10541 results about "Medical emergency" patented technology

A system and method for monitoring vital signs and capturing data from a patient remotely using radiotelemetry techniques. The system is characterized by a cordless, disposable sensor band with sensors form measuring full waveform ECG, full waveform respiration, skin temperature, and motion, and transmission circuitry for the detection and transmission of vital signs data of the patient. A small signal transfer unit that can either be worn by the patient, e.g., on his or her belt, or positioned nearby receives data from the sensor band, which it then forwards by e.g., radio transmission to a base station that can be located up to 60 meters away. The base station receives data transmissions from the signal transfer unit and is designed to connect to conventional phone lines for transferring the collected data to a remote monitoring station. The base station may also capture additional clinical data, such as blood pressure data, and to perform data checks. Patient safety is enhanced by the ability of the base station to compare clinical data, e.g., ECG, against given profiles and to mark events when appropriate or when the base station is programmed to do so. Such events are indicated to the physician and could be indicated to the patient by reverse transmission to the signal transfer unit. A remote monitoring station allows the presentation and review of data (including events) forwarded by the sensor band. ECG analysis software and a user-friendly graphical user interface are provided to remotely analyze the transmitted data and to permit system maintenance and upkeep. The system of the invention has useful application to the collection of patient clinical data during drug trials and medical testing for regulatory approvals as well as management of patients with chronic diseases.

An implantable infusion pump possesses operational functionality that is, at least in part, controlled by software operating in two processor ICs which are configured to perform some different and some duplicate functions. The pump exchanges messages with an external device via telemetry. Each processor controls a different part of the drug infusion mechanism such that both processors must agree on the appropriateness of drug delivery for infusion to occur. Delivery accumulators are incremented and decremented with delivery requests and with deliveries made. When accumulated amounts reach or exceed, quantized deliverable amounts, infusion is made to occur. The accumulators are capable of being incremented by two or more independent types of delivery requests. Operational modes of the infusion device are changed automatically in view of various system errors that are trapped, various system alarm conditions that are detected, and when excess periods of time lapse between pump and external device interactions.

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 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.

The smart medical compliance method and system invention prevents adverse drug events through the use of protocols that uniquely identifies the patient, care provider, medication and / or medical device that is to be used with radio frequency identification (RFID). The RFID devices incorporate fail-safe locks or indicators that prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized use of medication, medical devices, or medical supplies. The system corroborates, patient, the care provider, the medical device, and the manner in which it is to be used, and authorizes the action to be undertaken through an interface on a personal digital assistant PDA over a wireless communication channel. The system also timestamps events in the equivalent of a medical black box such that records may be kept to further improve patient care and allow an analysis of procedures. In addition, the system includes interfaces to medication preparation and safe disposal. A number of smart devices that interact with the system are also described. These include smart medical containers, smart clamps, smart valves, smart syringes, smart couplers, smart pipettes, and a host of other point of care devices.

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.

An elimination-absorber monitoring system addresses diaper-monitoring problems with a unique, low cost, multi-layer disposable sensor structure that absorbs small volumes of urine, yet allows most urine volume to flow unimpeded through it, and into the diaper below. When connected with a reusable, miniature monitor / indicator unit, the sensor presents a clear and on-going change of measurement condition upon experiencing a rapid influx into the diaper of a significant volume of urine, and / or upon a significant reduction in the available absorbency of the diaper's top surface. The sensor additionally provides recessed, protected elements for similarly presenting a clear and on-going change in measurement condition upon experiencing the presence of fecal matter. Further provided is the monitor unit employing narrow, widely-spaced, fast rise-time, fast transition-time pulses for conductivity measurement and alarm activation. The monitor and sensor are interconnected and attached to a diaper by particularly effective and unique means, and the monitor is equipped with a highly intuitive and convenient control interface, as well as improved assemblies for the transmission of audible and visual alarm indications. Also described is a convenient test-strip device which, when connected to the monitor / alarm unit of the system, can selectively simulate either a soiled or unsoiled elimination-absorber / sensor for test, caregiver-training or demonstration purposes.

A system and process for providing a computerized medical and biographical records database and diagnostic information. A medical records database and diagnostic program is stored on a central computer that is accessible to individuals using remotely situated computers connected to a computer network. Individual patient medical and biographical records are owned by individual patients who can enter information in their record as well as grant or deny authorization to others, such as health care professionals, insurance providers and other entities, to review part or all of their record. The diagnostic program provides a series of diagnostic questions to an individual who must respond either "yes" or "no" to each question. Each potential response is weighted relative to its importance to a particular disease diagnosis. Relative weights for all responses to diagnostic questions are summed to identify potential diagnoses to connected to the answered questions. The diagnostic program provides the individual with a list of potential diagnoses as well as permitting the individual to save the information to his or her individual medical and biographical record. The information maintained in the above system and process is utilized for health care financing and insurance.

A health monitoring system which tracks the state of health of a patient and compiles a chronological health history of the patient uses a multiparametric monitor which periodically and automatically measures and records a plurality of physiological data from sensors in contact with the patient's body. The data collected is not specifically related to a particular medical condition but, instead, provides the information necessary to derive patterns which are characteristic of healthy patients as well as those who are ill. The data collected is periodically uploaded to a database in which it is stored along with similar health histories for other patients. The monitor is preferably self-contained in a chest strap which is located on the patient's torso, and makes use of a controller which controls sampling of the desired data and storage of the data to a local memory device pending uploading to the database. The more voluminous data collected is reduced and compressed prior to storage in the local memory device. Preferably, much of the monitor circuitry is run intermittently to conserve power. The monitor data is supplemented with subjective data (such as psychological and environmental conditions) collected from the patient using a handheld data input device which runs a program to solicit information from the patient. The subjective data collected is chronologically aligned with the monitor data in the database such that the health history of a patient includes both objective and subjective medical data.

A system and method for building and / or manipulating a centralized medical image quantitative information database aid in diagnosing diseases, identifying prevalence of diseases, and analyzing market penetration data and efficacy of different drugs. In one embodiment, the diseases are bone-related, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Subjects' medical images, personal and treatment information are obtained at information collection terminals, for example, at medical and / or dental facilities, and are transferred to a central database, either directly or through a system server. Quantitative information is derived from the medical images, and stored in a central database, associated with subjects' personal and treatment information. Authorized users, such as medical officials and / or pharmaceutical companies, can access the database, either directly or through the central server, to diagnose diseases and perform statistical analysis on the stored data. Decisions can be made regarding marketing of drugs for treating the diseases in question, based on analysis of efficacy, market penetration, and performance of competitive drugs.

The present invention is a novel method of generating and representing the status of various physiological parameters that are monitored for patients during hospitalization. The system of present invention allows healthcare providers to easily view, at a glance, the status or trend of a patient or a plurality of patients as well as any changes in the parameter values.

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.

A patient monitoring system can display one or more configurable health monitors on a configurable user interface. The health indicators are configured to display a physiological signal from a patient. The patient monitoring system can calculate ranges of values for the health indicator that correspond to a status of the patient. The health indicators can display different outputs based on the value of the physiological signal.

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.

Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for a wireless health monitoring system for interactively monitoring a disease or health condition of a patient by connecting a mobile phone to or with a digital camera and / or a medical monitoring device. The health related data or visual information from the camera is transmitted to a server using standard internet protocols and may be integrated with various operating systems for handheld or wireless devices, especially those with enhanced capabilities for handing images and visual data.

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.

Various present invention devices enable adherence to requirements for medical items. A medical item of the present invention includes a monitoring or data recording device to monitor and / or record medical solution conditions. The device may further include indicators to indicate compliance of the medical solution with prescribed requirements (e.g., manufacturer, medical standard or regulation, etc.). The medical item may alternatively include a barcode or transponder to uniquely identify the medical item to a thermal treatment system measuring and storing conditions in a central database. The present invention further includes various thermal treatment systems that monitor medical items for prescribed requirements and display the monitored parameters to medical personnel. In addition, the present invention may place time stamp information on medical items to enable determination by medical personnel of compliance with prescribed requirements.

A patient monitoring system can display one or more configurable health monitors on a configurable user interface. The health indicators are configured to display a physiological signal from a patient. The patient monitoring system can calculate ranges of values for the health indicator that correspond to a status of the patient. The health indicators can display different outputs based on the value of the physiological signal.

A system and method for computer enabled network patient management of medical devices used in chronic disease management. Utilizing web site and push alert notification of alert level physiologic data derived via analysis of continuous stream wireless data transmissions from a patient, a full cycle improvement over existing modalities is achieved. Proxy and medical device user integration and access is enabled to achieve further contribution to the technical advantages of the system.

A method and system for managing mechanical ventilation of patients with respiratory disorders is described. The main objective of the system is to generate executable instructions for patient care which take into account a large number of parameters of patient condition and ventilation. Data regarding the state of the patient are stored in a database. Patient data are processed according to a set of protocols which contain rules for patient care decisions arranged in a logical sequence to generate detailed, executable instructions for patient care. Instructions are updated when new data are entered into the database. The data can be acquired in an automated fashion, or the clinician can be instructed to collect and enter new data into the clinical database. Likewise, patient care instructions can be carried out automatically or manually, but it is preferred that instructions are carried out manually as a safety check. The preferred embodiment of the invention includes a computer system, software for processing patient data, and a display device for presenting patient care instructions to the clinician. The system maintains a record of patient data, patient care instructions, whether instructions were followed by the clinical staff, and if not, a reason why.

A system and method for monitoring and controlling the therapy of a cardiac rhythm abnormality victim at a remote site by proving immediate access to a medical professional at a central station. The method comprises the steps of: (1) providing a plurality of electrodes for receiving cardiac signals generated by the victim and for the application of electrical pulses to the victim at a remote site; (2) transmitting the signals from the remote site to a central station; (3) receiving the signals at the central station and displaying them for the medical professional; (4) selecting whether to delivery defibrillation or pacing therapy to the victim based on the medical professional's analysis of the signals (5) transmitting the selection results to the remote site; and (6) receiving the selection results at the remote site and applying the selected therapy to the victim.

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 health care system including a field module configured to gather a first portion of patient data and to send the first portion of patient data to a server, an administrative module configured to perform a plurality of functions on patient data, and a physician module configured to display patient data and perform a patient care function.

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.

Patients with certain chronic diseases such as diabetes require medical treatment according to a set time-related treatment plan. Such a treatment plan must be adapted accordingly in the case of long-haul journeys to countries with a time difference. A method for this has the steps of recording an regular treatment plan for administering the medicine, recording the point of departure and destination as well as the time of travel of the long-haul journey, determining the time zone difference between the point of departure and the destination and producing an adapted travel treatment plan based on the regular treatment plan depending on the time zone difference and the time of travel. The invention enables a patient to achieve a structured adaptation of his individual treatment plan to the time difference in the destination country of the journey in a convenient manner.