Infusion Pump GUI Color-Coded Severity Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing infusion pumps provide complex feedback information in text form, which can lead to incorrect assessments by medical personnel, especially in time-critical situations and when used by untrained personnel, necessitating a more intuitive and easily operable solution for presenting operational and error-related information.
Innovation Solution
An infusion pump with a graphical user interface (GUI) connected to a control unit that analyzes sensor signals from various sensors, associates severity levels with different display colors and light intensities, and provides visual and audio alarms to facilitate quick understanding of pump conditions, eliminating the need for additional status lights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If feedback information is presented in text form with error codes on a dedicated display, then detailed operational information can be provided, but the information becomes too complex and may lead to wrong assessment by medical personnel
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color changes to the display background to indicate different alarm severity levels (e.g., red for critical alarms, yellow for warnings, green for normal operation). This allows users to immediately grasp the urgency and nature of alerts without needing to interpret complex text codes, directly resolving the contradiction between providing complete feedback information and ensuring ease of understanding.
2Loss of information
If multiple status lights and indicators are added to the pump, then more detailed status information can be displayed, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple status indicators into a single graphical display that uses color-coded backgrounds and visual icons to represent different alarm conditions and operational states. Instead of adding multiple separate LEDs and indicators, the system combines all status information into one integrated visual interface, reducing device complexity while maintaining comprehensive status information display.
3Loss of information
If text-based error codes are used for alarms, then specific error information can be conveyed, but quick assessment in time-critical situations becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses color-coded background changes on the display to immediately communicate alarm severity levels (e.g., red for critical, yellow for warning). This allows medical personnel to assess the urgency of situations instantly without needing to read or interpret text-based error codes, significantly reducing assessment time in critical situations while still providing precise error information through the visual coding system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates audible alarms with different patterns and tones to complement the visual color-coding system. Distinct audio patterns can indicate different types or severities of alarms, providing an additional rapid assessment channel that works alongside the visual display, further reducing the time needed to understand alarm conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an infusion pump (10) having a control unit (5) and a graphical user interface (3) functionally connected to the controller (5), wherein the control unit (5) is designed to receive at least two sensor signals (S1,S2) out of the following group of sensors: cassette presence sensor, door sensor, pressure sensor, air presence sensor, motor sensor, flow rate sensor, wherein the control unit (5) is designed to detect an error state based on the analysis of the at least two supplied sensor signals (S1,S2), wherein the control unit (5) is designed to associate a degree of severity out of at least two degrees of severities (A1,A3) based on the processing of the supplied sensor signals (S1,S2), and wherein the control unit (5) is designed to control a color of the display (1) of the graphical user interface (3) to be displayed, wherein a different color is associated with each degree of severity (A1,A3) as well as with a non-error state (A0).