number of accesses for each doctor. (8) In the support device 10 described in (1) to (7), the access operation to the first medical content includes at least two of the following operations: a viewing operation by each medical professional; a registration operation in a bookmark list provided for each medical professional; and a saving operation in a storage area provided for each medical professional. The effect calculation unit 104 acquires the number of accesses by the first access operation, which is one of the two operations, and the number of accesses by the second access operation, which is the other of the two operations. This allows the effectiveness of the medical content as an advertisement to be more appropriately understood. In the support device 10 of (9)(8), the effect calculation unit 104 calculates effect information by integrating the number of accesses by the first access operation and the number of accesses by the second access operation. This allows the effectiveness of the medical content as an advertisement to be more appropriately understood. (10) In the support device 10 of (1) to (9), the effect calculation unit 104 calculates the number of medical contents registered in the bookmark list provided for each medical worker. (11) In the support device 10 of (1) to (10), the effect calculation unit 104 calculates the number of medical contents stored in the storage area provided to each doctor. (12) In the support device 10 described in (1) to (10), the extraction unit 105 extracts a portion of multiple doctors based on the number of times each doctor has accessed medical content. This allows the provision of services and information appropriate for the extracted doctors. (13) In the support device 10 of (11), the transmission unit 102 transmits multiple medical contents associated with the same drug to multiple doctor terminal devices 20. The extraction unit 105 extracts a portion of the medical contents from multiple doctors based on their access histories to the multiple medical contents. This allows information about the drug to be provided to doctors who are presumed to have a high interest in the drug. (14) In the support device 10 of (1) to (13), the first medical content includes a program that calculates, as medical assistance information, information that assists in medical treatment for a disease to which a drug is applied, based on the patient's condition input to each of the multiple doctor terminal devices 20. The access history acquisition unit 103 acquires at least one of the medical assistance information and the number of times the program has been executed for each doctor. The extraction unit 105 extracts a portion from multiple doctors based on at least one of the medical assistance information and the number of times the program has been executed. This allows information about a drug to be provided to doctors who are estimated to have a high interest in that drug. (15) In the support device 10 of (14), the transmission unit 102 transmits multiple medical contents associated with the same medical product to multiple doctor terminal devices 20. The extraction unit 105 extracts a portion from multiple doctors based on at least one of support information obtained from the first medical content and the number of times it has been used, and access history of medical content different from the first medical content. This allows information about a drug to be provided to doctors who are estimated to have a greater interest in that drug. (16) In the support device 10 of (12) to (15), the transmission unit 102 transmits additional medical content including information about medication to some of the extracted doctors. This allows the additional medical content to function effectively as an advertisement for the medication. (17) In (1) to (16), each of the plurality of doctor terminal devices 20 has a storage unit 22 that stores access information representing access operations to medical content when the doctor terminal device 20 is not connected to the support device 10 via the network N. The access history acquisition unit 103 receives the access information stored in the doctor terminal device 20 from the doctor terminal device 20 when the support device 10 and the doctor terminal device 20 are connected via the network N. (18) The method proposed in the present disclosure includes a transmitting step of transmitting first medical content related to drugs to multiple doctor terminal devices used by multiple doctors, respectively, and an access history acquiring step of acquiring the number of times the multiple doctors have accessed the first medical content for each doctor. This allows doctors' interests to be properly understood. As a result, it becomes possible to provide more useful information to doctors, or to provide information that is useful to drug providers such as pharmaceutical manufacturers. (19) The program proposed in this disclosure causes a computer to function as a transmitter 102 that transmits first medical content related to drugs to multiple doctor terminal devices 20 used by multiple doctors, and an access history acquirer 103 that acquires the number of times each doctor has accessed the first medical content. This allows doctors' interests to be properly understood. As a result, it becomes possible to provide more useful information to doctors, or to provide information that is useful to drug providers such as pharmaceutical manufacturers. (20) The support system S proposed in this disclosure includes a plurality of doctor terminal devices 20 used by a plurality of doctors respectively, and a support device 10 including a transmission unit 102 that transmits medical content to the plurality of terminal devices 20. The doctor terminal devices 20 accept access operations to the medical content by the doctors. The support device 10 includes an access history acquisition unit 103 that acquires, for each of the plurality of doctors, the number of accesses to the medical content. This allows doctors' interests to be properly understood. As a result, it becomes possible to provide more useful information to doctors, or to provide information that is useful to drug providers such as pharmaceutical manufacturers. In the system S of (21)(20), each of the multiple doctor terminal devices 20 has a memory unit 22 that stores access information (operation record) representing access operations to medical content when the doctor terminal device 20 is not connected to the support device 10 via the network N. When the support device 10 and the doctor terminal device 20 are connected via the network, the doctor terminal device 20 (operation record sending unit 211) sends the access information stored in the memory unit 22 to the support device 10. This allows the number of access operations when the doctor terminal device 20 is not connected to the support device 10 due to the influence of the communication environment, etc. to be acquired as an access operation history. (22) The program set proposed in this disclosure includes a plurality of first programs that cause a plurality of first computers (doctor terminal devices 20) to function as input means for accepting access operations by doctors to medical content related to drugs. The program set also includes a transmission means for transmitting medical content to the plurality of first computers, and a second program that causes a second computer (support device 10) to function as access history acquisition means for acquiring, for each of the plurality of doctors, the number of accesses to the medical content by the plurality of doctors. (23) In the program set of (22), the first program stores access information (operation record) representing access operations to medical content in the memory unit 22 when the first computer and the second computer are not connected via a network, and causes the first computer to function as a transmitting means for transmitting the access information stored in the memory unit 22 to the second computer when the first computer and the second computer are connected via the network N. (24) The support device 10 includes an access history acquisition unit 103 that acquires support information for assisting each doctor in medical treatment, calculated based on the patient's condition input into multiple doctor terminal devices used by the multiple doctors, and at least one of the number of calculations of this support information, an extraction unit 105 that extracts a portion of the multiple doctors based on at least one of the support information and the number of calculations, and a transmission unit 102 that transmits medical content related to drugs to the extracted portion of the doctors. This makes it possible to provide medical content related to drugs to doctors who are estimated to have a high interest in the drugs. (25) The method proposed in this disclosure includes an access history acquisition step of acquiring support information for assisting each doctor in medical treatment, calculated based on the patient's condition entered into multiple doctor terminal devices used by each of the multiple doctors, and at least one of the number of times this support information is calculated, an extraction step of extracting a portion of the multiple doctors based on at least one of the support information and the number of times this support information is calculated, and a transmission step of transmitting medical content related to medical products to the extracted portion of medical professionals. This allows medical content related to drugs to be provided to doctors who are estimated to have a high interest in the drugs. (26) The program proposed in this disclosure causes a computer to function as an access history acquisition unit 103 that acquires support information to assist each doctor in medical treatment, calculated based on the patient's condition input into multiple doctor terminal devices 20 used by each of the multiple doctors, and at least one of the number of calculations of this support information, an extraction unit 105 that extracts a portion of the multiple doctors based on at least one of the support information and the number of calculations, and a transmission unit 102 that transmits medical content related to drugs to the extracted portion of the doctors. This makes it possible to provide medical content related to drugs to doctors who are estimated to have a high interest in the drugs.

[0136] It should be noted that the support device, support system, support method, program, and program set proposed in this disclosure are not limited to the examples described with reference to the support device 10.

[0137] For example, the support device 10 may transmit medical content to a terminal device used by a medical professional other than a doctor (e.g., a laboratory technician or a nurse). In this case, medical content related to a medical product other than a drug (e.g., a medical device) may be transmitted to the terminal device.

[0138] Furthermore, in the support device 10, after the drug-related article and the support information calculation program associated with a drug in the database are transmitted, the extraction unit 105 extracts a doctor to whom the next content (additional medical content) is to be distributed. However, drug-related articles and support information calculation programs not associated with drugs may be available on the doctor terminal device 20. In this case, the access history table (FIG. 4) may record access histories to those drug-related articles and support information calculation programs. The extraction unit 105 may extract a doctor who meets the extraction conditions accepted by the extraction condition accepting unit 312 based on those access histories. Then, the drug-related article and the support information calculation program associated with a certain drug may be transmitted to the extracted doctor. In other words, before transmitting the first medical content (e.g., a drug-related article) for a certain drug A1, the transmission device 10 may extract a doctor to whom the first medical content (e.g., a support information calculation program) is to be distributed from the access history to another medical content (e.g., a support information calculation program).

[0139] In the support device 10, the drug-related article DB 202a associates drug-related articles with drugs, and the support information calculation program DB 202b associates support information calculation programs with drugs. These databases are then referenced to calculate effect information for multiple medical content items for a single drug. Alternatively, the support device 10 or the manufacturer terminal device 30 may have an interface (receiving means) that accepts the IDs of these multiple medical content items. The medical content items designated in this manner may include not only drug-related articles but also support information calculation programs. In this case, the effect calculation unit 104 (content integrated evaluation unit 104c) may calculate effect information that comprehensively evaluates the advertising effectiveness of the multiple designated medical content items. In this case, the effect calculation unit 104 may calculate a weighted sum of the access counts of these multiple medical content items. [Explanation of symbols]

[0140] 10: Support device, 20: Doctor terminal device, 30: Manufacturer terminal device, 101: Timeline generation unit, 102: Transmission unit, 103: Access history acquisition unit, 103a: History table update unit, 103b: Personal history counting unit, 104: Effect calculation unit, 104a: Aggregation unit, 104b: Operation type integrated evaluation unit, 104c: Content integrated evaluation unit, 104d: Re-view information calculation unit, 105: Extraction unit, 211: Operation record transmission unit, 311: Content reception unit, 312: Extraction condition reception unit, 104: Access history DB, 201: Doctor DB, 202: Content management DB, 202a: Drug-related article DB, 202b: Support information calculation program DB, 202c: Additional medical content DB, 203: Bookmark DB, 204: Access history DB.

Claims

[Claim 1] a transmitting means for transmitting first medical content related to medical products to a plurality of terminal devices respectively used by a plurality of medical professionals; an access history acquisition means for acquiring the number of times the first medical content has been accessed by each of the plurality of medical workers; Assistance devices for medical personnel, including:

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