Medical Procedure Setup Selection to Reduce Repositioning Time
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical procedures face inefficiencies due to incorrect guessing of patient position and equipment configuration by medical assistants, leading to increased procedure time and potential defects, especially in breast biopsies, as they often lack prior knowledge of patient preferences and equipment requirements.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using a controller and memory device to retrieve and select optimal patient positions and equipment configurations based on procedure parameters, generating indicators for medical assistants to ensure accurate setup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If medical assistants manually guess patient position and equipment configuration, then they can prepare the room before patient arrival, but this leads to incorrect setup requiring repositioning and increases procedure time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary computation of optimal patient position and equipment configuration using stored anatomical data and procedure parameters before the patient arrives. This allows the medical assistant to prepare the room with accurate settings in advance, eliminating the need for guessing and subsequent repositioning.
Solution Approach 2:
A computer system acts as an intermediary between the procedure parameters and the medical assistant's setup decisions. The system processes anatomical data, lesion location, and equipment constraints to generate recommended configurations, serving as a mediator that translates complex parameters into actionable setup instructions.
2Reliability
If medical assistants are experienced, then they can guess correct patient position and equipment configuration with high success rate, but inexperienced assistants will usually guess incorrectly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically computing optimal configurations based on input parameters without requiring the medical assistant to have expert knowledge. The computer system serves itself by processing data and generating recommendations, making the expertise embedded in the system rather than dependent on the assistant's experience level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of human expertise and experience with an automated computational system. Instead of relying on the medical assistant's knowledge and judgment, the system uses computer algorithms to process anatomical data and determine optimal setups, substituting human cognitive processes with automated information processing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple pieces of equipment are used for breast biopsy, then comprehensive diagnostic capability is achieved, but coordination of equipment movements and patient positioning becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides universal coordination capabilities that work across multiple different equipment types and configurations. The computational approach generates coordinated setup instructions for mammographic gantries, biopsy probes, compression devices, and patient positioning equipment, making the system adaptable to various diagnostic capabilities without increasing operational complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system 10 for selecting a patient position 12, 14, 16 and an equipment configuration 18, 20 for a medical procedure is provided. The system 10 includes a controller 22, and a memory device 24 operative to store an application 26. The application 26 adapts the controller 22 to retrieve, from the memory device 24, one or more possible patient positions 28 for the medical procedure and one or more possible equipment configurations 30 for the medical procedure. The application 26 further adapts the controller 22 to select, based at least in part on one or more parameters 32 of the medical procedure, a patient position 12 from the possible patient positions 28 and an equipment configuration 18 from the possible equipment configurations 30; and to generate an indicator 34, 36 that conveys the selected patient position 12 and the equipment configuration 18.