Handheld Electronic Chart for Real-Time Medical Record Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for managing medical records and charts, particularly in anesthesia care, face challenges in efficiently documenting and tracking patient data in real-time due to limitations in user interface design and data organization on handheld devices, leading to incomplete data entry and increased visual effort in locating relevant information.
Innovation Solution
A mobile electronic chart system with a handheld apparatus featuring a touch-responsive display, memory, and wireless network interface, allowing for real-time tracking and updating of patient monitoring worksheets with sections for drugs, fluids, vital signs, and physiological data, including auto-population and edit features to address incomplete data, and providing alerts for data completion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If medical professionals use traditional paper forms and charts to document patient care data, then data entry is simple and straightforward, but data organization becomes inefficient and real-time tracking is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical paper-based system with an electronic handheld device system. The handheld apparatus with touchscreen display, processor, and wireless network interface substitutes physical paper forms, enabling digital data entry, real-time synchronization with central servers, and efficient data organization without losing the simplicity of form-based documentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The handheld device serves multiple functions: it acts as a digital form for data entry, a real-time monitoring tool, a wireless communication device for syncing data, and a portable access point to the central medical information management system. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by combining the simplicity of paper forms with the efficiency of digital real-time tracking.
2Productivity
If medical professionals use electronic systems with limited display screens, then data organization can be improved, but visual effort to locate relevant information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the patient care data into distinct functional sections on the touchscreen display: patient identification section, vital signs section, medication administration section, and procedural documentation section. This segmentation organizes information logically while allowing the touchscreen to dynamically adjust the display of each section based on the current clinical context, reducing visual search effort.
Solution Approach 2:
The touchscreen interface dynamically reconfigures the display layout based on the current clinical task. For example, when medication administration is the active task, the medication section is prominently displayed; when vital signs monitoring is priority, that section takes precedence. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by maintaining good data organization while minimizing visual effort to locate relevant information.
3Reliability
If medical professionals manually track multiple patient parameters on paper forms, then data completeness can be monitored, but time consumption for data entry increases
Solution Approach 1:
The handheld device provides immediate feedback through the touchscreen interface to indicate which required data fields have been completed and which are still pending. The system validates data entry in real-time, prompting the user to complete missing information before allowing progression to the next clinical task. This feedback mechanism ensures data completeness while minimizing time consumption by preventing unnecessary re-entry of already provided information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-configures the digital forms with all necessary data fields and validation rules before the clinical encounter begins. Common data entry patterns are pre-programmed, and the system automatically populates fields with data from connected monitoring devices when available. This preliminary preparation ensures data completeness requirements are met while significantly reducing the time required for data entry during the actual patient care process.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for updating an electronic medical record of a patient comprises retrieving, from a medical information management system, a patient monitoring worksheet displaying medical information relating to the delivery of medical care to a first patient and presenting, on a display capable of receiving touch-responsive user input, the retrieved patient monitoring worksheet. The method further comprises determining, for each subsection of the patient monitoring worksheet, whether information tracked during that subsection is incomplete. The method further comprises permitting edit popups only for the ones of the subsections with incomplete information in a first mode of operation and permitting edit popups for any of the subsections in a second mode of operation. The method further comprises detecting touch-screen input selecting a subsection with incomplete information, presenting an edit popup for the selected subsection, determining one or more added or edited values of the edit popup, and updating the patient monitoring worksheet by causing the one or more added or edited values to be stored by the medical information management system.