Method and system for flexibly organizing, recording, and displaying medical patient care information using fields in a flowsheet
DC CAFC- US 5,682,526 A
- Filed: 07/20/1995
- Issued: 10/28/1997
- Est. Priority Date: 07/20/1995
- Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
1. A method in a computer system for designing, under the control of a user, a patient information hierarchy, the hierarchy containing a plurality of parameters including a linked-from parameter having a linked-from possible result value that is linked to one or more linked-to parameters, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving an instruction from the user to create a new parameter within the patient information hierarchy;
(b) in response to step (a), creating a new parameter within the patient information hierarchy;
(c) receiving an instruction from the user to specify a plurality of indicated possible result values for the new parameter;
(d) in response to step (c), specifying the indicated possible result values as possible result values of the new parameter;
(e) receiving an instruction from the user to link an indicated linked-from possible result value among the possible result values of the new parameter to one or more indicated linked-to parameters contained within the patient information hierarchy; and
(f) in response to step (e), within the patient information hierarchy, linking the indicated linked-from possible result value to the indicated linked-to parameters, such that the new parameter is a linked-from parameter, and such that, when the new parameter is displayed for a particular patient, if the new parameter has the linked-from possible result value, the linked-to parameters are displayed in conjunction with the new parameter.
17 Assignments
Litigations
1 Petition
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for flexibly organizing, recording, and displaying medical patient care information is provided. In a preferred embodiment, a patient information management facility enables users to customize a patient information hierarchy, which defines and organizes the information that may be stored about each patient, as well as patient data flowsheets, which define views in which the patient data stored according to the hierarchy may be entered and viewed, in a way that is optimized for the structure and procedures of the particular health care organization. The facility enables users to add, modify, and rearrange global or local patient information parameters that make up the hierarchy. Users may define the parameters to be any of a number of types. The user may also customize flowsheets used for entering and displaying result values of parameters defined in the hierarchy for particular patients. The user may expand and contract overview encapsulating parameters to display or hide the encapsulated parameters encapsulated therein. The facility also allows the user to link a result value of one parameter to other parameters, causing the linked-to parameters to be displayed when the result value is entered.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for designing, under the control of a user, a patient information hierarchy, the hierarchy containing a plurality of parameters including a linked-from parameter having a linked-from possible result value that is linked to one or more linked-to parameters, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving an instruction from the user to create a new parameter within the patient information hierarchy; (b) in response to step (a), creating a new parameter within the patient information hierarchy; (c) receiving an instruction from the user to specify a plurality of indicated possible result values for the new parameter; (d) in response to step (c), specifying the indicated possible result values as possible result values of the new parameter; (e) receiving an instruction from the user to link an indicated linked-from possible result value among the possible result values of the new parameter to one or more indicated linked-to parameters contained within the patient information hierarchy; and (f) in response to step (e), within the patient information hierarchy, linking the indicated linked-from possible result value to the indicated linked-to parameters, such that the new parameter is a linked-from parameter, and such that, when the new parameter is displayed for a particular patient, if the new parameter has the linked-from possible result value, the linked-to parameters are displayed in conjunction with the new parameter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method in a computer system for designing, under the control of a user, a patient information hierarchy, the patient information hierarchy containing a plurality of parameters that may be displayed in conjunction with a particular patient, the parameters including both result parameters that may have a result value for each patient and encapsulating parameters that each identify and encapsulate one or more other parameters to represent them together at a higher conceptual level, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving an instruction to create a first result parameter that may have a result value for each patient, the instruction specifying a parameter name and a data type; (b) in response to step (a), creating within the patient information hierarchy a first result parameter having the parameter name and data type specified in the instruction received in step (a); (c) receiving an instruction to create a second result parameter that may have a result value for each patient, the instruction specifying a parameter name and a data type; (d) in response to step (c), creating within the patient information hierarchy a second result parameter having the parameter name and data type specified in the instruction received in step (c); (e) receiving an instruction to create a first encapsulating parameter and for encapsulating one or more other parameters to represent them together at a higher conceptual level, the instruction specifying a parameter name and a list of encapsulated parameters, the specified list of encapsulated parameters including the first result parameter and excluding the second result parameter; (f) in response to step (e), creating within the patient information hierarchy a first encapsulating parameter having the parameter name and the list of encapsulated parameters specified in the instruction received in step (e); (g) receiving an instruction to display the patient information hierarchy for a particular patient in a user-selected flowsheet, the user-selected flowsheet including the second result parameter and the first encapsulatory parameter; and (h) in response to step (g), displaying a list of parameters including the first encapsulating parameter and the second result parameter and excluding the first result parameter. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method in a computer system for designing and maintaining the contents of a patient information hierarchy comprised of a plurality of parameters that may contain result values for a particular patient, the patient information hierarchy having associated with it one or more flowsheets for displaying and modifying the result values of parameters for a particular patient, each flowsheet being comprised of one or more flowsheet groups that specify a subset of the parameters of the patient information hierarchy, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) associating predetermined result values with a plurality of the parameters specified by a selected flowsheet group of a selected flowsheet; (b) receiving an instruction from the user to display the parameters specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet for a specified patient; (c) in response to step (b), displaying the parameters specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet for the specified patient; (d) receiving an instruction from the user to set to the predetermined result values the result values for the specified patient of the displayed the parameters specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet; and (e) in response to step (d), for each parameter specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet with which a predetermined result value is associated, storing the predetermined result value in conjunction with the parameter for the specified patient. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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11. A method in a computer system for designing and maintaining the contents of a plurality of named parameters identified by parameter identifiers that may contain result values for a particular patient, the parameters being arranged in a patient information hierarchy, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving instructions from a user to create a parameter having a first name at a first location in the patient information hierarchy and a second location in the patient information hierarchy, the instructions further specifying that the parameter having the first name is a global parameter; (b) in response to step (a), creating parameters at the first and second locations in the patient information hierarchy that are both identified by a first parameter identifier; (c) receiving instructions from a user to create a parameter having a second name at a third location in the patient information hierarchy and a fourth location in the patient information hierarchy, the instructions further specifying that the parameter having the second name is a local parameter; (d) in response to step (c), creating a parameter at the third location in the patient information hierarchy that is identified by a second parameter identifier and creating a parameter at the fourth location in the patient information hierarchy that is identified by a third parameter identifier, wherein the second and third parameter identifiers are distinct. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method in a computer system for designing and maintaining the contents of a patient information hierarchy comprised of a plurality of parameters that may contain result values for a particular patient, the patient information hierarchy having associated with it a flowsheet for displaying and modifying the result values of a subset of the parameters of the patient information hierarchy for a particular patient, the subset of the parameters that may be displayed and modified using the flowsheet including a parameter of a patient note type, having a result value comprising an author name field, a time field, and a note text field, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving an instruction from the user to display parameter result values for a selected patient using the flowsheet; (b) in response to step (a), displaying parameter result values for the selected patient using the flowsheet such that the result value of the parameter of the patient note type is displayed in an abbreviated form in conjunction with the other parameters in the subset, such that at least a portion of the author name field is displayed; (c) receiving an indication that the user has selected the result value of the parameter of the patient note type is displayed in an abbreviated form; and (d) in response to step (c), displaying the entire contents of the result value of the parameter of the patient note type, such that the complete contents of the author name, time and note text fields are displayed.
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15. A method in a computer system for designing and maintaining the contents of a patient information hierarchy comprised of a plurality of parameters that may contain result values for a particular patient, the patient information hierarchy having associated with it one or more flowsheets for displaying and modifying the result values of parameters for a particular patient, each flowsheet being comprised of one or more flowsheet groups that specify a subset of the parameters of the patient information hierarchy, a selected flowsheet group of a selected flowsheet further specifying a parameter placeholder not associated with any particular parameter, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving an instruction from the user to display the parameters specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet for a specified patient; (b) in response to step (a), displaying the parameters and the parameter placeholder specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet for the specified patient; (c) receiving an instruction from the user to replace the parameter placeholder with a selected parameter of the patient information hierarchy; (d) in response to step (c), replacing the parameter placeholder specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet for the specified patient with the selected parameter; and (e) after step (d), displaying the parameters specified by the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet for the specified patient, including the selected parameter and excluding the parameter placeholder. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method in a computer system for designing, under the control of a user, a patient information hierarchy, the hierarchy containing a plurality of parameters that may each have a result value for each patient, the hierarchy further containing a plurality of classifications each for grouping related parameters, each of the parameters in the patient information hierarchy being associated with one of the classifications, and wherein the patient information hierarchy has associated with it one or more flowsheets for displaying and modifying the result values of parameters for a particular patient, each flowsheet being comprised of one or more flowsheet groups that specify a subset of the parameters of the patient information hierarchy, the method comprising the steps of, in response to a step of receiving an instruction from the user to create a new parameter:
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(a) prompting the user for the name of a new parameter; (b) receiving from the user the name of a new parameter; (c) prompting the user to identify the classification with which the new parameter should be associated; (d) receiving from the user an indication of the classification with which the new parameter should be associated; (e) prompting the user to select the data type of the new parameter; (f) receiving from the user an indication of the data type of the new parameter; (g) creating in the patient information hierarchy a new parameter that has the received name, that is associated with the indicated classification, and that has the indicated data type; (h) displaying the parameters specified by a selected flowsheet group of a selected flowsheet in conjunction with their result values for a selected patient, the displayed parameters excluding the new parameter; (i) receiving an instruction from the user to add a parameter to the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet; (j) in response to step (i), displaying a portion of the patient information hierarchy including the name of the new parameter; (k) receiving an instruction from the user selecting the displayed name of the new parameter; (l) in response to step (k), adding the new parameter to the selected flowsheet group of the selected flowsheet; and (m) in response to step (l), displaying the new parameter among the parameters specified by a selected flowsheet group of a selected flowsheet in conjunction with their result values for a selected patient. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification