JP7757367B2 - Medical support system and medical support program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a medical support system and a medical support program.

Doctors usually make diagnoses based on comparing the patient's test results with standard values and the results of interviewing the patient, and then issue prescriptions based on the diagnostic results.
The patient then takes the issued prescription to a dispensing pharmacy where it is inspected by a pharmacist. If any doubts arise regarding the contents of the prescription, the pharmacist will inquire with the doctor to prevent problems such as duplicate administration or contraindications.
An example of a technology for supporting such medical procedures is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, the contents of the package insert that is the basis for the inquiry are electronically transmitted to the doctor in response to an operation by the pharmacist. This can support the pharmacist making the inquiry and the doctor who responds to it.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2022-067763

As mentioned above, prescription audits are extremely important medical procedures for preventing problems such as duplicate administration and administration contraindications. Therefore, in order to perform more accurate prescription audits, it is desirable for medical professionals such as pharmacists and patients to be able to more appropriately understand information related to drug prescriptions. From this perspective, there is still room for improvement in the general technology disclosed in Patent Document 1.

The objective of this invention is to enable more accurate understanding of information related to drug prescriptions.

In order to solve the above problems, a medical support system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises:
When there are multiple different standards defined by multiple different entities,
a prescription information acquisition means for acquiring prescription information indicating reference values used by a medical professional who prescribed the drug as the basis for diagnosis and test values of the patient;
a specifying means for specifying which of the plurality of reference values is the reference value used as the basis for the diagnosis;
a presentation means for presenting the reference value on which the diagnosis specified by the specification means is based and other reference values together with the test value to the person to be presented so that they can be compared;
The present invention is characterized by comprising:

This invention makes it possible to more appropriately understand information related to drug prescriptions.

1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a medical support system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of an information processing device 800 that constitutes the medical support device 10 (including a patient terminal 20 of a modified example). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of an information processing device 800 that constitutes each device. 10 is a table showing specific examples of comparison information generated by a comparison information generating unit 154. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a comparison information presentation process executed by the medical support device 10. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a medical support system 1a according to a first modified example. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the patient terminal 20. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a comparison information presentation process executed by the patient terminal 20.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a medical support system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The medical support system 1 in this embodiment is a system that more appropriately supports medical procedures by medical professionals. Hereinafter, as an example for the purpose of explanation, it is assumed that the medical professional to be supported is a pharmacist working at an insurance pharmacy. Also, as an example for the purpose of explanation, it is assumed that the medical procedure to be supported is a prescription audit performed at the time of dispensing.
However, this is merely an example for the purpose of explanation and is not intended to limit the scope of application of this embodiment. In addition to this, this embodiment can also support various medical or pharmaceutical medical procedures performed by various medical professionals such as pharmacists, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists in various medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics.

As shown in FIG. 1, medical support system 1 is composed of medical support device 10, as well as a hospital terminal, a pharmacy computer, and an external server. Furthermore, these devices that make up medical support system 1 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via network N. This network N is realized, for example, by the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network) installed in an insurance pharmacy.

Note that while the diagram shows one of each device and one of each terminal, this is not limited to this. For example, there may be multiple medical support devices 10 and pharmacy computers, one for each of multiple insurance pharmacies. Alternatively, there may be multiple hospital terminals, one for each of the medical professionals who use them to perform medical procedures. Alternatively, there may be multiple external servers, one for each of the various functions.

A pharmacy computer is an information processing device such as a server computer that performs processing related to the operations of an insurance pharmacy, and has the function of acting as a prescription computer that creates medical fee statements (receipt computer function) and the function of managing patients' medication histories (medication history management function).

The external server is an information processing device such as a server computer that works in conjunction with the pharmacy computer, and has the functions of a server that stores various medical information related to electronic medication records, electronic prescriptions, MID-NET (Medical Information Database Network), etc. as a database, as well as the functions of a server that realizes various medical systems that utilize this information.

The medical support device 10 works in conjunction with each device included in the medical support system 1 to more appropriately support medical procedures, and is composed of information processing devices such as a PC (Personal Computer) or a server computer. To support medical procedures, the medical support device 10 receives various information managed by the pharmacy computer (or each pharmacy computer, if multiple computers exist), external servers (or each external server, if multiple computers exist), and hospital terminals (or each hospital terminal, if multiple computers exist) connected via network N. The medical support device 10 also manages this received data in a set of databases (including a medication history database) similar to those of the pharmacy computer, external server, and hospital terminal. In other words, the medical support device 10 acquires some or all of the various information managed by the pharmacy computer, external server, and hospital terminal.

In this configuration, the medical support device 10 executes a "comparison information presentation process." Here, the comparison information presentation process is a series of steps that present various types of information, including information used by medical professionals (e.g., doctors) as the basis for their diagnosis, as comparative information (hereinafter referred to as "comparison information").

Specifically, when there are multiple different reference values defined by multiple different entities, the medical support device 10 obtains prescription information indicating the reference values used by the medical professional who prescribed the medication as the basis for diagnosis and the patient's test values.
Furthermore, the medical support device 10 identifies which of the multiple reference values is the reference value that is the basis for the diagnosis.
Furthermore, the medical support device 10 presents the reference values that are the basis of the identified diagnosis and other reference values together with the test values so that the person receiving the presentation can compare them.

In this way, medical support system 1 presents the patient's test results in a way that allows them to be compared with the reference values that medical professionals (e.g., doctors) use as the basis for their diagnosis when prescribing medication. This allows the recipient (e.g., pharmacist) to properly understand the perspective from which the doctor made the diagnosis.

Furthermore, medical professionals compare test values with reference values when making diagnoses, but reference values are not uniformly defined. There are multiple reference values corresponding to various organizations, such as medical societies, hospitals, and universities, and the values of each reference value vary. Therefore, the medical support system 1 presents other reference values in addition to the reference value used as the basis for diagnosis, allowing for further comparison. By referencing this information, the recipient can properly understand what values are used as the basis for other reference values and whether it would be better to adopt other reference values rather than the reference value used by the medical professional as the basis for diagnosis.
Therefore, the medical support system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to more appropriately grasp information related to drug prescriptions.

[Hardware configuration]
Next, the hardware configuration of the medical support device 10 in the medical support system 1 will be described.
As described above, the medical support device 10 in the medical support system 1 is configured by an information processing device such as a PC or server computer, or a tablet terminal or smartphone that communicates with these. Note that the patient terminal 20, which will be described later as a modified example, is also configured by general information processing, and its basic hardware configuration is also the same as that of the medical support device 10.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of an information processing device 800 that constitutes the medical support device 10 (including the patient terminal 20 of a modified example).
As shown in FIG. 2 , the information processing device 800 constituting each device includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 811, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 812, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 813, a bus 814, an input unit 815, an output unit 816, a storage unit 817, a communication unit 818, and a drive 819.

The CPU 811 executes various processes according to a program recorded in the ROM 812 or a program loaded from the storage unit 817 to the RAM 813 .
The RAM 813 also stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 811 to execute various processes.

The CPU 811, ROM 812, and RAM 813 are interconnected via a bus 814. The input unit 815, output unit 816, memory unit 817, communication unit 818, drive 819, and imaging unit 820 are also connected to the bus 814.

The input unit 815 is made up of various buttons and the like, and various information is input in response to instruction operations.
The output unit 816 is composed of a display, a speaker, etc., and outputs images and sounds.
The storage unit 817 is configured with a hard disk or a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and stores various data managed by each server.
The communication unit 818 controls communication with other devices via the network N.

Removable media 831, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, or semiconductor memory, is appropriately attached to drive 819. Programs read from removable media 831 by drive 819 are installed in storage unit 817 as needed.

In addition, if the information processing device 800 is configured as, for example, a tablet terminal, the input unit 815 can be configured as a touch sensor and placed over the display of the output unit 816, thereby providing a configuration with a touch panel.

[Functional configuration]
Next, the functional configuration of the medical support device 10 in the medical support system 1 will be described.

[Functional configuration of medical support device 10]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the medical support device 10. As shown in FIG.
As shown in Figure 3, the CPU 811 of the medical support device 10 functions as a user interface information generation unit (UI information generation unit) 151, a prescription information acquisition unit 152, an information identification unit 153, a comparison information generation unit 154, a presentation unit 155, and a database management unit (DB management unit) 156.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the memory unit 817 of the medical support device 10 stores a patient attribute database (patient attribute DB) 171, a prescription database (prescription DB) 172, a medication history database (medication history DB) 173, a reference value database (reference value DB) 174, and a comparison information database (comparison information DB) 175.

Patient attribute DB171 stores patient attribute data, such as address, name, date of birth, age, sex, underlying medical conditions, commonly used medications (including quasi-drugs), language used, insurance card number, and emergency contact information, in association with information identifying each patient. These patient attributes are composed of information obtained by pharmacists during conversations with patients, information provided by patients in response to questionnaires, and doctor's findings, and include, for example, information about the patient's hobbies, occupation, family composition, and favorite foods. Other patient attributes include information about lifestyle habits, such as whether the patient consumes alcoholic beverages, drives a vehicle, and exercises regularly. Other patient attributes include, for example, test results for various items tested during health checkups and other examinations, as well as fluctuations in test results (e.g., recent weight gain).

Prescription DB172 stores prescription data issued to patients (such as the name of the health insurance medical institution and the name of the health insurance physician who prescribed the prescription, the prescription date, and prescription contents) in association with information identifying each patient and the date the prescription was brought in. In this embodiment, in addition to these general prescription contents, the prescription also contains the reference values that the medical professional (e.g., doctor) who prescribed the medication used as the basis for diagnosis. Therefore, prescription DB172 also stores information identifying the reference values that were used as the basis for this diagnosis, such as information indicating the organization, such as a medical society, hospital, or university, that established these reference values.

Medication history DB173 stores data on the history of medications prescribed to patients (medication history) (prescription history, information on medical history including complications, whether or not the patient has visited other departments, etc.) in association with information identifying each patient and information identifying each pharmacist who prescribed the medication. The medication history also stores data on the history of medication instructions given to patients by pharmacists (medication instruction statements, etc.).

Reference value DB174 stores multiple reference values defined by various organizations, such as various medical societies, hospitals, and universities. For example, each organization defines a reference range for each reference value in relation to the disease it corresponds to. For example, if a single reference value is defined, a patient's test value is within the reference range if it exceeds (or falls below) that reference value, and conversely, if it falls below (or exceeds) that reference value, it is determined to be outside the reference range. Alternatively, for example, if multiple reference values indicating upper and lower limits are defined, a patient's test value is within the reference range if it is below the upper limit and above the lower limit, and conversely, if it is above the upper limit or below the lower limit, it is determined to be outside the reference range.

Generally, medical professionals (e.g., doctors) compare a patient's test results with any reference values selected as the basis for diagnosis, and if many test items are outside the reference range or there is a large deviation from the reference values, they diagnose the patient as having an abnormality (i.e., having a disease). On the other hand, if few test items are outside the reference range or there is not much deviation from the reference values, they diagnose the patient as being normal (i.e., not having a disease and being healthy).

Note that multiple reference values may be specified depending on gender and age. In this case, a reference value appropriate for the patient's gender and age is selected. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the reference values include prescription conditions such as maximum dosages set by the organization that specified the reference values, and drug combinations that are contraindicated for administration.

The comparison information DB 175 stores comparison information generated by the comparison information generation unit 154 based on the prescription information contained in the prescription, the reference values contained in the reference value DB 174, and the identification results by the information identification unit 153. More specific details of the comparison information will be described later with reference to Figure 4 when explaining the comparison information generation unit 154.

The UI information generation unit 151 generates various information (hereinafter referred to as "UI information") for the medical support device 10 (including modified medical support devices 10) to display user interface screens (hereinafter referred to as "UI screens"), thereby realizing the display of various input/output screens that function as user interfaces. For example, in the comparison information presentation process, the UI information generation unit 151 outputs and displays, on a display included in the output unit 816, a screen as a UI screen, including a display area for displaying various information such as prescriptions and patient medication histories, a display area for displaying icons for accepting various operations from pharmacists, and a display area for comparison information. Furthermore, the UI information generation unit 151 outputs music, sound effects, voice, etc. from a speaker included in the output unit 816 along with these displays, as necessary.

For this purpose, for example, the UI information generating unit 151 generates, as UI information, a frame format for displaying a UI screen and substantive content to be inserted into the format. The substantive content to be inserted into the format includes, for example, various types of information stored in each database in the comparison information presentation process, such as prescriptions and patient medication histories.
The UI information generating unit 151 also receives various information and operation instructions based on input from a pharmacist on a UI screen generated in accordance with the UI information.

The prescription information acquisition unit 152 acquires prescription information from the prescription brought by the patient. To do this, the contents of the prescription are first entered into a pharmacy computer that functions as a medical receipt computer, or into the medical support device 10. The input method may involve a medical professional (e.g., a pharmacy counter clerk or pharmacist) manually entering the contents of the prescription printed on paper using an input device such as a keyboard included in the input unit 815. Alternatively, at least a portion of the prescription data may be acquired and input by reading a two-dimensional code that complies with the QR Code (registered trademark) standard printed on the prescription. Alternatively, the prescription may be input by obtaining an electronic prescription from an external server.

In this way, the prescription information acquisition unit 152 acquires prescription information from the contents of the prescription entered into the pharmacy computer or the medical support device 10. In this embodiment, the prescription information includes, for example, the patient's test results, information (for example, the name of the organization and the identification code of the organization) for identifying the reference values (hereinafter referred to as "basis reference values") that the medical professional (for example, a doctor) used as the basis for the diagnosis when prescribing the drug, and the drug prescription contents.
The prescription information acquisition unit 152 outputs the acquired prescription information to the information identification unit 153 .

The information identification unit 153 identifies information necessary to generate comparison information based on the prescription information input from the prescription information acquisition unit 152, multiple reference values included in the reference value DB 174, the patient's medication history included in the medication history DB 173, etc. The information necessary to generate comparison information is, for example, the value of the basis reference value itself corresponding to information for identifying the basis reference value (e.g., organization name or organization identification code). The information identification unit 153 can identify the value of the corresponding basis reference value itself by searching the reference value DB 174 using the information for identifying the basis reference value as a search key. In this case, the information identification unit 153 also identifies the values of reference values other than the basis reference value (hereinafter referred to as "other reference values").

In addition, for example, when a reference range related to a disease is defined by the reference values, the information identification unit 153 further identifies whether the test value is within the reference range or outside the reference range for each of the multiple reference values.
In addition, the information identifying unit 153 further identifies which of the multiple reference values was the reference value that the medical professional used as the basis for diagnosis when the drug was prescribed to the patient in the past.In addition, when the drug prescription conditions are determined by the reference values, the information identifying unit 153 further identifies whether the prescribed drug satisfies the drug prescription conditions for each of the multiple reference values.
The information specifying unit 153 outputs the specified information necessary for generating the acquired comparison information to the comparison information generating unit 154 .

The comparison information generation unit 154 generates comparison information based on the information necessary to generate the comparison information input from the information identification unit 153. Specific examples of the comparison information generated by the comparison information generation unit 154 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a table showing specific examples of the comparison information generated by the comparison information generation unit 154.

As shown in FIG. 4, the comparison information has rows (columns) corresponding to multiple test items used in the diagnosis when a medical professional prescribes a drug. Test items A to N are shown in the figure as an example. The final row corresponds not to a test item but to prescription conditions. In the figure, as an example, the prescription conditions include the use and dosage of the prescribed drug. Columns (records) are also provided corresponding to patient test values, evidence reference values, and multiple reference values.
Corresponding information is stored in each field (cell) where a row and column intersect.

Such comparative information allows comparison between the reference values and the patient's test values, allowing the recipient (e.g., a pharmacist) to properly understand the perspective from which the medical professional (e.g., a doctor) made the diagnosis.
Furthermore, such comparison information also shows other standard values for comparison in addition to the evidence standard value, so that the recipient can properly understand what values are used as standards for the other standard values and whether it would be more appropriate to adopt other standard values rather than the diagnostic standard value.
Therefore, the medical support system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to more appropriately grasp information related to drug prescriptions.

In addition, this comparison information indicates whether the test value for each of multiple reference values is within the reference range or outside the reference range in a comparative manner. This allows for a more accurate understanding of which test values are within the reference range and considered normal, and which test values are outside the reference range and considered abnormal. Furthermore, this relationship between normality and abnormality can be more accurately understood not only for the underlying reference value, but also for other reference values. In particular, in this example, when a test value is outside the reference range, the background color of the corresponding field (cell) is made different from the background color of other fields (cells), making it easier to understand. In addition to this, similar effects can be achieved by changing the display mode of the corresponding field (cell) using other methods, such as changing the text size or color.

Furthermore, this comparison information allows for comparison of which of multiple reference values was used by a medical professional as the evidence reference value when a drug was previously prescribed to a patient. For example, as shown as "History Count" in the figure, it allows for comparison of how many times a reference value has been used as the evidence reference value for that patient in the past. This makes it possible to more appropriately determine whether the evidence reference value for a current prescription matches the evidence reference value for previous prescriptions.

Furthermore, such comparison information indicates, in a comparative manner, whether the prescribed drug satisfies the drug prescription conditions for each of a plurality of reference values.
This allows for a more accurate understanding of whether or not the prescription conditions (here, dosage and administration) of a drug determined by the basis reference value are met. Also, when other reference values are used as the basis, it allows for a more accurate understanding of whether or not the prescription conditions of a drug determined by other reference values are met.
The comparison information generating unit 154 outputs the generated comparison information to the presenting unit 155 and stores it in the comparison information DB 175 .

The presentation unit 155 presents the comparison information input from the comparison information generation unit 154 to the presentee. In this case, the presentee is the pharmacist operating the medical support device 10. Presentation can be achieved, for example, by displaying the comparison information in the table format shown in FIG. 4 on a display included in the output unit 816, by printing it on paper or the like using a printer (not shown) connected to the communication unit 818, or by sending the comparison information to another terminal (not shown) and displaying it on that other terminal. When presenting in this manner, the comparison information may be presented alone, or it may be presented as part of other information. For example, it may be presented as part of the information included in an "instruction slip" issued to a pharmacist from a pharmacy computer that functions as a receipt computer. Here, the instruction slip is a document instructing the pharmacist to dispense medication.

If there are multiple medications being prescribed, the information identification unit 153 identifies information for each of the multiple medications, the comparison information generation unit 154 generates comparison information, and the presentation unit 155 presents the comparison information.

The recipient (here, a pharmacist) who references the comparison information presented in this way can obtain the various pieces of information indicated by the comparison information, as explained with reference to Figure 4. This allows the recipient to more appropriately understand information related to the drug prescription. For example, if the comparison information is presented as part of the information included in the prescription slip as described above, the pharmacist can conduct a prescription audit while taking into account the information obtained from the comparison information. This allows them to more reliably discover any doubts about the prescription and make inquiries about the doubts.

In such a situation, the comparison information is utilized, for example, as follows.
The maximum dosage and contraindicated drug combinations differ depending on the academic society. Therefore, for example, if the standard value of academic society A is used, a pharmacist can check whether the maximum dosage specified by academic society A is within the range and whether the drug is contraindicated as specified by academic society A. For example, an error can be discovered, such as when the maximum dosage specified by academic society B (a dosage higher than that specified by academic society A) is to be administered despite the standard value of academic society A being used.

Furthermore, some academic societies have multiple standard values depending on gender and age. Therefore, for example, if the patient is a "female," it is possible to discover errors such as whether the standard value for "males" from Association A has been mistakenly adopted.
Furthermore, while the reference values of Society A are outside the reference range for multiple test items, the reference values of Society B are outside the reference range for an even larger number of test items. Therefore, it is possible to discover doubts as to whether the reference values of Society B should be used for diagnosis rather than Society A in the first place.

Furthermore, if the patient's past medication history can be referenced, it may be possible to discover doubts as to whether the standard values set by Society A are correct, even though the multiple hospitals the patient has visited in the past have all used Society A's standard values, while the new hospital where the prescription was received is using Society B's standard values (a society related to a completely different disease from Society A).

In particular, whether a patient's test results are within the reference range is like a "point" of data when a single prescription is filled, but as the number of prescriptions increases, the data becomes a "line" like a graph, allowing for inquiries about doubts to be made from a broader perspective. For example, it becomes possible to consider which reference value was used as the basis for test results that were outside the reference range in the past. It is also possible to understand that the basis reference value is not consistent and is different each time. Furthermore, by printing this data on a print medium for the patient or sending it to the patient's device, it is possible to share information about past diagnostic history with the patient.
In this way, by presenting comparative information, it is possible to support pharmacists in making inquiries about doubts from various perspectives.

The DB management unit 156 manages the synchronization of data in various databases managed by the pharmacy computer, external server, and hospital terminal with data in various databases provided in the medical support device 10. For example, the DB management unit 156 transmits updated data in the various databases managed by the medical support device 10 to the pharmacy computer, external server, or hospital terminal at a preset time (e.g., 3:00 AM, when the servers are least frequently used) or when the various databases are updated, and receives updated data in the various databases in the pharmacy computer, external server, or hospital terminal from the pharmacy computer or external server, thereby updating the various databases provided in the medical support device 10. This allows the data contents of the various databases provided in the medical support device 10 to be updated to the latest content as appropriate.

In addition to synchronizing with the pharmacy computer or external server, the DB management unit 156 may also update the contents of various databases using other methods. For example, the contents of various databases may be updated in response to input operations made by a pharmacist or data manager to the medical support device 10. Alternatively, the contents of various databases may be updated based on data obtained via communication or other means from computers other than the pharmacy computer or external server, or data read from removable media 831. Furthermore, when each functional block obtains or generates information during the comparison information presentation process, the DB management unit 156 may update the contents of various databases based on this information.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the medical support device 10 in the medical support system 1 during the comparison information presentation process will be described.

[Operation of medical support device 10]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the comparison information presentation process executed by the medical support device 10.
The comparison information presentation process in the medical support device 10 starts when the medical support device 10 is powered on, and is repeatedly performed while the power is on. Note that, as a premise for the explanation, while the comparison information presentation process is being executed, the UI information generation unit 151 is constantly generating UI information and displaying a UI screen.

In step S11, the prescription information acquisition unit 152 determines whether new prescription details have been input to the medical support device 10. If new prescription details have been input, step S11 returns Yes, and processing proceeds to step S12. On the other hand, if new prescription details have not been input, step S11 returns No, and processing repeats the determination in step S11.

In step S12, the prescription information acquisition unit 152 acquires prescription information from the contents of the input prescription.
In step S13, the information specifying unit 153 specifies information necessary to generate comparison information.

In step S14, the comparison information generating unit 154 generates comparison information based on information necessary for generating the comparison information.
In step S15, the presentation unit 155 presents the generated comparison information to the person to whom the comparison information is presented. The presentation is realized, for example, by presenting the comparison information as part of the information included in the instruction sheet issued to the pharmacist as described above.

In step S16, the DB management unit 156 determines whether the pharmacist who referenced the comparison information made an inquiry about the doubt. This determination can be made, for example, based on whether an instruction operation related to the inquiry about the doubt has been received from the pharmacist. If the pharmacist made an inquiry about the doubt, step S16 is determined as Yes, and processing proceeds to step S18. On the other hand, if the pharmacist did not make an inquiry about the doubt, step S16 is determined as No, and processing proceeds to step S17.

In step S17, the DB management unit 156 stores the content of the inquiry as history information in each DB. For example, the content of the inquiry is linked to prescription information in the prescription DB 172 and medication history information in the medication history DB 173, and stored as history information in each DB. In addition, to support the inquiry, the content of the inquiry that the pharmacist is making may be sent from the medical support device 10 to the hospital terminal via email, video call, etc.

In step S18, the DB management unit 156 stores the comparison information presented in this process in the comparison information DB 175. This ends this process for now. However, this process will be repeated as long as the medical support device 10 is powered on.

By performing the comparative information presentation process described above, the medical support system 1 presents comparative information, allowing the recipient to more appropriately understand information about drug prescriptions by viewing this information.

[Modification]
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are merely illustrative and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention. The present invention can take on various other embodiments and can undergo various modifications such as omissions and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In such cases, these embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and spirit of the invention described in this specification, etc., and are also included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and their equivalents.
As an example, the embodiment of the present invention described above may be modified as follows: In addition, the following modifications may be combined.

[Modification 1]
In the above-described embodiment, as an example, when a pharmacist performs a prescription audit or the like, the medical support device 10 presents comparison information to the pharmacist. That is, real-time support for medical procedures such as prescription audits is realized. The presenting of comparison information is not limited to this, and may be done at other times. For example, after a drug is dispensed to a patient, the comparison information may be presented when the patient takes the drug at home.

Figure 6 shows the system configuration of a medical support system 1a according to this modified example. This medical support system 1a is essentially the same as the medical support system 1 in the embodiment described above, but differs in that it further includes a patient terminal 20.

The patient terminal 20 is configured as an information processing device such as a PC, smartphone, or tablet device owned by the patient. Similar to the medical support device 10, the patient terminal 20 has the hardware configuration of an information processing device 800. The patient terminal 20 is also capable of communicating with the medical support device 10 and the like via the network N.

In this modified example, the patient terminal 20 presents the comparison information at any timing in response to the patient's operation. For example, the comparison information is presented when the patient is about to take medication at home. This allows the patient to check the comparison information and take the medication appropriately even after receiving medication instructions from the pharmacist. In other words, it is possible to support the medical practice of medication instructions even at the patient's home, etc.

[Functional configuration of patient terminal 20]
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the patient terminal 20. As shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, in the CPU 811 of the patient terminal 20, a user interface display control unit (UI display control unit) 251, a comparison information acquisition unit 252, and a presentation unit 253 function.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, the memory unit 817 of the patient terminal 20 includes a user interface information memory unit (UI information memory unit) 271 and a comparison information memory unit 272.

The UI display control unit 251 controls the display of the UI screen in the comparison information presentation process on the patient terminal 20 based on the UI information. For example, in the comparison information presentation process on the patient terminal 20, the UI display control unit 251 outputs and displays on the display included in the output unit 816 a screen including a display area for displaying various information such as prescriptions and the patient's medication history, a display area for displaying icons for accepting various operations from the patient, and a display area for comparison information. In addition, the UI display control unit 251 outputs music, sound effects, voice, etc. from the speaker included in the output unit 816 along with these displays, as necessary.

To realize such a UI screen display, the UI display control unit 251 transmits an acquisition request for UI information, which includes information for identifying the patient, to the medical support device 10. Then, in response to the request, the UI display control unit 251 receives UI information suitable for the patient from the medical support device 10, thereby acquiring the UI information. The UI display control unit 251 also stores the acquired UI information in the UI information storage unit 271. The UI display control unit 251 then appropriately reads out the UI information stored in the UI information storage unit 271 to realize the display of the UI screen. That is, the UI information storage unit 271 functions as a storage unit that stores UI information.
Furthermore, the UI display control unit 251 outputs various information input by the patient on the UI screen and the contents of the operation instructions input by the patient to other functional blocks or transmits them to the medical support device 10.

The comparison information acquisition unit 252 acquires the comparison information. To do this, the comparison information acquisition unit 252 transmits an acquisition request for comparison information, which includes information for identifying the patient, to the medical support device 10. Then, in response to the request, the comparison information acquisition unit 252 receives, from the medical support device 10, comparison information that is generated based on the prescription prescribed for the patient and is suited to the patient.
Furthermore, the comparison information acquisition section 252 stores the acquired comparison information in the comparison information storage section 272. That is, the comparison information storage section 272 functions as a storage section that acquires the comparison information.

The presentation unit 253 presents the comparison information stored in the comparison information storage unit 272 to the patient. The presentation method is similar to that of the presentation unit 155 of the medical support device 10, and is achieved by displaying the information on a display included in the output unit 816, printing it on paper media, etc.

[Operation of patient terminal 20]
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the comparison information presentation process executed by the patient terminal 20.
The comparison information presentation process in the patient terminal 20 starts when the patient terminal 20 is powered on and is repeated while the power is on. As a premise for the explanation, the UI display control unit 251 constantly displays the UI screen while the comparison information presentation process is being executed. In this case, the UI information for display may be acquired in advance from the medical support device 10 and stored in the UI information storage unit 271, or may be acquired in real time at the time of display.

In step S21, the comparison information acquisition unit 252 determines whether or not a comparison information acquisition instruction operation has been received from the pharmacist. If an acquisition instruction operation has been received from the pharmacist, step S21 is determined as Yes, and processing proceeds to step S22. On the other hand, if an acquisition instruction operation has not been received from the pharmacist, step S21 is determined as No, and processing repeats the determination in step S21.

In step S22, the comparison information acquisition unit 252 sends a request to acquire comparison information, including information identifying the patient, to the medical support device 10.

In step S23, the comparison information acquisition unit 252 acquires comparison information appropriate for this patient, which was generated based on the prescription prescribed for this patient, by receiving it from the medical support device 10 in response to the acquisition request.

In step S<b>24 , the comparison information acquisition unit 252 stores the acquired comparison information in the comparison information storage unit 272 .
In step S25, the presentation unit 253 presents the comparison information stored in the comparison information storage unit 272 to the user of the patient terminal 20. This completes the process.

As a result, the user of the patient terminal 20, who is the recipient of the presented comparison information and who references the presented comparison information, can more appropriately understand the information regarding the drug prescription, just like the pharmacist using the medical support device 10. Note that users of the patient terminal 20 may be, for example, the patient themselves, their family, or medical professionals related to the patient (e.g., visiting caregivers). In other words, this modified example makes it possible for comparison information to be shared with various parties.

[Modification 2]
In the above-described embodiment, the comparison information includes all other reference values stored in the reference value DB 174 and is presented. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only some of the other reference values may be included in the comparison information and presented. In this case, for example, other reference values for which a predetermined number or more test items have test values outside the reference range may be included in the comparison information. Conversely, other reference values for which the test values are not outside the reference range (or are few) may not be included in the comparison information, as they are not related to the suspected disease.

Alternatively, other reference values that have not been (or have been few) used as evidence reference values in the past may be deemed unrelated to the disease suspected to be present, and may not be included in the comparison information.
Alternatively, other reference values to be included in the comparison information may be arbitrarily selected based on an operational instruction from a person to whom the information is presented, such as a pharmacist or a patient.
According to this modified example, the other reference values to be included in the comparison information can be limited to those that are more relevant to the patient, making it easier for the recipient to refer to them.

[Configuration example]
As described above, the medical support system 1 according to this embodiment includes the prescription information acquisition unit 152, the information identification unit 153, and the presentation units 155 and 253. In addition, there are multiple different reference values defined by multiple different subjects.
In this case, the prescription information acquisition unit 152 acquires prescription information indicating the reference values that the medical professional who prescribed the medicine used as the basis for diagnosis and the patient's test results.
The information identifying unit 153 identifies which of the multiple reference values is the reference value that is the basis for the diagnosis.
The presenting units 155 and 253 present the reference value that is the basis of the diagnosis identified by the information identifying unit 153 and other reference values together with the test values so that the presentee can compare them.

In this way, the medical support system 1 presents the reference values that medical professionals (e.g., doctors) used as the basis for diagnosing when prescribing medications and the patient's test values in a manner that allows them to compare them. This allows the recipient (e.g., pharmacist) to properly understand the perspective from which the doctor made the diagnosis.
Furthermore, medical professionals compare test values with reference values when making diagnoses, but reference values are not uniformly defined. For example, multiple reference values exist corresponding to different organizations, such as medical societies, and the values of each reference value are different. Therefore, the medical support system 1 presents other reference values in addition to the reference value used as the basis for diagnosis, allowing for further comparison. Therefore, by referring to this, the recipient can properly understand what values are used as the basis for other reference values and whether it would be preferable to adopt other reference values rather than the reference value used by the medical professional as the basis for diagnosis.
Therefore, the medical support system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to more appropriately grasp information related to drug prescriptions.

Reference values define the reference range associated with any disease.
In this case, the information identifying unit 153 further identifies whether the test value is within the reference range or outside the reference range for each of the multiple reference values.
The presenting units 155 and 253 also present the information further identified by the information identifying unit 153 so that it is possible to compare the information to which reference value it corresponds.
This allows for a more accurate understanding of which test values are within the reference range and considered normal, and which test values are outside the reference range and considered abnormal.Furthermore, this relationship between normality and abnormality can be more accurately understood not only for the reference values that serve as the basis for diagnosis, but also for other reference values.

The information identifying unit 153 further identifies which of the multiple reference values was the reference value that the medical professional used as the basis for diagnosis when the drug was prescribed to the patient in the past.
The presenting units 155 and 253 also present the information further identified by the information identifying unit 153 so that it is possible to compare the information to which reference value it corresponds.
This makes it possible to more appropriately determine whether the reference values used as the basis for diagnosis in the current prescription match the reference values used as the basis for diagnosis in prescriptions given in the past.

The prescription conditions for drugs are determined based on the standard values.
In this case, the information identifying unit 153 further identifies whether the prescribed drug satisfies the drug prescription conditions for each of the multiple reference values.
The presenting units 155 and 253 also present the information further identified by the information identifying unit 153 so that it is possible to compare the information to which reference value it corresponds.
This makes it possible to more appropriately determine whether or not the prescription conditions (e.g., dosage, administration contraindications) of the drug determined by the reference values used as the basis for the diagnosis are met. Also, when other reference values are used as the basis, it is possible to more appropriately determine whether or not the prescription conditions of the drug determined by the other reference values are met.

When a medical worker other than the medical worker attempts to prescribe a drug based on the prescription information, the presenting units 155 and 253 present the other medical worker as a person to whom the prescription is to be presented.
This allows pharmacists to utilize information more appropriately grasped by the medical support system 1 when performing prescription audits, etc.

When a drug is dispensed to a patient based on a prescription, the presenting unit 155, 253 presents the patient as a presented person.
This allows the patient to utilize the information more appropriately grasped by the medical support system 1 when actually taking medication.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and any modifications and improvements that can achieve the object of the present invention are included in the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the case where prescription audits by pharmacists are supported is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the objects to be supported in the present invention include various types of medical information.

The above-described series of processes can be executed by hardware or software.
In other words, the functional configurations in the above-described embodiments are merely examples and are not particularly limited. That is, it is sufficient that any of the computers constituting the medical support system 1 has a function capable of executing the above-described series of processes as a whole, and the functional blocks used to realize this function are not particularly limited to the examples shown.
Furthermore, one functional block may be configured as a single piece of hardware, a single piece of software, or a combination thereof.

In addition, the recording medium containing the program for executing the series of processes described above may consist not only of removable media distributed separately from the device itself in order to provide the program to the user, but also of a recording medium provided to the user in a state where it is pre-installed in the device itself.

Furthermore, the effects described in the above-mentioned embodiment are merely a list of the most favorable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are not limited to those described in this embodiment.

1, 1a Medical support system, 10 Medical support device, 20 Patient terminal, N Network, 151 User interface information generation unit (UI information generation unit), 152 Prescription information acquisition unit, 153 Information identification unit, 154 Comparison information generation unit, 155 Presentation unit, 156 Database management unit (DB management unit), 171 Patient attribute database (Patient attribute DB), 172 Prescription database (Prescription DB), 173 Medication history database (Medication history DB), 174 Reference value database (Reference value DB), 175 Comparison information database (Comparison information DB), 251 User interface display control unit (UI display control unit), 252 Comparison information acquisition unit, 253 Presentation unit, 271 User interface display storage unit (UI information storage unit), 272 Comparison information storage unit, 800 Information processing device, 811 CPU, 812 ROM, 813 RAM, 814 Bus, 815 input section, 816 output section, 817 storage section, 818 communication section, 819 drive, 831 removable media

Claims (6)

When there are a plurality of different reference values defined by a plurality of different subjects, and a reference range associated with a disease is determined by each of the plurality of reference values,
a prescription information acquisition means for acquiring prescription information indicating test values and prescribed medications for a patient;
an identification means for identifying whether the test value of the patient is within the reference range or outside the reference range for each of the plurality of reference values;
a presentation means for presenting to a presentation recipient a plurality of results corresponding to the plurality of reference values identified by the identification means for each of the plurality of reference values in a comparable manner ;
A medical support system comprising: When there are a plurality of different reference values defined by a plurality of different subjects, and a prescription condition for a drug is determined by each of the plurality of reference values ,
a prescription information acquisition means for acquiring prescription information indicating prescribed drugs ;
a specifying means for specifying whether the prescribed drug satisfies prescription conditions for the drug for each of the plurality of reference values;
a presentation means for presenting to a presentation recipient a plurality of results corresponding to the plurality of reference values identified by the identification means for each of the plurality of reference values in a comparable manner ;
A medical support system comprising: When a medical professional other than the medical professional who prescribed the prescription information intends to prescribe a drug based on the prescription information, the presenting means presents the prescription to the other medical professional as the presented person.
3. The medical support system according to claim 1 , wherein the medical support system comprises: a medical device; the presenting means presents the patient as the presented person when a drug is dispensed to the patient based on the prescription information.
3. The medical support system according to claim 1 , wherein the medical support system comprises: a medical device; When there are a plurality of different reference values defined by a plurality of different subjects, and a reference range associated with a disease is determined by each of the plurality of reference values,
a prescription information acquisition function that acquires prescription information indicating the patient's test results and prescribed medications;
a function of identifying whether the patient's test value is within the reference range or outside the reference range for each of the plurality of reference values;
a presentation function that presents to a presented person a plurality of results corresponding to the plurality of reference values identified by the identification function for each of the plurality of reference values in a comparable manner ;
A medical support program characterized by realizing the above on a computer. When there are a plurality of different reference values defined by a plurality of different subjects, and a prescription condition for a drug is determined by each of the plurality of reference values ,
a prescription information acquisition function for acquiring prescription information indicating prescribed medications ;
a determining function for determining whether the prescribed drug satisfies a prescription condition for the drug for each of the plurality of reference values;
a presentation function that presents to a presented person a plurality of results corresponding to the plurality of reference values identified by the identification function for each of the plurality of reference values in a comparable manner ;
A medical support program characterized by realizing the above on a computer.