HK1258904B - Patient care device-specific configuration output - Google Patents

Description

Dedicated configuration output for patient care equipment

This application is a divisional application of Chinese Patent Application No. 201380073762.8, filed on March 15, 2013, entitled "Configuration Output for Patient Care Equipment".

Related applications

This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/755,873, filed January 23, 2013, entitled “PATIENTCARE DEVICE-SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION OUTPUT”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Background Technology

Information transmission errors continue to be a diverse and widespread challenge in administering medication to patients. In particular, errors can occur when caregivers need to configure patient care devices based on instructions associated with the treatment to be administered to the patient (e.g., when caregivers must transcribe configuration input from one location into the patient care device). In this context, errors can be introduced in many forms, including inaccurate data transcription, invalid communication modalities, and/or inaccurate data translation, etc.

One scenario that can introduce errors is when the configuration of patient care equipment includes the configuration of configurable infusion devices, where this configuration relates to the administration of intravenous fluids corresponding to dosage orders generated by a caregiver such as a physician. Given the nature of the treatment involved in intravenous fluid administration, errors in this context can cause long-term harm or even threaten the patient's life. Therefore, reducing errors associated with the configuration of patient care equipment, particularly with configurable infusion devices, remains of great importance.

Summary of the Invention

This disclosure primarily pertains to the generation and/or use of configuration outputs specific to patient care devices, which can be associated with the configuration of patient care devices (e.g., configurable infusion pumps or similar devices) by caregivers administering intravenous medication. Specifically, the configuration output can be based on a treatment dosing order and an identified patient care device used to administer the treatment. Thus, after identifying the patient care device to be used to administer the treatment, a specific configuration protocol associated with the identified patient care device can be obtained. In this way, when generating the configuration output, the configuration output can correspond to, for example, a configuration protocol containing, an order reflecting the configuration data, or a table reflecting the configuration data, such as an identifier number for the configuration data required to configure the patient care device.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that such configuration output is advantageous in many ways when configuring patient care devices. For example, by generating configuration data based on the order and the identified patient care device used to administer the treatment, the configuration data can help the caregiver administering the medication correctly configure the patient care device (e.g., when information is transcribed from the configuration output to the patient care device). Firstly, the generation of configuration output may include analyzing the order to determine if information corresponding to the configuration of the patient care device has been provided. If not, such information can be received using various mechanisms before generating the configuration output. This helps avoid situations where the caregiver administering the medication finds that the configuration data required for configuring the patient care device is missing or contradictory when attempting to configure it. Advantageously, this method provides improved human-computer interaction because the data necessary for configuring the patient care device is readily available, for example, through a centralized approach. Therefore, configuration errors and/or incompatibilities can be reduced or even avoided. In other words, accurate configuration data can be provided, thus avoiding situations where caregivers administering medication make mistakes when configuring patient care equipment by incorrectly entering data that is not in the order (e.g., using data guessed by the caregiver, using data from memory, or otherwise unilaterally attempting to overcome information gaps). In other words, according to this application, users such as caregivers administering medication can be freed from the mental labor of memorizing necessary configuration data, or from the mental labor of learning, memorizing, or even understanding one or more predetermined configuration protocols.

Furthermore, the configuration output described above can help the caregiver administering medication easily conform the information appearing on the order to the configuration protocol of the identified patient care device by analyzing the information from the order. This can include providing data corresponding to the information in the treatment order in the configuration output, thereby arranging the data into a data input sequence that conforms to the configuration protocol. In this regard, the arrangement of the data can be consistent with the data input sequence, so that the data corresponding to each subsequent step in the data input sequence is presented sequentially in the configuration output. In this regard, machine-generated configuration output can be provided, i.e., configuration output consistent with the data input sequence of a specific patient care device. Therefore, according to this application, the reliability of the machine-based method is improved. Moreover, the information can be analyzed to determine whether the order information corresponds to the configuration protocol in form. For example, if the unit of measurement of the values appearing on the order is different from the unit of measurement of the values used in the configuration protocol, the information from the order can be converted into the appropriate form (e.g., the correct unit of measurement) before generating the configuration output. In this regard, it can be seen that the configuration output described herein can assist the caregiver administering medication in implementing treatment when configuring a patient care device. Advantageously, caregivers are freed from the mental labor of converting different formats to match each other, especially to one or more configuration protocols. Therefore, incorrect or erroneous use of patient care equipment can be avoided.

Therefore, the first aspect includes a method for generating a configuration output specific to a patient care device for a treatment order corresponding to a treatment to be performed on a patient. The method includes receiving an order including a description of the treatment to be performed on the patient; and identifying a patient care device to be used to perform the treatment on the patient. The patient care device has at least one predetermined configuration protocol for treatment administration. The method further includes generating a configuration output for the order, at least in part, based on each corresponding treatment description and at least one portion of the predetermined configuration protocol, to configure the patient care device for treatment administration.

Many feature enhancements and additional features can be applied to the first aspect. These feature enhancements and additional features can be used individually or in arbitrary combinations with features of the second aspect described below. Thus, each of the following features to be discussed can, but not necessarily must, be used in combination with any other feature or feature combination of the first aspect.

For example, in an embodiment, treatment may include administering intravenous fluid to a patient using an infusion device (e.g., a configurable infusion pump). Furthermore, the order may include a dosage order comprising a description corresponding to the dosage of the intravenous fluid administration. In this regard, the configuration output may be used to configure the infusion device for administering intravenous fluid to a patient using the infusion device (e.g., by transcribing data from the configuration output to the infusion device via a caregiver administering the medication). Generally, "configurable," as used herein, may include the ability to receive input (e.g., input manually entered by the user) from one or more operating parameters relating to controlling the patient care device for administering treatment. Therefore, the subject matter of this patent application provides for improved and more reliable configuration of patient care devices, such as infusion devices. Intravenous fluid includes at least one of the following:

• Compound intravenous mixture;

• Premixed intravenous solutions (e.g., premixed solutions of 5% glucose and water containing dopamine);

• Customer-prepared non-patient-specific fluids (e.g., standard oxytocin infusion); or

• Any other type of intravenous fluid without restriction.

In one embodiment, the method may further include generating a label containing configuration output and attaching the label to a container associated with the treatment. A predetermined configuration protocol may include a predetermined data input sequence for inputting configuration data for multiple patient care devices. In this regard, the configuration output may be presented on the label according to at least a portion of the predetermined data input sequence. That is, the configuration data may include multiple patient care device configuration data presented in the same order as the predetermined data input sequence for the identified patient care devices. Therefore, according to this embodiment, human-computer interaction is improved by providing a label that reduces the risk of mismatch between patient care device configuration data and the predetermined data input sequence.

Thus, in one embodiment, the method may further include inputting corresponding plurality of patient care device configuration data from configuration output presented on a tag attached to the patient care device, according to a predetermined data input sequence. The input may include manual input by a user on the patient care device of the corresponding plurality of patient care device configuration data. For example, the input may include transcribing patient care device configuration data from a tag to the patient care device (e.g., using the user interface of the patient care device). Furthermore, the method may include administering therapeutic medication with the patient care device, at least in part, based on the input steps. This may include operating the patient care device according to the patient care device configuration data transcribed onto the patient care device. In various embodiments, the plurality of patient care device configuration data may include at least one of the following types of data:

• Data indicating the patient's location within the patient care facility;

• Data indicating one of several predetermined dose types;

• Data indicating at least one therapeutically effective drug;

• Data indicating dose concentration;

• Data indicating the rate of drug administration;

• Data indicating dosage; or

• Any other appropriate data that can be used to configure patient care equipment.

In one embodiment, the identification step may include identifying one of a plurality of patient care devices to be used to administer treatment to a patient, wherein each of the plurality of patient care devices has a different predetermined configuration protocol. The identification step and/or the generation step may be performed at least in part based on the patient's location within the patient care facility.

In one embodiment, the method may include analyzing a treatment description relating to at least a portion of a predetermined configuration protocol to determine whether the treatment description conforms to said portion of the configuration protocol. The method may include providing an output alarm on a user interface device when the treatment description does not conform to said portion of the configuration protocol, and in response to said output alarm, receiving treatment information that conforms to said portion of the configuration protocol and corresponds to an order, thereby improving human-computer interaction between the user interface of the patient care device and a user of the patient care device, such as a caregiver. The treatment information may be used in a generation step. For example, the method may also include requesting the receipt of treatment information conforming to said portion of the configuration protocol before the generation step is completed.

In one embodiment, the portion of the configuration protocol may include at least one configuration parameter. In this regard, the treatment description mismatch may include the absence of at least one configuration parameter. Additionally or alternatively, the treatment description mismatch may include contradictory information relating to at least one configuration parameter. In one embodiment, the method may include converting at least one portion of the treatment description from a first form of the portion that does not conform to the configuration protocol to a second form of the portion that conforms to the configuration protocol. In this regard, the conversion may include performing a dose unit conversion on at least one portion of the dose description. In one embodiment, the portion of the configuration protocol may include the entire configuration protocol for an identified patient care device. Therefore, according to this application, in an automatic manner, ideally without user intervention such as that of a care provider, misconduct or even contradictory data can be corrected to conform to the configuration protocol for a patient care device. Thus, the user is freed from the mental labor of identifying misconduct or even contradictory data. The user is also freed from the task of having to remember how to correct misconduct or even contradictory data.

In one embodiment, the identification step may be determined at least partially based on at least a portion of the order. That is, the method may include assigning the order to a patient care device based at least partially on a portion of the order. For example, the portion of the order on which the identification step is at least partially based includes at least one of the following:

• Identification of treatment; and/or

• The patient's location.

In other words, the identification of a patient care device (e.g., a configurable infusion device) can be based on data indicating the patient's location within the patient care facility and data indicating at least one medication to be administered. In this embodiment, once these data values are obtained, the patient care device can be identified, and the exact configuration protocol used to generate the corresponding configuration output can be determined. In this regard, the configuration data may include an identification number of the patient care device to be used to treat the patient (e.g., a patient care device identifier may be printed on a label).

In one embodiment, at least one of the identification and generation steps can be performed in a manner that is at least partially computer-automated. In this regard, the method can be implemented as hardware, software, or a combination thereof, for use by a computing device to automatically execute one or more steps of the method. In other words, the method can be a computer-implemented method. For example, as discussed above, identification may include automatically assigning treatment orders to patient care devices to be used for medication administration. Thus, the identification of patient care devices can be performed automatically by a computing device, and once a patient care device is identified, the generation of configuration output can also be performed automatically. Therefore, users, such as care providers, do not need to manually identify patient care devices. Therefore, the risk of misidentification can be reduced. Without limitation, other parts of the method can also be performed automatically (e.g., by one or more computing devices).

In one embodiment, the method may include transmitting configuration output to a patient care device. Furthermore, the method may include displaying the configuration output on the patient care device. Thus, the configuration output may include machine-readable data that can be manipulated, transmitted, and/or displayed by a computing device.

In another aspect, a computer program product is provided that can be stored in a computer-readable medium and/or implemented as a computer-processable data stream, wherein the computer program product includes instructions that can be processed by a computer, which, when read from the computer's memory and executed by the computer, cause the computer to implement the methods as summarized above and described below with more specific examples.

The second aspect includes a system for generating configuration data specific to patient care devices, used when configuring a patient care device to be used to treat a patient. The system may include an order entry interface for receiving a treatment order that corresponds to at least a portion of a treatment description to be used to treat the patient; and a configuration output generator. The configuration output generator can communicate effectively with the order entry interface. Furthermore, the configuration output generator is operable to identify the patient care device to be used to treat the patient, wherein the patient care device has at least one predetermined configuration protocol for performing the treatment. The system may also include a configuration output generated by the configuration output generator, and at least partially based on at least a portion of each of the corresponding treatment description and the predetermined configuration protocol.

Many feature improvements and additional characteristics can be applied to the second aspect. These feature improvements and additional characteristics can be used alone or in any combination with the characteristics of the first aspect described below. Thus, each of the following characteristics to be discussed can, but not necessarily must, be used in combination with any other characteristics or combinations of characteristics of the second aspect.

For example, in one embodiment, treatment may include administering intravenous fluid to a patient using an infusion device. In this regard, the treatment order may include a dosage order that includes a dosage description corresponding to the intravenous fluid to be administered. In various different embodiments, the intravenous fluid may include any one or more of the intravenous fluids discussed above.

In one embodiment, the order entry interface and/or configuration output generator can be executed by a processor that can effectively communicate with one or more memories. In this regard, the one or more memories can store non-transient computer-readable data corresponding to the execution of the order entry interface and/or configuration output generator. It can be seen that the order entry interface can be executed by the same or a different processor than the configuration output generator. In one embodiment, the order entry interface can be executed on a device completely independent of the configuration output generator. Furthermore, a single memory can store non-transient computer-readable data corresponding to the execution of the order entry interface and configuration output generator. Alternatively, separate memories can be used for this purpose. In either aspect, the one or more memories can be provided remotely by the corresponding processor (e.g., via a network) or can be provided locally relative to the corresponding processor.

In one embodiment, the configuration output may include a label. That is, the configuration output may be printed on a label. The label may be affixed to a container used to administer the treatment. Furthermore, the system may include a patient care device of a corresponding type recognized by the configuration output generator. The patient care device may have a user interface for configuring the patient care device. The user interface may correspond to a configuration protocol for the patient care device. Thus, the label may include one or more portions of the configuration data corresponding to at least a portion of the configuration protocol. In various embodiments, the one or more portions of the configuration data may include at least one of the following data types:

• Data indicating the patient's location within the patient care facility;

• Data indicating one of several predetermined dose types;

• Data indicating at least one drug;

• Data indicating dose concentration;

• Data indicating the rate of drug administration;

• Data indicating dosage; or

• Any other suitable data that can be used to configure patient care equipment.

In one embodiment, the configuration protocol of the patient care device may include a predetermined data input sequence. In this regard, the tag including the configuration output may include multiple corresponding configuration data presented on the tag according to the predetermined data input sequence. The user interface of the patient care device is operable to receive multiple corresponding configuration data in the predetermined data input sequence. For example, the multiple corresponding configuration data may be manually entered into the patient care device by a user (e.g., transcribed by the user from the tag).

In one embodiment, the patient care device may be a configurable infusion pump. Therefore, the container may include intravenous fluid, and the container may be operatively connected to a drug delivery component. The drug delivery component may in turn be operatively engaged with the configurable infusion pump for controllable delivery of intravenous fluid to a patient. Thus, intravenous fluid can be delivered to the patient based at least in part on multiple corresponding configuration data input at the configurable infusion pump.

Attached Figure Description

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a workflow for administering a predetermined treatment to a patient using patient care equipment.

Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of a configurable patient care device that includes a configurable infusion device operatively engaged with intravenous fluid contained in a container for administering medication to a patient.

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of an embodiment for generating configuration outputs specific to patient care equipment for orders.

Figure 4 illustrates an example of a dosage order corresponding to the intravenous fluid to be administered to the patient.

Figure 5 represents an example of the configuration output corresponding to the dosage order in Figure 4.

Figure 6 shows an embodiment of a configuration output that includes a label to be added to a container of intravenous fluid to be administered to a patient.

Figures 7A-7E show embodiments of the user interface of a configurable infusion device in several different states corresponding to the configuration protocol for configuring the infusion device.

Detailed Implementation

The following description is not intended to limit the invention to the forms disclosed herein. Therefore, variations and modifications commensurate with the following teachings, techniques, and knowledge of the related art are all within the scope of this invention. The embodiments described herein are intended to further explain modes of practicing the invention, enabling those skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such embodiments or other embodiments, as well as in various modifications required for the specific application or use of the invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a workflow 100 that facilitates the generation of device-specific configuration outputs for configuring a patient care device 140. Typically, workflow 100 may include an order entry system 110 for receiving orders to administer treatment to a patient using the configurable patient care device 140. The order entry system 110 may output data corresponding to data received by a configuration output generator 120. The configuration output generator 120 may generate a patient care device-specific configuration output based on the order and the identified patient care device. The patient care device-specific configuration output may be provided to a medication-administering caregiver 130. The medication-administering caregiver 130 may then use the configuration output received from the configuration output generator 120 to configure the patient care device 140 (e.g., the one corresponding to the identified patient care device) for the predetermined treatment of the patient. Additionally or alternatively, the configuration output generator 120 may provide the configuration output directly to the patient care device 140 (e.g., for display at the patient care device 140 or otherwise use the configuration output). Additionally, as shown in the figure and as will be discussed in more detail below, workflow 100 may include a feedback loop between configuration output generator 120 and order entry interface 110, which may be used to request additional information about the order (e.g., once the order has been analyzed by configuration output generator 120).

In one embodiment, the order entry interface 110 may be a computer-based order entry system. That is, the order entry interface 110 may include a graphical user interface (GUI) implemented by a computing device, allowing a caregiver to input information corresponding to an order to be performed on a patient. For example, the computing device may be a networked computing device, such as a personal computer, network terminal, mobile device, or other computing device. In this regard, the order entry interface 110 may include at least one processor operable to access memory storing instructions that the processor executes to receive and output orders.

In any respect, the order entry interface 110 can receive information from a caregiver regarding the treatment to be administered to a patient. In one embodiment, the treatment may include administering intravenous fluids to a patient using a configurable patient care device 140. For example, as shown in FIG2, the configurable patient care device 140 may include an infusion device 200 (e.g., a configurable infusion pump). In this regard, the order received at the order entry interface 110 may be a dosage order corresponding to the dosage information of the intravenous fluid 252 to be delivered to the patient. The intravenous fluid 252 to be delivered to the patient may be contained in a container 250. The container 250 may include a delivery port 254 facilitating the connection of a drug delivery assembly 256 to the container 250. The drug delivery assembly 256 may be used to achieve fluid communication between the container 250 and a patient (not shown) at a distal end 258 of the drug delivery assembly 256.

Additionally, a portion 260 of the drug delivery assembly 256 may be disposed within the pump portion 210 of the infusion device 200. In this regard, the pump portion 210 may have suitable mechanisms (e.g., a peristaltic pump device) for controlling the flow of intravenous fluid 252 through the drug delivery assembly 256 to administer intravenous fluid 252 to a patient. Without limitation, other suitable types of infusion devices 200 may be provided that allow for controlled administration of intravenous fluid 252 to a patient.

In this regard, the infusion device 200 may be configured to control the pump section 210 for controlled administration of intravenous fluid 252 to the patient. For example, the infusion device 200 may include a graphical user interface (GUI) 220 for receiving configuration instructions from the caregiver 130 administering the fluid. The GUI 220 may include a display 222 and an input device 224 (e.g., including multiple buttons or keys, as shown in FIG. 2). Other input devices 224 may be provided, such as touchscreen input devices, keyboards, or other human-machine interfaces. In this regard, the caregiver 130 administering the fluid may use the input device 224 to input information about the ordered administration of intravenous fluid 252 to the patient, which in turn is reflected on the display 222.

While an example of a patient care device 140 presented as an infusion device 200 has been described above and shown in Figure 2, it will be seen that the disclosure contained herein can be broadly extended to any configurable patient care device 140 that can be used to administer treatment to a patient. For example, system 100 may include, without limitation, other configurable patient care devices 140, such as patient monitors (e.g., including cardiac monitors, hemodynamic monitors, respiratory monitors, neurological monitors, blood glucose monitors, neonatal monitors, temperature monitors, etc.), inhalation therapy devices, enteral feeding pumps, respiratory ventilation devices, dialysis devices, or other suitable configurable patient care devices 140.

It can be recognized that existing methods for facilitating the configuration of patient care device 140 may include the risk of errors occurring during the configuration of patient care device 140. A study by Husch et al. ( Insights from the sharp end of intravenous medication errors: implementations for infusion pump technology, Qual. Saf. Health Care 2005; 14; 80-86) includes a detailed discussion of the ongoing need for error avoidance in this context, and the entire paper is incorporated herein by reference. For example, continuing the example discussed above, it could be that the dosage order associated with the administration of intravenous fluid 252 is stored separately from the preparation and identification information regarding the intravenous fluid 252 itself. That is, container 250 may include a label 262 on it bearing data about the intravenous fluid 252. However, the order for the administration of intravenous fluid 252 may be stored separately from the intravenous fluid 252 (e.g., in a separate order or medical record system). Thus, the caregiver 130 administering the medication may be required to query multiple data sources during the configuration of patient care device 140. This can lead to errors, such as presenting incorrect source data, transcription errors, or other erroneous modalities.

Furthermore, even if the order data is included in the label 262 placed on the container 250, there may still be incorrect, missing, or misidentified data. For example, the data appearing on the label 262 may require the administering caregiver 130 to perform conversions or provide supplementary data to meet the necessary inputs for configuring the patient care device 140. Therefore, in addition to the errors identified above, errors that may occur on the side of the administering caregiver 130 may include calculation errors, unit conversion errors, or other errors that occur when the administering caregiver 130 attempts to configure the patient care device 140 according to the order.

Thus, embodiments of the configuration output generator 120 described herein can be used to generate configuration outputs specific to a patient care device, generated in relation to and corresponding to the treatment to be performed on the patient and the patient care device 140 to be used for the treatment. For example, the configuration data generator 120 can typically perform the method 300 shown in FIG3. In this respect, the configuration output generator 120 may include hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, in one embodiment, the configuration output generator 120 may include at least a general-purpose processor and memory. Thus, instructions corresponding to the method 300 described below may be provided in the form of processor-accessible, non-transient machine-readable data to control the execution of the method 300 described below. Thus, the configuration output generator 120 may include or be executed on a computing device such as a networked computing device, a network terminal, a mobile device, or other suitable computing device. Additionally or alternatively, at least some portions of method 300 may be executed by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field gate array (FGA), or other suitable device for performing the function, as will be seen by those skilled in the art. Therefore, any or all of the steps of method 300 can be performed in a computer-automated manner.

Method 300 may include receiving 302 an order for treatment. For example, the order may be received via an order entry interface 110 as shown in FIG1. Once the order is received 302, method 300 includes identifying 304 a patient care device to be used to perform the ordered treatment on a patient. In this regard, identification 304 may include identifying one of a variety of types of devices that can be used when administering treatment to a patient. Each type of device may include a different predetermined configuration protocol. For example, in the case of a configurable infusion device 200 as described in FIG2, the facility may have more than one type of infusion device. Each different type of infusion device 200 may have a different predetermined configuration protocol than the other various types of infusion devices 200. In this regard, identification may include determining a type of patient care device 140, rather than identifying a specific one of the patient care devices 140 used by the facility to treat a patient, thereby determining a predetermined configuration protocol for the device used in the course of the ordered treatment.

In another embodiment described in more detail below, identification step 304 may include selecting or specifying a patient care device at least in part based on an order. For example, in the case of a dosage order, the allocation of an appropriate infusion device 200 may be based on the type of infusion, the identifier of the medication to be infused, the patient to whom intravenous fluids are to be administered, the patient's current location, or any other factors. In one embodiment, identification 304 may be based on the patient's current location and the identifier of the medication to be administered. Once this information is known, an appropriate infusion device 200 can be selected, and its configuration protocol is also known. In any respect, once the configuration protocol 304 of the patient care device 140 to be used to implement treatment is identified, information corresponding to the order can be analyzed and/or processed to output a configuration output based at least in part on the treatment order and the information identifying the patient care device.

For example, as shown in Figure 3, an embodiment of method 300 may include determining that information corresponding to the configuration protocol of the identified patient care device 140 exists in the treatment order 306. In certain situations, it may be determined that the treatment order does not provide a portion of the information required in configuring the patient care device 140. Moreover, there may be a situation where the treatment order includes information about conflicts in administering treatment. Other situations may also exist where there are deficiencies in the information provided in the order. In any aspect, method 300 may include prompting the caregiver responsible for medication 308 to enter information. This may include reminding the caregiver responsible for medication about matters (e.g., via order entry interface 110) and may include prompting the caregiver responsible for medication to enter additional information from the caregiver regarding the booked treatment. In another embodiment, information may be requested from the responsible caregiver (e.g., a doctor, nurse, etc.) via an institution other than order entry interface 110, such as, for example, a drug management system, an electronic medical record system, or other suitable interface, etc.

In any respect, prompt 308 may include a request for additional information regarding the treatment order, a request for clarification of conflicting information, or otherwise a request for information necessary to prepare the configuration output corresponding to the treatment order. Therefore, method 300 may include receiving 310 information from the responsible caregiver. In one embodiment, receiving the information may be required prior to generating the configuration output 316.

Additionally, method 300 may include data conversion 312 to a form consistent with the configuration protocol. Conversion 312 may include modifying information from the treatment order to a form directly corresponding to the configuration protocol of the identified patient care device 140. For example, a portion of the treatment information may include information described using units of measurement different from those used in the configuration protocol. Traditionally, such conversions may require the medication attendant 130 to manually perform to correct inconsistencies between the units of measurement in the order and those used in the configuration protocol of the patient care device 140. However, the configuration output generator 120 can operatively automate conversion 312, thereby ensuring that the data appearing in the final configuration output conforms to the configuration protocol format.

Method 300 may further include arranging the information in the configuration output 314 to correspond to the data input sequence of the configuration protocol. That is, the configuration protocol may have a series of data inputs provided in a specific order. An order may have at least a portion of information that is not arranged to correspond to the data input sequence of the configuration protocol. Therefore, in conventional methods, the administering caregiver 130 might be required to search the order, identifying appropriate treatment information from multiple potential locations within the order. As can be appreciated, this could lead to misreading by the administering caregiver 130, entering treatment information in the sequence that does not correspond to the data input sequence of the configuration protocol, entering treatment information from memory, or other errors resulting in incorrect numerical input. However, in method 300, because the information in the configuration output can be arranged to correspond to the data input sequence of the configuration protocol, the administering caregiver 130 can sequentially input the information for the configuration protocol in a manner that allows the caregiver 130 to simply follow the data input sequence of the configuration output. This can help the administering caregiver 130 accurately and precisely transcribe the numerical values from the configuration output to the patient care device 140.

Additionally, method 300 may include generating 316 configuration output. Generating 316 may include preparing configuration output in any suitable form. In this regard, generating 316 may include generating configuration output on a display (i.e., preparing a soft copy of the configuration order), generating a hard copy of the configuration output, and/or preparing the configuration output as machine-readable data. As described above, the configuration output may be transmitted to patient care device 140. In this regard, a soft copy of the configuration output may be displayed at patient care device 140.

In one embodiment, generation 316 may include printing a label that can be associated with an item used in the administration of a predetermined treatment. For example, as described in more detail below, in the context of administering intravenous fluid 252 using infusion device 200, label 262' may be affixed to container 200 for intravenous fluid 252. Furthermore, generation 316 may include preparing machine-readable data in a format suitable for distribution to and/or direct use by patient care device 140. In this regard, generation 316 may include generating machine-readable data that can be directly provided to patient care device 140 for configuring patient care device 140.

As referenced above, the method 300 of FIG3 can be used in the context of preparing configuration data for administering intravenous fluid 252 to a patient using infusion device 200. Referring to FIG4-7E, an example of this is described below. For example, in FIG4, a dose order 400 corresponding to a predetermined dose to be administered to the patient can be received. It can be seen that the dose order 400 can be presented in the form of data stored in memory. Therefore, the dose order 400 is shown in a human-readable form in FIG4 for illustrative purposes.

As shown in Figure 4, a dosage order 400 may include multiple parts of dosage information. Although the dosage information in Figure 4 includes order number 402, order date 404, patient name 406, drug name 410, patient location 412, the doctor who issued the order 414, and total dosage 416, it can be seen that a dosage order 400 may provide fewer or additional parts of information. The specific parts shown in Figure 4 are for illustrative purposes and not for limitation.

Configuration output generator 120 can receive a dosage order and (e.g., according to method 300) generate configuration output 500. In this regard, it can be determined that the intravenous fluid 252 corresponding to dosage order 400 is administered via an infusion device 200 of the type shown in Figures 7A-7E. In this regard, Figures 7A-7E can depict embodiments of a predetermined configuration protocol for the infusion device 200. As can be seen, the predetermined configuration protocol for the infusion device 200 can also have a specific data input sequence in which various parameters for configuring the infusion device 200 are requested by the user. Thus, in Figures 7A-7E, the respective successive graphs can represent the subsequent state of the GUI 220 in the data input sequence for receiving configuration data for configuring the infusion device 200 in the predetermined configuration protocol. In this regard, the configuration output 500 shown in Figure 5 can be generated based on the identification of dosage order 400 and infusion device 200 as a patient care device used to administer the intravenous fluid 252 described by dosage order 400.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6, the configuration output 500 may include a label 262', which is applied to a container 250 for intravenous fluid 252 to be administered. In this regard, the intravenous fluid 252 may be a compound intravenous fluid mixture prepared by a pharmacy. The pharmacy may also include a configuration output generator 120, such that the generation of the configuration output 500 occurs substantially simultaneously with the preparation of the intravenous fluid 252. Therefore, once the intravenous fluid 252 is prepared and placed in the container 250, the configuration output 500 may be applied to the container 250 for the intravenous fluid 252 in the form of label 262'. In this regard, label 262' may be a label with adhesive on the back, applied to the container 250 before dispensing from the pharmacy. Thus, the container 250 containing the intravenous fluid 252 and the configuration output 500 can be delivered together to the attending caregiver 130 for subsequent treatment of the patient.

Therefore, as shown in Figure 7A, during configuration protocol initialization, the configuration protocol may include selecting the care area in which intravenous fluid 252 is administered (e.g., it may correspond to the patient's location in the care facility). As can be seen, the dosage order 400 includes patient location 412. In this regard, further referring to Figure 5, the information associated with patient location 412 can be modified to include the information in the corresponding care area data field 512 in the configuration output 500. For example, instead of referring to "LOCATION" as in the dosage order 400, the configuration output 500 may be modified to include a list of patient location information 412 corresponding to the requested input, to be designated as "CARE AREA," as shown in Figure 7A. Moreover, patient location 412 may be abbreviated as "ACC" in the dosage order 400. As shown in Figure 7A, in the care area data field 512 of the configuration output 500, the value can be converted into "Adult Critical Care" for display on the monitor 222 corresponding to the GUI 220. In this regard, the caregiver 130 administering the medication can use the GUI 220 of the infusion device 200 to select "Adult Critical Care". The selection of the care area can cause the GUI 220 to change to the state shown in Figure 7B (e.g., the data input sequence of the configuration protocol is advanced).

In Figure 7B, GUI 220 can prompt the caregiver 130 to administer the medication. The medication name 412 from the dosage order 400 can be included in the configuration output 500. As can be seen in Figure 5, the medication name information 512 can appear directly after the patient location information 512, so that the arrangement of the care area 512 and the medication name 510 corresponds to the data input sequence of the configuration protocol for the infusion device 200. In this regard, the caregiver 130 can input the medication name using input device 224 based on the medication name provided on the configuration output 500, as shown in Figure 7C. After selecting the medication to be administered, GUI 220 can change to the state shown in Figure 7D (e.g., the data input sequence of the configuration protocol advances).

In Figure 7D, the concentration of the medication to be administered is selected in the infusion device 300. However, as can be seen in Figure 4, the concentration information of the medication to be administered may not be available in the dosage order 400. In this regard, as discussed in Figure 3 with respect to method 300, if the configuration output generator 120 determines that the parameter is not available in the dosage order 400 but is included in the configuration protocol of the infusion device 200, the caregiver responsible for administering the medication may be prompted to provide information corresponding to the concentration information before generating the configuration output 500. In this regard, the caregiver responsible for administering the medication may be required to provide information before generating the configuration output 500. In this case, the caregiver responsible for administering the medication may be the prescribing physician, pharmacist, pharmacy technician, or other responsible caregiver who can provide the information. For example, such information may not be available because the prescribing caregiver may not be required to provide information, or may not be aware of the available concentration options for the specific medication. For example, in this particular example, the concentration of the drug can be determined by factors such as the pharmacy-available inventory of the intravenous fluid 252, the method used to mix the intravenous fluid 252, or other factors such as the type of infusion device 220 used to administer the intravenous fluid 252. In another embodiment, the information corresponding to the dose concentration 518 in the configuration output can be automatically populated during the mixing of the intravenous infusion 252 (e.g., the pharmacy workflow management system can be operatively communicated with the configuration output generator 120 to automatically provide information to the configuration output generator 120). In any case, the drug concentration information 518 can be provided on the configuration output 500 so that the administering caregiver 130 can select the appropriate corresponding option from the GUI 220 shown in FIG. 7D.

In this regard, GUI 220 can be changed to the state shown in Figure 7E (e.g., the data input sequence of the configuration protocol is advanced), in which the caregiver 130 is prompted to input information in the areas corresponding to patient weight 608, dose 616, dose administration rate 620, and volume to be infused (VTBI) 622. As can be seen, at least a portion of the corresponding data portions (dose 616, dose administration rate 620, and VTBI 622) are provided in the corresponding order on the configuration output 500. However, it can be seen that because the information corresponding to patient weight 508 is not provided in the dose order 400, patient weight 508 can be received from the responsible caregiver (e.g., doctor, nurse, or other caregiver) in the manner described above. Alternatively, the information can be provided by an electronic medical record (EMR) server that includes this information. In this way, the configuration output generator 120 can be operatively communicated with the EMR server, and it can be used to automatically receive at least a portion of the data contained in the configuration output 500.

In any respect, as can be realized from examining the dose order 400 and configuration output 500, the arrangement of the portions of configuration output 500 corresponding to the values to be entered in Figure 7E can be changed to an arrangement from dose order 400 to configuration output 500. Furthermore, the dose information 412 displayed in dose order 400 is shown in micrograms per kilogram per hour. However, as can be seen in Figure 7E, the configuration protocol for infusion device 200 can prompt the caregiver 130 to enter this information in micrograms per kilogram per hour. That is, the units of measurement used in dose order 400 can be different from the units of measurement required for configuring infusion device 200. Thus, unit conversion can be performed on dose information 416 to generate dose information 516 for configuration output.

As can be further appreciated, rate information 520 and VTBI 522 may not be present in the dosage order 400. These values may be provided based on calculations using other values present in the dosage order 400 and/or configuration output 500, or they may be provided in the configuration output 500 in a suitable and consistent form. For example, in the described embodiment, these values can be derived once the concentration of drug 518 is provided or obtained by the configuration output generator 120. It should be noted that rate information 520 and VTBI 522 are presented in an appropriate order and in units of measurement corresponding to the data input sequence of the configuration protocol of the infusion device 200.

Although the invention has been illustrated and described in the accompanying drawings and the foregoing description, such illustration and description should be considered exemplary rather than restrictive. For example, some embodiments described above may be combined with other embodiments described, and/or arranged in other ways (e.g., processing units may be executed in other sequences). Furthermore, it should be understood that only preferred embodiments and corresponding variations of the invention have been shown and described; all changes and modifications within the spirit of the invention are also claimed.

Claims (9)

1. A method for generating configuration outputs specific to patient care equipment, characterized in that the method comprises: • Receive (302) an order, the order including a treatment description corresponding to the treatment to be performed on the patient; • Based at least in part on the treatment description, identify (304) a patient care device for administering treatment to a patient, wherein the patient care device has at least one predetermined configuration protocol for administering treatment, the predetermined configuration protocol including a predetermined data input sequence for inputting a plurality of patient care device configuration data; • Analyze (306) the treatment description in relation to the predetermined configuration protocol to determine whether the treatment description conforms to the predetermined configuration protocol; • Generate configuration output for the order (316), the configuration output including the plurality of patient care device configuration data for manually configuring the patient care device for implementing treatment, wherein the configuration output is based at least in part on each of the treatment description and the predetermined configuration protocol, and the plurality of patient care device configuration data in the configuration output are arranged to correspond sequentially to the predetermined data input sequence; • In accordance with the predetermined data input sequence, the user manually inputs the plurality of patient care device configuration data from the configuration output into the patient care device (140), so that the operation of the patient care device (140) is at least partially based on the input steps. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the identification step (304) and the generation step (316) is performed at least partially by computer automation. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identification step (304) comprises: Identify one of several types of patient care devices to be used to administer treatment to a patient, where each of the multiple patient care devices has a different predetermined configuration protocol. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of patient care device configuration data includes at least one of the following types of data: • Data indicating the patient's location within the patient care facility; • Data indicating one of several predetermined dose types; • Data indicating at least one therapeutically effective drug; • Data indicating dose concentration; • Data indicating the rate of drug administration; and • Data on indicated dosage. 5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises: When the treatment description does not conform to the predetermined configuration protocol, an output warning is provided at the user interface device; and In response to the output warning, receive treatment information corresponding to the order and conforming to the predetermined configuration protocol, wherein the treatment information is used in the generation step (316). 6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the method further comprises: Before the generation step is completed, treatment information conforming to the predetermined configuration protocol is required. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment to be performed includes administering intravenous fluid (252) to the patient using an infusion device (200). 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the intravenous fluid (252) comprises at least one of the following: • Compound intravenous mixture; • Premixed intravenous solution; • Customer-prepared non-patient-specific fluids; or • Any other type of intravenous fluid. 9. A system for generating configuration outputs specific to patient care equipment, characterized in that the system comprises: • An order entry interface (110) that can operatively receive orders, the orders including a treatment description corresponding to the treatment to be performed on the patient; • A configuration output generator (120) that is operable to communicate with the order entry interface (110), the configuration output generator (120) being operable to: • Based at least in part on the treatment description, identify a patient care device (140) for administering treatment to a patient, wherein the patient care device (140) has at least one predetermined configuration protocol for administering treatment, the predetermined configuration protocol including a predetermined data input sequence for inputting a plurality of patient care device configuration data; • Analyze the treatment description in relation to the predetermined configuration protocol to determine whether the treatment description conforms to the predetermined configuration protocol; and • Generate configuration output for the order, the configuration output including configuration data of the plurality of patient care devices for manually configuring the patient care devices (140) for implementing treatment, wherein the configuration output is based at least in part on each of the treatment description and the predetermined configuration protocol, and the plurality of patient care device configuration data in the configuration output are arranged to correspond sequentially to the predetermined data input sequence; The configuration data of the plurality of patient care devices in the configuration output are manually entered into the patient care device (140) by the user in accordance with the predetermined data input sequence, so that the operation of the patient care device (140) is at least partially based on the input steps.