5155 results about "Medical emergency" patented technology

A system and method of managing therapy provided to patients in an institution. The system monitors all aspects of the medication delivery to a patient, as well as other information related to the patient, such as values of vital signs, laboratory results and patient factors such as history, diagnosis, allergies and the like. The system includes one or more databases of information, including institutionally developed rules, guidelines and protocol representing the best medical practices of the institution. The system provides alerts and/or recommendations based on the application of the rules to the information being monitored, and alerts care givers accordingly, providing for dynamic adjustment of the patient's therapy. The system also monitors the status of the alerts, and if no action is taken in a selected period of time, may escalate the priority of the alert and/or halt the delivery of medication to the patient until the alert is resolved.

A patient safety system including an adjustable bed and a patient monitoring system is disclosed herein. The adjustable bed can automatically adjust to a safe default configuration when the safety system detects that a care provider has left the patient's room or when the safety system detects that the patient is trying to leave the bed. The patient monitoring system can send an alert to the care provider and/or sound an alarm if the patient tries to leave the bed and a care provider is not present with the patient.

The present disclosure provides methods and systems for assisting a user in managing a timeline of appointments in which at least one appointment is associated with an event, and the appointment has associated appointment information that describes aspects of the appointment and/or event, including receiving free-form scheduling information from an electronic notification, inferring that at least a portion of the free-form scheduling information relates to an existing appointment and/or associated event, the existing appointment having presently associated appointment information that describes aspects of the appointment and/or associated event, selecting an appointment for modification, and modifying the selected appointment based on (a) the portion of the free-form scheduling information inferred to relate to the existing appointment and/or associated event, and at least one of the appointment information presently associated with the existing appointment, and a user preference signature representing prior actions performed by and/or content preferences learned about the user.

Medical patient monitoring devices that have the capability of detecting the physical proximity of a clinician token are disclosed. The medical patient monitoring devices may be configured to perform a selected action when the presence of a clinician is detected. The selected action may be dependent upon an attribute of the circumstances surrounding detection of the clinician.

The present invention relates to a device for augmenting an alarm signal generated by an analyte monitoring device, e.g., the GlucoWatch(R) (Cygnus, Inc., Redwood City, Calif.) biographer glucose monitoring device, for improving the alarm signal's effectiveness in alerting the user, and/or for communicating the signal to a person or person(s) other than the user, or to a trained assistance animal.

A medical sanitation device may include a detector for detecting the physical presence of a clinician token within a detection area in the vicinity of the medical sanitation device. The clinician token may be indicative of the identity of a clinician. The medical sanitation device also includes a sanitation module configured to be used by the clinician to perform a sanitation task. Detection of a clinician in proximity to the medical sanitation device may be used to at least partially control access to, or operation of, a medical patient monitoring device.

A mobile personal computing and communications device provides for secure, reliable, accurate and up-to-date point-of-care medical information for rendering sound medical care to a patient. The mobile personal device may be used by either the patient and/or by caregivers to furnish, access and/or acquire and store the patient's medical records using wireless communications, to provide a treatment, to facilitate compliance with a treatment plan, to facilitate patient care, to facilitate collaboration on treatment for the patient's condition, and to proffer an authenticated medical directive, among other mobile medical services.

A portable digital patient assistant includes an RFID reader, a central processing unit for processing signals received from the RFID reader, a memory for storing data, and an output operatively linked to the central processing unit for providing output information regarding use of medicinal drugs. Methods for using the portable digital patient assistant include use at the doctor's office, pharmacy, emergency medical vehicle, hospital, home, and use while taking medications to the verify authenticity thereof and prevent drug overdoses. Related methods and systems for manufacturing, packaging, and shipping medicinal drugs to prevent the distribution of counterfeit drugs are also provided. One of the methods includes the steps of preparing a predetermined amount of a specific type of drug for patient end-users; forming discrete individual doses of the specific type of drug; and associating a respective RFID tag with each of the discrete individual doses of the specific type of drug so that when the specific type of drug is distributed to the patient end-users, at least one RFID reader may be employed to read the RFID tags associated with each of the discrete individual doses to thereby verify the authenticity of the doses as they move through a distribution channel from a manufacture to the patient end-users.

A system for collection and analysis of patient information for automated remote patient care is presented. A medical device adapted to be implanted for an individual patient regularly records and stores measures sets containing individual measures which each relate to patient information. A database collects one or more patient care records organized to include a plurality of the collected measures sets, and stores the collected measures set into a patient care record for the individual patient within a database. A server periodically receives a set of the collected measures from the medical device adapted to be implanted, and analyzes one or more of the collected measures sets in the patient care record for the individual patient relative to one or more other collected measures sets stored in the database server to determine a patient status indicator.

A patient care system in which a physiological parameter of a patient is monitored while the patient self-administers analgesic. A display presents a trend of the patient's physiological parameter along with the time of self-administration of the analgesic (“PCA”—patient controlled analgesic) such that the effect of the analgesic on the physiological parameter can be seen over selectable time periods. The physiological parameter may be ETCO₂ or SpO₂ or other. Also included is a drug library having acceptable pumping parameters as well as other PCA specific data. Should the operator program a pumping parameter that is outside an acceptable range, or should the patient attempt to self-administer more analgesic than the acceptable range permits, or should a patient's physiological parameter change during infusion such that a pumping parameter becomes outside an acceptable range, an indication of such will be given and action, such as stopping the pump, will be taken.

A patient flow system and method manages patients in a medical facility by tagging patients, medical staff, and medical assets with wireless locator tags, and assigning a patient flow pattern to each patient. As the patient moves throughout the medical facility, the patient tag sends location information to a management computer to track the patient's progress through the patient flow pattern. The patient's next state is determined by analyzing the patient's location as well as the patient's current and previous states.

The system for monitoring and dispensing medical items which are dispensed for administration to patients includes a data terminal (76, 338) which is connected through a network (82, 328) to at least one remote computer (84, 324) having a processor and a data store. The system also includes a reading device (348) which is connected to the network. A user of the data terminal or the reading device is enabled to select a patient for whom medical items will be used, and responsive to a request to dispense items the requested items are dispensed from dispensing devices (96, 100, 344, 346, 450, 527) connected to the data terminal. A report generating device (384) generates reports (388) which include machine readable indicia corresponding to patients and/or medical items. Users may select patients and dispense medications by reading the indicia from the reports using the reading device. Certain storage locations are also labeled with machine readable indicia which may be read to indicate the taking of items therefrom as well as to indicate inventory status information. One such dispensing device in the system is a cabinet (550). The cabinet may be configured with various configurations of drawers or shelves by supporting connecting members in apertures which extend in the interior walls of the cabinet.

An electronic patient monitoring system includes first and second modules. The first module is configured to receive and store information pertaining to a patient, said information including data related to a first parameter of the patient measured by a device connected to the patient, and data related to a second parameter of the patient received from a first database containing information about the patient. The second module is configured to receive a medication order from a user via a user interface associated with the second module, said second module being further configured to transmit said treatment order to the first module.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for monitoring patient support exiting and initiating a response. Movement data is accessed from sensors (e.g., cameras) that are monitoring a patient resting on a support platform. A motion capture pattern summary is generated from the accessed movement data. The motion capture pattern summary is compared to one or more movement pattern data sets in a library of movement pattern data sets. It is determined that the motion capture pattern summary is sufficiently similar to one of the one or more movement pattern data sets in the library of movement pattern data sets. From the determined similarity it is determined that the patient is attempting to exit the support platform. Remedial measures are initiated to prevent the detected platform support exiting attempt.

Systems and methods are provided for monitoring one or more patients to ensure compliance with required hygienic procedures and/or to ensure only authorized persons are allowed to attend to such patients. One system includes detectors that may be sequentially activated as a person approaches a patient. Activation of the detectors, in sequence, causes a signal to be transmitted by a controller. If the person is wearing a monitor and has complied with the required hygienic procedure, the monitor transmits a responsive signal to the controller that is encoded to indicate such compliance. If the person is either not wearing a monitor or the monitor does not transmit an appropriate responsive signal, the controller can provide a warning signal and cause a violation of protocol to be recorded. The system may include a portable sanitizer that is capable of functioning as a monitor. The systems and methods do not, however, require monitors worn by health care workers or other persons. Sensors may be associated with a hospital bed and/or a patient.

A system and method for monitored administration of medical products to patients. In one implementation, the system includes: an RFID tag article disposable on or in proximity to a patient, including a first RFID tag containing first information relevant to administration of medical product to the patient; a medical product labeled with a second RFID tag containing second information relevant to administration of the medical product to the patient; a reader arranged to receive signals from at least one of the first and second RFIDs; and a controller operatively coupleable in communication with the reader to process information received by the reader and to responsively generate an output relating to treatment of the patient.

A system and method are provided for automatically developing and implementing, a comprehensive customized care plan for a patient, to address all of the patient medical and non-medical (e.g., social, quality-of-life, personal) needs, utilizing a wide variety of information: both gathered both personally from a patient by a medical professional and also collected automatically by one or more telemedicine systems. The system and method of the present invention also continually re-assess and dynamically modify the comprehensive care plan, and additionally enable a wide variety of services and benefits to be made available to the patients in a manner automatically customized for their specific needs, with the offered services and benefits being dynamically adjusted as the patient needs change or evolve. In addition, the inventive system provides platform-independent capabilities so that diagnostic systems and devices from various vendors may be freely mixed to provide patients with customized diagnostic monitoring at the lowest possible cost.

A system and method for collecting and testing data at a patient point of care location via a first device, such as a sample cartridge adapted to engage a first device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) incorporating a wireless communication module to communicate collected data to a second device, such as a healthcare workers personal PDA located beyond a contamination radius about a patient. Each device can further include a registration device, such as a bar code reader, to collect additional information at a point of care and tag data, or data analysis information, with an associated patient code.

A bed exit and patient detection system especially adapted for use in the general medical or surgical floor area of a hospital or other healthcare facility as part of a vital signs monitoring and remote warning system includes a plurality of pressure sensors disposed in the patient's bed in a series of rectangular strips or zones that run laterally across the bed in the area of the patient's mid-back, hips and mid-legs, respectively. Each zone contains a plurality of sensors, arranged symmetrically about the centerline of the bed, with the corresponding sensors on opposite sides of the centerline in each zone being connected in parallel. The sensors are connected to a processor with multiple input channels that continuously monitors the sensor states to determine, from the pattern of sensor states observed, whether the patient is in bed, out of bed or is actively attempting to ext the bed at the sides or foot of the bed. At least three different sets of bed exit logic rules are available for user selection to configure the system for high, medium or low sensitivity, or bed exit privileges, for any particular patient. In some embodiments, the system also is capable of detecting when a patient is attempting to assume certain prohibited in-bed positions, such as sitting positions or slumping positions. An alarm in the form of a pre-recorded voice announcement or an alarm over a pre-existing nurse call system is provided when the sensor states are indicative of an out-of-bed or an exiting bed condition, or other prohibited in-bed positions, for a predetermined minimum period of time.

A method of displaying medical data, particularly data representative of the condition of patients suffering from chronic medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension. The display consists of two graphical elements, one of which indicates the current value of a parameter indicative of the patient's condition, this being displayed against another graphical element which represents a model of normality for that patient. The graphical element indicating the current condition may be, for example, a needle, against a scale which is constructed according to the patient-specific model of normality. This is particularly advantageous in the case of displays which have a small display area, such as mobile telephones and PDAs. Other forms of display are disclosed, such as histograms with the display being dynamically colour-coded and auto-scaled, or displays including limits which may vary. Another form of display is also disclosed which illustrates administrations of a pharmacological agent and corresponding measurements of the patient's condition, with a visual link such as colour-coding linking the administration to the corresponding condition measurement. For example several days of insulin administration dosages may be displayed alongside several days of blood glucose measurements, with the administrations colour-coded to the corresponding blood glucose measurement, to assist the patient in determining whether the insulin administration is stably controlling their condition.

A medication dispensing system comprising a programmable on-site medication dispensing unit and a central monitoring facility. The on-site medication dispensing unit holds medication in a plurality of canisters which it selects from according to an entered and stored prescription regimen and then notifies the patient by an audible or other sensory signal. If the patient presses a button within a prescribed time, the unit dispenses the selected canisters. If the patient does not press the button within the prescribed time, or if the unit detects a failure to dispense the selected canister, the unit makes the canister inaccessible and contacts, in order, a predetermined list of caregivers and then a central monitoring facility. An audio message is downloaded from the central monitoring facility to one or more of the on-site dispensing units, and played in accordance with a downloaded play program.

A system and method for managing alert notifications in an automated patient management system is presented. One or more settings specifying patient data collection periodicity are defined. One or more patient data sources operating on a remotely managed patient and selected from at least one of a physiological sensor and a therapy delivery device are also defined. One or more triggers associated with a condition occurring in relation to at least one such patient data evaluateable subsequent to collection are defined. Finally, a notification scheme executable upon detection of at least one such trigger is determined to provide an external indicator of the condition occurrence.

System and method for monitoring and controlling, defibrillation and pacing which allows a victim of a cardiac rhythm abnormality immediate access to a medical professional at a central station, who will remotely monitor, diagnose and treat the victim at one of a plurality of remote sites in accordance with the following steps: (1) providing a plurality of contact electrodes for a victim at a remote site for the receipt of ECG signals and for the application of electrical pulses to the victim; (2) transmitting the signals from the remote site to a central station and displaying them for review by the medical professional; (3) the medical professional selecting from a menu of defibrillation and pacing pulses, if the application thereof is appropriate; (4) transmitting the selection results to the remote site; and (5) receiving the selection results at the remote site and applying the selected pulses to the victim.

A closed loop system for monitoring drug dose, intake and effectiveness includes a drug delivery device in data communications with at least one implantable medical device. The system is preferably implemented in a web-enabled environment in which a remote data center communicates with the implantable devices (IMDs) in a patient via a programmer or the pill dispenser. A physician, clinician, or other user may access the remote data center to review and monitor the IMDs or the drug delivery regime remotely. The system further provides a dynamic drug management system, compatible with a web-enabled interactive data communication environment that accurately monitors dose and specific drug effectiveness in a patient to enhance patient care.

An apparatus and method for predicting potentially fatal arrhythmias up to twenty four hours in advance of the event by employing formulas indicating either too little or too much heart rate variability. A number of these formulas have both predetermined upper and lower limits, which if exceeded for a period of time are a predictor of a potentially fatal arrhythmia. When a patient's ALARM condition is predicted, whether the patient is indoors or outdoors, conscious or unconscious, a redundant protocol is utilized to relay that ALARM condition to a central monitoring station. The central monitoring station informs the patient's doctor, and then uses what ever means are available to transport the patient to the nearest emergency room for treatment. An apparatus and method for pacing the heart in a natural way, once a potentially fatal arrhythmia has been predicted is also disclosed.

A medication management system (MMS) includes a medication management unit (MMU) associated with a medical device. The MMU downloads a medication order to the medical device only if information from a first input matches information from a second input. The medical,device receives delivery information only from the MMU. The medication order is performed only after delivery data validation. The MMU also determines drug-drug incompatibility. The MMU can modulate (start, stop, and dynamically adjust) medication order performance. The medical device wirelessly receives a patient ID to automatically associate with the patient. During delivery, the medical device caches an updated drug library to replace an existing one. The medical device displays a patient picture for validation. The MMU evaluates the performance of medical devices and caregivers based medical device feedback. The MMU adjusts the output of medical device information conveyed to a caregiver.

The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for evaluating medical care performance, wherein the performance may be rated as the success of the outcome to the patient and as the quality of medical care provided by an institution. More specifically, the present disclosure presents a method and apparatus for aggregating and correlating unstructured data related to patients, medical institutions, and medical procedures, which may allow for more effective management of a patient's health.

A medication management system (MMS) includes a medication management unit (MMU) associated with a medical device. The MMU downloads a medication order to the medical device only if information from a first input matches information from a second input. The medical device receives delivery information only from the MMU. The medication order is performed only after delivery data validation. The MMU also determines drug-drug incompatibility. The MMU can modulate (start, stop, and dynamically adjust) medication order performance. The medical device wirelessly receives a patient ID to automatically associate with the patient. During delivery, the medical device caches an updated drug library to replace an existing one. The medical device displays a patient picture for validation. The MMU evaluates the performance of medical devices and caregivers based medical device feedback. The MMU adjusts the output of medical device information conveyed to a caregiver.

A system and method for managing medication orders, including verbal orders and changes to those orders, is described. A server receives mediation orders from a pharmacy and communicates those orders to an infusion pump. The infusion pump communicates status messages to the server and the server compares the status messages to the medication orders to determine if the there were any changes to the order, or if a medication was administered absent a medication order. The server assigns a new order identification number to the status message if needed. The system may also reconcile original medication orders with information associated with a new order identification number and stores the information in the eMAR of a patient.

A system and method are provided to associate a medication name with an infusion pump and to communicate that association to a patient data management system (“PDMS”) for display and monitoring. In the case where the infusion pump does not contain a library of selectable medical fluid names that includes the name of the medical fluid to be infused, a separate computer will display a list of medical fluid names for the infusion pump and the operator may select the name of the medical fluid for that infusion pump. The computer will then continually associate that medical fluid name with that infusion pump and communicate the association to the PDMS. In the case where the infusion pump is capable of accepting an upload of new medical fluid names, the computer will upload an abbreviated list of fluid names so as not to overburden the computer with the transfer of large amounts of data.