Patent Application
20090281835
1. Field of the Invention
This invention mainly relates to a complimentary pair of devices for simplifying the programming of a reminder device and reminding each dose of each medication till compliance. A scheduler device aims at achieving a facilitated scheduling of a medical prescription, formatting the scheduled prescription on format specifications compliant with recipient reminder device and transmitting the formatted scheduled medical prescription to the reminder device. When unpacked in the reminder device, the received formatted scheduled medical prescription is designed for realizing the automatic programming of the reminder device and the programmed reminder device is meant for reminding each dose of each medication of said prescription.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reliability in taking medication at home is appreciably erratic. The use of electronic alarm devices, which point out the medication time, is a well-known fact. Actually, the prior art is crowded with various designs of electronic alarm devices, devised to generate audible and/or visible alarm signals. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,198,383 and 6,018,289 are examples of such electronic devices. A problem with such systems is that they are relatively complex devices and difficult to program. An aging population, insurance coverage, and chronic conditions occurring frequently in elderly have enhanced consumption of prescription drugs and compliance can be extremely demanding.
A need therefore exists for a reliable and effortlessly programmable electronic device that points out the medication time. If a formulated medical prescription could be transmitted in a reminder device, and which could program the reminder device to implement the reminding function, the dilemma of programming a reminder device could be evaded. If such a resource were available, it would be further desirable that a facilitating system should be provided to a doctor to formulate a medical prescription. United States Patent Application number 20080071572 (Ahmed; Omar) embodies a GUI based scheme to select drugs by identifying symptoms or ailments and inputting them in the system, wherein, the system provides a list of drugs associated with treating said symptoms or ailments. The drugs are selected from the provided list. However, the symptoms may relate to numerous possible etiologies and symptomatic treatment is rarely advocated. It is better to pass the responsibility of diagnosing and deciding medication on to the doctors. Moreover, the method employed is for the users to select a drug dispensing location and communicate the prescription to that location.
It is also desirable that while a doctor is formulating a prescription, a relational analyzing system should be available, which could automatically display various precautions, special directions, drug interactions, adverse side effects, contraindications, safety cautions, recheck messages. United States Patent Application (Yamada; Satomi) 20080059229 describes a prescription assisting central apparatus connected through a network to a plurality of terminals installed in medical facilities. However, it does not teach an inbuilt independent relational analyzing system.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a scheduler device for facilitating a prescriber for scheduling a medical prescription, configuring a format of said prescription compliant with format specifications of a reminder device and transmitting it to the reminder device. When unpacked, the received formatted scheduled medical prescription should realize automatic programming of the reminder device. And a programmed reminder device is intended for reminding each dose of each medication till compliance.
The present invention also aims at modifying and upgrading commonly used computing devices to include the scheduler function, and further aims at modifying and upgrading commonly used hand held trendy devices like a cell phone or a digital diary to include the reminding feature. United States Patent Application (Lawless; Oliver Charles) number 20070168228 exemplifies scheduled real-time wireless prescription dosing reminders through mobile phones and having a user's compliance through two way messaging. However, instead of using an independent reminder device for reminding, said patent application utilizes involvement of an external agency through which the reminding is achieved.
Thus, the rationale of the present invention is to provide new scheduling and reminding means, which have many advantages and novel features that are not anticipated or implied by any of the prior art.
A medical prescription scheduler for reminding and compliance mainly aims at achieving a speedy and facilitated scheduling of a medical prescription, which is formatted and transmitted in a reminder device. When unpacked, the formatted scheduled medical prescription is meant for realizing the programming of the recipient reminder device, which in turn is intended for audio-visually reminding each dose of each medication of the received said prescription till compliance. Thus, means are included for simplifying the programming of a reminder device. A means for generating revenues is also included by setting aside advertising space for the eternally hungry pharmaceutical companies.
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A medical prescription scheduler for reminding and compliance is either a single device meant for executing scheduler and reminding function or a complimentary pair. One of the units of said complementary pair, a scheduler device, is meant for scheduling a medical prescription, and formatting and transmitting it to a suitable reminder device. The other unit of said complementary pair is a reminder device for receiving the formatted scheduled medical prescription (FSMP) and executing a reminding function till acknowledgement. A scheduler function comprises facilitating a doctor for quickly formulating a medical prescription, and formatting and transmitting it to a reminder device. An electronic computing device capable of carrying out scheduler function is a scheduler device (SD). An electronic computing device, if somewhat deficient in scheduler function and which is upgradeable with the hardware and/or software pertaining to that deficiency and which is upgraded accordingly is hereafter called as integrated scheduling device (ISD). The process of upgradation is termed as integration. Thus, ISD is a modified computing device, wherein, either the existing hardware/software is suitably adapted or the requisite hardware/software is incorporated so as to accomplish said scheduler function. Such modification could be easily accomplished in personal computers, desktop computers, laptops, handheld computers, Pocket Personal Computers, Terminals or other computers, or hand-held devices such as personal digital assistants, palmtop computers, digital diaries and the like, or other devices capable of providing an input signal to the command processor. Or the scheduler function could also be integrated in a portable telephone like a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal handy phone, a car telephone, a maritime mobile radiotelephone, or wrist-worn devices. Or a computing device could be suitably modified to utilize any appropriate computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions like a CD or a DVD to execute the scheduler function. Furthermore, instead of incorporating the scheduler function in a computing device, an independent compact dedicated scheduler device (DSD) can be configured. Such a DSD is designed to incorporate various necessary hardware/software for scheduling of the medical prescription, and if desired, executing the reminding function accordingly. Both ISD and DSD essentially have the same bottom line and fundamentally have the same function and thus henceforth referred to as scheduler device (SD).
Referring to
Commands may be actuated through the keyboard 12 or any other pointing device. A user may interact with application software using any of the input means like a keyboard 12 or a voice input/output device 15 or a mouse or a touch-pad or a trackpad or a cursor control to generate keystroke signals. A key/click analyzing section generates a predefined key/click event and the CPU (computing system) controls and executes a function corresponding to the generated event. A voice input/output unit is optional and is meant for user interaction with application software. A display screen 11 is for display and may be a liquid crystal display or a cathode-ray tube or a plasma screen or the like, with or without touch sensing facility.
The operating system may include either a plurality of graphical user interfaces or application specific graphical user interfaces or command line interfaces. Preferably a window, icon, menu, pointing device-based (widget based) graphical user interfaces (GUI) are used that allows a user to interact with the application software. A GUI in the SD is a platform that a user can interact with for the tasks of inputting, analyzing, retrieving and producing information. Application software mainly consists of assorted programs compliant with the operating system and the GUI, and written to receive inputs from a physician/user and to display various menu items, options, information, drop down lists, pull-down/pop-up menu, window-in-window, dialogue boxes, a linked document, any other format and sub-screens.
The templates (domains) of GUIs are constructed in an insightful manner. Each GUI has a distinct template and a characteristic input region. GUIs may either be designed to be displayed in succession on the basis of the manner in vogue that exists in writing a medical prescription or on the basis of selection of a drug name and/or its drug form or on the basis of selection of a button like REQUEST or MISC. While sequentially displaying the insightful display screens, desired additional identifiers may be displayed at relevant coordinates. One of the frequent ways is the display of a window frame (Window-in-window), which appears with the requested display of a list/information or appears to display relational information. Various types of commonly used prompts could be provided to navigate through the diverse menus and fields. Using scripting languages like structured hypertext markup language, it is possible to create visually appealing vertical or horizontal drop-downs or pop-ups that are easy to work with and to edit and update.
The data could be stored in said memory as records having a number of attributes/fields (data sets). A data set may comprise of a list of sequentially ordered alphabetically or alphanumerically indexed list members (for example, drug names), or member related information. Each data set corresponds to one of the identifiers like an icon or an option or a term. A desired data set can be selected and outputted by actuation of a control input like a select control or a scrolling control, or automatically outputted, or at times outputted by default. The drug databases of the SD would contain a listing of all those drugs available in the geographical region of the medical practitioner, and would vary from region to region. For example, although, most of the drugs available in India are available in the United States, and vice versa, nevertheless, the drug database comprising most of the brand names available in India would not be on a database designed for use for the United States. In addition to the hereinabove described databases, one or more special databases like relational databases are included, wherein, facts and figures related to constraints with respect to, but not limited to, age, gender, weight, clinical conditions, allergy, physical status, drug association, drug intake versus each of the prescribable medicine are stored. While preparing a medical prescription, all relevant relational data is fetched from such databases and used for calculations or analysis. The relational data is typically pre-stored in memory means but it could also be created at run-time by the application software and updated. Generally, in a relational database, the basic unit of data is a relation. A relation corresponds to a table having rows and columns. Generally, rows represent records of related data and columns identify individual data elements. The order of the rows and columns in a table are inconsequential. In a relational database, one can add a new column to a table without having to modify older applications that access other columns in the table. Relational databases thus provide flexibility to accommodate changing needs and allows the application software to interchange and cross-reference information between two different types of records.
Dialog boxes display relational information and are meant for an interaction between the computing system and the user. More particularly, dialog boxes are used either for informing the user of drug interaction or contraindications or major side effects, or requesting the user if the inputted dosage is to be rechecked, and generally require only an acknowledgment by clicking ‘OK’ indicating that the message has been read. Relational information could also be presented by identifying appropriateness of a displayed therapeutic agent. When a drop down list is being displayed for drug name selection, the listed therapeutic agents could be highlighted using a color scheme/indication to indicate suitability/unsuitability of a therapeutic agent for medication. For example, if a patient is allergic to sulpha drugs, the displayed brand name in a drop-down-list would have red indication for co-trimoxazole and green for cephalexin indicating that the former is contra-indicated and the latter may be considered a valid option.
Various display-schemes described hereinafter are exemplary and those experts in the art can very well recognize that numerous variations are possible without departing from the main theme. The initial presented window, as depicted in
Input box 45 is for inputting the name of insurance company or health scheme. The input boxes like phone number (input boxes 38), mobile number (input box 39) and E-mail address (input box 40) are for location information for transmission of the formatted scheduled medical prescription. An input box for patient's language of choice may be included for switching the display in reminder device in that language. There is also an ‘ADD’ button and a ‘REMOVE’ button. The ADD button is clicked to enter the selected/inputted information and the REMOVE button is clicked to cancel the added/inputted information. In the lower portion of the GUI, there are conventional customary buttons like HELP, BACK, ENTER and NEXT. Advertisement zone (Ad zone) 46, as depicted, would preferably be present in the lower segment. Each advertisement in ad zone 46 is preferably linked with each newly inputted clinical condition like hypertension or diabetes or pregnancy. When the patient related data is inputted in the respective input boxes, the SD would automatically proceed to next stage of inputting (prescribing) a drug name. However, the SD software being user friendly would proceed by accepting with whatever is filled in the presented data entry window when the ‘enter’ or ‘next’ is clicked. A previously filled patient related data entry window may be called and updated to save the time. The data associated with the information about the patient would be vital for the application software, which assists a user by automatically determining calculated dosage schedules of each entered drug. Besides, the application software also performs relational analysis by utilizing the patient related data and correlating and analyzing it with the prescribed drug/drugs.
Subsequent to clicking ‘enter’ or ‘next’ on the data entry screen 48, the ensuing window would be a prescription scheduling GUI screen 61, as depicted in
Medicines of other systems like Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, naturopathy, alternative medicine, herbal medicine, Chinese medicine etc could also be included. At many places, doctors cannot prescribe drugs that are not associated with their education and practice. Using a specific drug database of prescribable drugs would eliminate confusion with other non-prescribable drugs. Or removable memory cards like Microdrive, connected to the computing device, containing a specific drug database based upon the medical practitioner's field of practice or location of practice, may be used to store drug related information.
Some insurance companies or health schemes or other medical schemes are known to insist certain brand names instead of the others, wherein the ingredients are same. If a patient were beneficiary of such company or scheme, a pop up message would notify the prescriber about the insisted brand name. And if Okayed, the selected brand name would be automatically replaced by the insisted brand name.
Once a drug name is selected and inputted in the MEB, a user can click the inputted drug name for exploration and appraisal of options like generic name of ingredient or ingredients, and highlights of the actions, indications, contraindications, dosage, adverse reactions, safety alert etc. Generally, for exploring a term (for example, the inputted drug name in present case), a user can identify the display state instruction, a mark, located on option line and employ it, or the entered ‘term’ itself would act as a command button and in accordance with the event that occurs when the command button is clicked, the section regarding the details of the selected option is opened.
Once a drug name is entered, a drug form is automatically selected and inputted if a single drug form exists. If a plurality of drug forms exists for the entered drug name, a drop down list of alphabetically ordered available drug forms would be displayed enabling a user to identify and select the intended drug-form. For example if the brand name ‘cifran’ were marketed as a tablet and an injection, then a drop down list of options ‘injection’ and ‘tablet’ would be automatically offered to the user to choose from.
The depicted prescription scheduling GUI screen 61 (
Once a drug name and its form are selected, a total daily drug dose is automatically computed by correlating analyzing and judging the age, weight, clinical conditions, and severity of ailment of the patient with respect to recommended indication-wise and form-wise daily dosage range and maintenance dosage range of the selected drug. The scheduler software would also automatically judge quantity and strength of each drug dose and/or each drug dose utilization time and/or technique of administration and/or food relation and/or precautionary instructions and/or the number of doses per day (frequency) and/or the number of days the drug should be taken (duration of drug administration), and would display accordingly. The scheduler software would correlate all the inputted facts about the patient, and analyze and judge the dose, frequency and duration of administration consistent with them. If the entered age indicates adult state and the ‘clinical condition’ as ‘mild infection’, and if the chosen drug is cifran (ciprofloxacin) tablet, automatically ‘1 tablet of cifran 500 mg with breakfast at 08:30 AM’ and ‘1 tablet of cifran 500 mg with dinner at 06:30 PM’ to be taken orally would be inputted. Here, the first dose may be a loading dose, wherein, instead of ‘1 tablet of cifran 500 mgs with breakfast at 08:30 AM’ in the first dose; said first dose would be 1 & ½ tablet of cifran 500 mgs with breakfast at 08:30 AM’. If ‘5 days’ duration of administration of the drug were selected, ‘to be taken for 5 successive days’ would be added. If the infection is severe, the dose of 750 milligram of cifran 2 times a day would be selected instead of 500 milligram, or the frequency of 500 mg tablet may be made 3 times a day. Similarly, the duration of administration of cifran would depend on the severity of infection and would be guided by the recommended range of duration of the drug administration. If desired, the physician may manually alter or fine-tune the automatically determined dosage, time of administration, frequency or duration of administration etc. To exemplify the recommended range of form-wise daily dosage, the recommended dosage of salbutamol (antiasthmatic) tablets in asthma is 2-4 mg 3-4 times a day in adults, while in extended release tablets, it is given 4-8 mg 2 times a day, and in aerosol form, it is given 100-200 microgram 2-4 times a day. To exemplify the recommended range of maintenance dosage range, let us consider clobazam (anticonvulsant), which is given as an adjunct for refractory epilepsy, absence seizures, myoclonic seizures etc. Initially, in children over 3 years, as an adjunct, the clobazam is given 5 mg/day and gradually increased up to a maximum of 30 mg/day followed by a maintenance dose in the range of 0.3-1 mg/kg/day. (mg=milligram, kg=kilogram, gm=gram, min=minute and ml=milliliter)
Generally the dose of tablets or capsules or injections is specified as mg/kg body weight to be taken/injected once a day or in 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or rarely more divided doses. The dose can also be in mg/day as in clomiphene or in micrograms/day as in Vitamin D3. Or the dose may be in international units (IU) as for erythropoietin or insulin. Or it can be 2-3 drops of 1% xylometazoline to be instilled in each nostril every 8-12 hours for nasal congestion. Or it can be clotrimazole 1% w/w cream, alone or with corticosteroids, for superficial fungal infection, to be applied 2-3 times daily. This discussion is merely exemplary and the subject of dosage of medication or technique of the medication or utilization of various preparations is a very well known science and there is no need to go any further in this regard.
As the selected ‘tablet’ form (depicted as shaded box 73) is inputted in the input box 64, simultaneously, a graphical data corresponding to a symbol of a tablet is also inserted in the TSS. In the reminder device, this data would be displayed as a symbol of tablet. Quantity and strength of each drug dose, frequency per day, food relation and drug dose utilization time are automatically determined, as shown in
The automatically inputted dosage specifications, frequency, technique of administration, food relation, drug dose utilization time and duration of administration in active workspaces as depicted in
Medication may be instructed to be given/taken immediately (Stat). Generally ‘Stat’ is selected for drugs like aminophylline in cases of acute bronchospasm requiring rapid bronco-dilatation or adrenaline in anaphylactic shock. Or medication may be instructed to be taken once a day (OD), or 2 times a day (BD), or 3 times a day (TDS), or 4 times a day (QID) etc. The short forms like OD, BD are exemplary and any other customary short forms commonly used in a region could also be included for that region.
Food intake might interfere with drug absorption. For example, the bioavailability of terfenadine (antihistaminic) is significantly reduced when taken after food, but its plasma concentration is increased by grapefruit juice! Absorption and bioavailability of hydrochlorothiazide (diuretic) is increased with food, whereas with food, the absorption of azithromycin is reduced by 50%. Medications and their relation with timing could be programmed or preprogrammed. Medication may be taken once a day—say with breakfast, or 2 times a day (with breakfast and dinner), or 3 times a day (with breakfast, lunch, and dinner), or 4 times a day (with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at bedtime) etc. Such set of default timings for OD or BD or TDS or QID etc and their relation with timing are exemplary and can be altered or programmed by adding user-defined ‘settings’ facility.
Furthermore, the implied meaning of each of the terms like OD or BD can be defined with respect to food intake by the user as per his/her specifications. For example OD may mean ‘with breakfast’ or ‘with lunch’. This set of correlative timings would be in application until a new set is defined. With regard to the drug administration activities, the programmed memory preferably would have region-wise or user defined pre-programmed set of timings with food relations like with food, or 1 hour or 1 & ½ hour or 2 hours ‘before’ or ‘after’ food intake. The user can define a different set of timings for each of the food related (fasting or with/before/after food) drug administration activities instead of the above-mentioned default set timings.
Such user-defined ‘settings’ facility could be added, which would function through conventional software routines. This set of timings would be in operation until a new set is defined. Besides, a user can alter the inputted default time by selecting and altering. Side effects like nausea or vomiting could be minimized if drugs are given with food. For example, ciprofloxacin is known to have no significant effect on absorption or bioavailability with food intake and could be given with food. Considering the example, wherein cifran (ciprofloxacin) 500 mg 2 times a day for 5 days is selected, then the displayed prescription format would be ‘1 tablet of cifran 500 mgs with breakfast (08:30 AM) and 1 tablet of cifran 500 mgs with dinner (6:30 PM) to be taken orally for 5 consecutive days’. Here, the programmed memory includes a preprogrammed breakfast time (08:30 AM) and the dinner time (6:30 PM). Though the timing of meals may vary from person to person, the programmed memory may have region-wise pre-programmed standard meal times (breakfast, lunch, dinner etc) during which most persons normally eat in that region. For example, the memory may include a preprogrammed standard default time for Morning (6:00 AM), Breakfast (08:30 AM), Lunch (12:30 PM), Afternoon (3:30 PM), Early evening (5:30 PM), Dinner (6:30 PM), Late evening (8:00 PM), and bed time (10:00 PM).
Instructions regarding food relationship with each associated drug dose administration is determined by correlating, analyzing and judging time of day data of region-wise or user defined food intake times, region-wise or user defined time relation regarding instruction of with, before or after food intake, and interactions with food pertaining to absorption and/or bioavailability of the selected drug and its drug form with respect to selected quantity and strength of each drug dose and frequency of drug doses per day.
The memory stores each brand name and its constituent generic name or names of the therapeutic ingredient/ingredients (generic name/names), relational information pertaining to each generic name of drug with respect to patient related information like age, gender, weight, clinical conditions, allergy, physical status, severity of ailment, and concomitant drug administration. Computational means, while facilitating a quick scheduling of a medical prescription, assists a prescriber by means of relational analysis and displays cautionary or advisory information. It retrieves generic name/names for the brand name/names of current medication and retrieves inputted patient related information from memory storage. The computational means compares the prescribed medication/medications with respect to said patient related information and automatically identifies and displays cautionary/advisory relational information if any, comprising drug interactions, safety alerts, contraindications, precautions, special directions, potential hazards, adverse side effects, food interactions, lab interference and recheck messages. To exemplify further, suppose a user has already entered an antipyretic and analgesic combination of ‘fencemol (diclofenac with paracetamol)’ and further prescribes concurrent administration of ciprofloxacin. As depicted in
If the scheduling of a selected drug, accomplished by the computing means (or manually altered), were acceptable, the user would just have to click the ADD button 79. Once the ADD button is clicked, the entire prescription for the currently entered drug name would be entered in the prescription content box 91.
An exemplary scheme is presented hereinbelow to demonstrate one of the possible ways of computation for quantity and strength of each dosage, frequency of dosages per day, and duration of administration of the selected drug. This algorithm is for the purpose of illustration only.
1) Check whether the selected drug is forbidden according to patient's age, weight, associated clinical conditions, severity of ailment, and allergy.
2) Check compatibility with concurrent drug administration.
3) If not contraindicated, determine the technique of drug administration as per the inputted drug name and drug form.
4) If no major adverse effects or contraindications then compute the total daily dose, each dose (dosage), frequency of doses per day, and duration of administration as per the constraints described hereinbelow.
5) Modify the dosage as per the ‘age’ related constraints:
A) Minimal allowable age: Many drugs are given with caution or not recommended or contra-indicated below certain age. For example, oxazepam (anxiolytic) is contraindicated below 6 years of age. Diclofenac (anti-inflammatory) is not recommended below 18 years of age.
B) Age wise modification: A lot of drug doses vary as per the age of the patient. For example in case of diisopyramide (antiarrhythmic): Under 1 year=10-30 mg/kg/day, 1-4 years=10-20 mg/kg/day, 4-12 years=10-20 mg/kg/day, 12-18 years=10-20 mg/kg/day, adults=100-150 mg 4 times a day, renal/hepatic impairment=6-15 mg/kg/day.
C) Elderly: A lower dose, generally half of the adult dose, is advocated. For example, for enalapril (antihypertensive), the adult dose is 5 mg/day, while in elderly; the dose is started at 2.5 mg/day and slowly built up as needed.
6) Modify the dosage as per ‘weight’ related constraints:
Weight-wise dosage: A lot of drugs are given as mg/kg/day in single or divided doses. For example, Gentamycin (antibiotic) is generally given in adults as 1 mg/kg body weight 3 times a day. In serious infection: 1.7 mg/kg body weight 3-4 times a day. In premature babies and neonates up to 1st week: 2.5 mg/kg body weight 2 times a day. In neonates and infants, it is given as: 2.5 mg/kg body weight 2 times a day. Children up to 10 years: 2-2.5 mg/kg body weight 3 times a day. Children above 10 years: 1.5 mg/kg body weight 3 times a day.
7) Modify as per the constraints related to ‘clinical conditions’:
a) Many a times, the dosage varies with clinical conditions. For example, in case of propranolol (beta blocker):
Hypertension=10-40 mg propranolol 3 or 4 ties a day.
Post myocardial infarction=180-240 mg propranolol in divided doses.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy=20-40 mg propranolol 3 or 4 times a day.
Essential tremor=40 mg propranolol 2 times a day. Increase slowly up to 240-320 mg/day in divided doses.
Pheochromocytoma=Propranolol is given with alpha blocker. Propranolol is given as 30 mg/day in divided doses.
b) In cases of renal impairment and hepatic impairment, many drugs are not recommended or are given with caution or given with reduced dosage. For example, in case of tobramycin, adult dose is 3 mg/kg/day in 3 divided doses. In case of renal impairment, the loading dose of tobramycin is 1 mg/kg is followed by either normal dose divided by serum creatinine value or normal dose given at intervals obtained by multiplying serum creatinine value by 6.
In case of bezafibrate (hypolipidaemic), adult dose is 200 mg 3 times a day (after meals). While in renal impairment, the dose is defined by serum creatinine level as given in the table hereinbelow.
Or in renal impairment, a rough guide in calculating the dose in stable patients is to divide the normal dose by the patient's serum creatinine level or the dose is adjusted by the value of creatinine clearance.
Adult dose of ‘ampicillin+sulbactam’ is 0.5-1 gm of sulbactam+1.2 gm ampicillin 4 times a day.
Or in renal impairment or in hepatic impairment or in elderly patients, a rough guide in deciding the dose in stable patients is half the normal dose.
c) Modification as per the severity of the disease: Many a time the doses of drugs depend on the severity of the infection. The dose of ampicillin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, is recommended as 250-500 mg to be given 4 times a day. The selection of each dose is to be chosen from given range of 250 to 500 mg as per the status of the infection. For mild infection, one can choose 250 mg 4 times a day, while in case of severe infection the dose would be 500 mg 4 times a day.
d) In certain physiological conditions like pregnancy or lactation, a lot of drugs are given with caution or not recommended or contraindicated.
e) In cases of chronic clinical conditions like diabetes or hypertension, doses of related drugs are gradually increased (modified) and monitored as per the response of the drug dose. For example, gliclazide (antidiabetic) is given 40 to 80 mg/day and slowly increased up to 320 mg/day in divided doses (gliclazide is generally given before breakfast and evening meal).
8) Rarely, the dose of a drug varies with gender. For example, in infertility, clomiphene is given in female as ovulation inducer, and in male, it is given for oligospermia. The dose in female is 50 mg/day starting on the 5th day of the cycle and increased up to 200 mg/day, while in male, the dose is 25 mg/day for 25 days and repeated after 5 days interval.
9) Drug-form wise drug dosage: Any drug will have specific therapeutic actions, indications, and recommended indication-wise and form-wise dosage. For example, isosorbide is given in angina to increase the blood flow to ischemic regions of heart. It is given as a dose of 20-40 mg to be given 2 or 3 times a day. While a single 40 mg sustainable release tablet of isosorbide (a different form of isosorbide) in the morning would suffice.
10) Indication wise dosage: Metronidazol (antiprotozoal and antibacterial) could be used as 400-800 mg tablets, 3 times a day, for 5-10 days for amoebiasis; while 15 mg/kg (injectable-intravenous) is infused over 1 hour followed by 7.5 mg/kg infused every 6 hours for anaerobic infections.
11) Synergistic/potentiating effect: With concurrent medications, if synergistic or potentiating or additive effects exist, the dosage, if required, is modified. The dose is reduced/adjusted judiciously. Fuzzy logic, based on statistical data, may be used to implement the addition/subtraction of a dither as described hereafter. When synergistic or potentiating or additive effects exist, manual modification to a computed dosage would have to be done. Such modifications to the determined dosage are generally done by adding or subtracting an arbitrary but small value called as a dither value. Basically, one performs a sort of fine-tuning of the dosage. Such modifications are noted down by the scheduler software as modification history and stored in the memory. The dither value may be determined on available statistical data of the manual modification history.
12) Relation to food: Drug intake time of each dose of each medication is computed as per the region-wise or user defined food intake times, region-wise or user defined time relation regarding instruction of with, before or after food intake, and interactions with food pertaining to absorption and/or bioavailability of the selected drug.
13) Relational analysis: Cautionary/advisory relational information comprising drug interactions, safety alerts, contraindications, precautions, potential hazards, adverse effects, food interactions and lab interference is identified and displayed.
14) Calculation of the total daily dose is carried out as per the age, weight, associated clinical conditions and severity of ailment of the patient with respect to the recommended range of indication-wise and form-wise dosage and recommended range of maintenance dosage of the selected drug.
15) Determine the number of units like tablets/capsules per day:
Divide the total daily dose by the strength of the requisite unit or if needed by smallest available unit. Using the ceiling function or flooring function, calculate the total number of units/day.
16) The frequency of dosages per day is determined as per the recommended range of divided dosages per day, duration of systemic bioavailability, activity, metabolism and elimination of the selected drug, calculated total daily dose and calculated total number of units/day.
17) The duration of drug administration is determined as per the age, weight, associated clinical conditions and severity of ailment of the patient with respect to recommended range of duration of drug administration.
One of the possible methods, as an example, is described hereinbelow.
Suppose ‘amoxycillin’ is to be given for a patient of Age=8 years (pediatric age group), Weight=17 kilograms, Clinical condition=severe upper respiratory tract infection.
The constraints: 1) Pediatric age group. 2) Under 20 kg. 3) Severe infection. The range of the dose of amoxycillin in children under 20 kg is 20-40 mg/kg/day in 3 divided doses. In other words, for pediatric patients, under 20 kilograms body weight, the dose of amoxycillin is 20-40 milligrams per kilogram body weight per day. Severe infection indicates a higher side of the dose. Hence, 40 mg per kg body weight would be advocated in the present case.
Step 1. Total daily dose: 17×40 mg of amoxycillin=680 milligrams/day is the total daily dose of amoxycillin, where 17 is weight in kg.
Step 2. Considering the fact that the available units or formulations of amoxycillin is 125 mg tablet, or 125 mg in 5 ml of syrup,
Now, using the ‘ceiling function’,
we have ┌5.44┐=6
and
using the ‘flooring function’,
we have └5.44┘=5
For the higher side of the dose, the flooring function would be prudent and for the lower side of the dose, the ceiling function would be sensible. Hence, using the flooring function in the present case, total of five tablets of 125 mg (or five measures of 5 ml of syrup) would be given per day. Here, Dutch rounding or statistician's rounding may also be applied instead of ceiling or flooring function.
Recommended range of divided dosages: Amoxycillin is generally given 8 hourly (in three divided doses). Bioavailability: Peak serum concentrations of amoxycillin are usually attained within 1 to 2 hours following oral administration. Its elimination half life is about 1 to 1 & ½ hours. Furthermore, food intake has no effect on absorption or bioavailability of amoxycillin and is given without regard to food intake. Considering the above-mentioned facts, 5 units of amoxycillin would have to be arbitrarily divided into 2, 1, and 2 units and given in morning (06:00 AM), afternoon (03:30 PM) and bedtime (10:00 PM) respectively. The recommended range of duration of amoxycillin administration in respiratory tract infection is 5-10 days. Infection being severe, the treatment should be given for 10 days in present case. (Furthermore, it is advisable to continue the treatment for at least 3 days after the symptomatic relief.). The recommended range of duration of amoxycillin administration varies from 1 to 14 days as per different etiologies: otitis media (children)=3-10 days, gonorrhoea=a single dose of 3 grams, H. pylori infection with peptic ulcer=7 days (with triple regimen), infective endocarditis=14 days as a follow up treatment subsequent to penicillin and gentamycin therapy.
Requests for Pathology Laboratory or Radiology or Physiotherapy:
A patient may present with peculiar signs and symptoms where differential diagnosis would need various tests. For example, a patient with long standing ‘pyrexia of unknown origin’ would need total white blood cell count to find out leucocytosis or leucopenia, and differential count to detect neutrophilia or neutropenia or lymphocytosis etc, Widal test to rule out enteric fever, erythrocyte sedimentation rate to check for hidden inflammation, and bone marrow studies to rule out aleukemic leukemia, and X ray chest to rule out tuberculosis. Thus a doctor needs to have pathology and radiology reports for reaching to a diagnosis. Subsequent to clicking ‘REQUEST’ on the prescription scheduling or prescription content GUI screen, the ensuing window would preferably display Request GUI screen. For requesting a pathology test or a radiology procedure or a physiotherapy procedure, generally a request form is supplied, which contains all the available tests in pathology, facilities for radiodianostic procedures and physiotherapies. Such lists are well known and quite often supplied by pathology or radiology departments or by physiotherapists. A user is needed just to tick mark the required tests or X-rays. In a comparable way, a displayed request GUI screen would facilitate a user to request the desired tests/procedures by providing entire list of available pathology tests or radiology/radiodiagnosis procedures or physiotherapy procedures. A user just needs to select the required tests/procedures from the provided list. Or in another embodiment, a request GUI screen provides for selection and entering a request, wherein input of the name of the required test/procedure is facilitated. For example, a test/procedure input box could be actuated by sequential input of initial letters of intended name of a test or a procedure, wherein, in response to received partial text entry, a drop down list of plurality of completion candidates would be obtained and displayed. The narrowing criteria would be associated with each successive sequential input or by actuating scrolling means. This would enable a user to identify and select the intended name. The selected test/procedure would then be entered automatically. Still another way of entering the required test/procedure would be to select criteria, which in turn would display a drop down menu of pathology tests, radiology procedures or physiotherapy procedures for selection. In the event of selection of ‘pathology test’, a drop down list of headings of its classification like clinical pathology, chemical pathology, hematology, histopathology, microbiology, serology etc would be displayed. Selection of a heading would display tests under said classification. For example, if hematology were selected, tests like hemoglobin, total and differential white blood cell count, total red blood cell count, platelet count, packed cell volume, bleeding and clotting time, prothrombin time etc would be displayed to select and enter. Similarly for the procedures of radiology, radiodiagnosis and physiotherapy, analogous drop down lists would be presented for selection. A request for radiology/radiodiagnosis may be for X ray or for sonography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized axial tomography (CT scan) or special techniques like pyelography or barium studies or angiography or eco-cardiogram etc. Similarly, a patient may need physiotherapy, which includes various procedures of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, podiatry, palliative care and speech and language therapy.
A patient may present with peculiar needs requiring compounded tablets or capsules or liquid orals. Compounding pharmacy is a process of mixing drugs by a pharmacist/physician to fit the patient's specific needs. Compounded medications are approved drugs, and pharmacies dispensing them follow a doctor's prescription. This allows a prescribing physician to tailor a prescription as per the special need. For example, infants may need a very small dose or dysphagic patients may need to change the form of the medication from a solid pill to a liquid or patients suffering from menopausal symptoms may need bioidentical hormones. For inputting such formulations or for inputting any extra note or instruction, a miscellaneous input request button (MISC) is provided which upon activation would display an input box or page. User can enter the data or instructions or note by usual text entry or may be facilitated by predictive typing. The inputted text may be appended to the prescription content or printed on a separate page as per user's instructions. Similar to some smart C/C++ editors, the user can straight away select ‘predictive typing’ and type compounded medications or instructions without the need of having an elaborate GUI screen. The theme of this mode would be as if he/she were writing a normal prescription and the application software would just help in a smart way. In predicative typing, the application software compares the entered initial letter/letters sequence (input string) with the stored array of related expressive forms to find a matching choice. Expressive forms are selected as per the input string and from the choices of completion candidates offered in the data sets. Said choices are offered according to the frequency-of-use or common usage (statistical probabilities) and the peculiar placement in the text. If only a single matching expressive form is found, the application software fills in the remainder of the letters/words. If more than one matching expressive forms is found the user is allowed to select the desired expressive form from the list of completion candidates. Furthermore, for an input string, the application software would also refer to the learnt information, wherein the current acceptance of the candidates for input string defines the learning process. The history of the input strings and related inputting processes is stored as learned information. When a predicting portion is partially matching or has multiple probabilities, prediction of the expressive form for an input string could be performed according to the learnt information.
A peculiar problem may arise in a multiethnic country like United States when a consulting physician is English speaking and the patient is a Hispanic or a Vietnamese or an Indian who understands very little English. Naturally, being English speaking, the physician would prescribe in English. However, despite the prescriber being English speaking and the prescription inputted in English, if the display in the reminder device displays in the language of the patient, then the compliance would be more successful. As an illustration, one of the possible methods is described. For switching a language, the scheduler device stores relational data for several languages, wherein relation corresponds to a table having rows and columns. Columns n1, n2, . . . , np correspond to languages like English, Spanish, German, Vietnamese etc. And rows m1, m2, . . . , mq correspond to text element/elements like tablet, capsule, ‘2’, 500 mg, and precautionary instruction like ‘do not drive’ etc. Suppose n1 represents English, n2 represents Spanish, n3 represents German, and m1 represents ointment, m2 represents tablet, and m3 represents ‘do not drive’. In that case, n1m1 would represent ‘ointment’ (in English), n2 m1 would represent unguento (Spanish for ‘ointment’), and n3 ml would represent salbe (German for ‘ointment’). For switching the text element/elements of said scheduled prescription display data stored in prescriber's language (first language) to a patient's language (second language), each text element/elements representing a first language is switched to corresponding text element/elements representing a second language equivalent in meaning to said first text element/elements. The prescriber instructs such a switch. While updating the TSS, the application software of scheduler device inputs the scheduled prescription display data in the language of the patient. The desired language for switch could be selected by the user while formulating the prescription or it could be implied by the patient related information. Alternatively, translation software can also be embedded while forming the FSMP, which would perform the translation operation in the reminder device as per the language settings in that device. The reminding device would also need to have facility to display in the language of the patient. The herein above mentioned multiple language support can also be applied for voice.
A user can also carry out the scheduling by manual operations. In manual mode, a drug name is selected similar to auto mode. Once a drug name is selected, available drug forms for that brand name would be displayed for selection. Once a drug form, say a tablet form is selected, automatically, a drop down list of available options for the tablet of that drug like a tablet of 250, 500 and 750 milligrams would be automatically offered, allowing a user to select a desired drug dose. Once the drug dose is selected, automatically, the drop down list would instantly ask whether STAT, OD (once a day), BD (two times a day), TDS (three times a day), QID (four times a day), ‘[--] times a day etc, allowing a user to select a desired drug frequency. Or said list would depict the recommended range of divided doses for the selected drug like BD and TDS to choose from. Other inputs like time of day for each dose administration, food relation, precautionary instructions and duration of administration would be similarly facilitated for entering. Thus, even in manual mode, the system assists a user by providing a related menu to choose from. In cases of chronic clinical conditions like hypertension or diabetes, the manual mode for scheduling a prescription would be preferred since such conditions do not have a deterministic way of computing a dosage, frequency or duration of administration. Here, the dosages of prescribed drugs have to be gradually increased or decreased as per the response. Even in auto mode, the system itself will display a pop-up message requesting the user to manually enter the input boxes of dose, frequency, and duration etc for such chronic clinical conditions.
The GUI screens of the SD include a customized appearance, wherein, a principal/larger zone (Preferably 75 to 85%) represents the prescription-scheduling template, and a secondary/smaller-area (for example,
In yet another embodiment, the SD may include a customized appearance, wherein, a principal zone represents the prescription-scheduling template, and one or more floating windows would be assigned for advertisements. Such floating windows, in a programmed fashion, would display various ads/sponsor-information in a user friendly way. In yet another embodiment, the ad zone may be absent, and instead, a pop-up window with the ad would be displayed. Such floating windows or pop-ups or ad zones may also contain a uniform resource locator (URL) Internet website/address for linking the user to the respective web site via an Internet connection. Various other fields, similar to advertisement, may include ‘tips’, ‘FAQs’, ‘Updates or News’ and ‘notifications’ for enhanced usage.
The text and symbol section (TSS) is updated simultaneously while creation of a prescription. For each inputted/deleted entry related to the medication, a corresponding text/symbol data and time of day data is inserted/removed respectively. Scheduled prescription data (programmed dosage schedule) is data, which includes scheduled prescription display data, and scheduled prescription time data. For example, consider a case, wherein a patient is instructed to take 2 tablets of malirid (primaquine 7.5 mg) at 12:30 PM (after lunch) for 15 days for terminal prophylaxis after leaving an endemic area of malaria. When the drug ‘malarid’ is inputted, said drug name ‘malarid’ is inserted as text in the TSS. In the reminder device, this data would be displayed as a text ‘malarid’. Similarly, as a ‘tablet’ is chosen as a drug form, graphical data corresponding to symbol of a tablet (or text ‘tablet’) is inserted in the TSS. In reminder device, this data would be displayed as a symbol of tablet. When a user is instructed to take 2 tablets, an instruction to display numeric ‘2’ preceding said symbol or two symbols of tablets are inserted in the TSS. Thus for each inputted entry related to each dose of each medication comprising name and/or form and/or dose and/or technique of administration and/or food relation and/or precautionary instructions, concurrently a corresponding ‘scheduled prescription display data’ comprising text and/or symbol data is inputted in TSS, which represents the graphic data for display in the reminder device. Said data for display may be textual data of name of drug, or textual or symbolic data for tablet or capsule or eye drops or creams etc, or textual data for dosage strength or precautionary instructions, or textual or symbolic data for technique of administration. Similarly, the time of day data associated with each dose of each medication is obtained and stored in TSS along with the time related data associated with duration of administration for each medication, which comprises ‘scheduled prescription time data’ that identifies each drug utilization time in hours and minutes with AM/PM, or hours, minutes, year, month, date with/without AM/PM and/or day. The CPU, with logic-based program including CPU-executable code loaded in memory, selects and extracts scheduled prescription time data and scheduled prescription display data from TSS and memory to form a scheduler file and processes it for formatting. The CPU generates an input scheduler-file (formatted SMP) by combining the content data and related metadata. The content data naturally includes the scheduled prescription data comprising ‘scheduled prescription display data and scheduled prescription time data’ and may also be attached or embedded with application programs applicable in the recipient reminder device. Said application programs comprise alarm/display related instructions compliant with said reminder device for audiovisual reminding at each drug utilizing time for the related dose/doses of medication. The metadata facilitates compatibility between scheduler and reminder device hardware/software and comprises information and/or instructions regarding the content data. Formatting module of SD comprises the CPU, memory and CPU-executable code loaded in the memory. The formatting software instructions can also specify the location of the text/icons/symbols on display screen of reminder device by preset location specifications. Overlay/formatting software may instruct to add or modify certain parameters related to display or audio or any such representation related feature. It may append, affix, supplement or add certain other parameters like sounding an alarm and/or generating vibrations and/or broadcasting an audio message and/or generating a visual display at each drug utilizing time. A software routine may be appended, which includes protocol specific data like instructions to coordinate prescription schedule, RTC, alarm system and display of the RD, and instructions for various modes of alarm like ringing, vibration, audio etc. The scheduler file is created in conformity with alarm/display related format instructions. The relationships of alarm/display related format instructions are defined with the time specifying data, specified by each medication time. The data format will be a standard format analogous to mp3 in case of audio, or jpeg in case of picture etc. If a single device acts both as scheduler as well as reminding device, then the formatted SMP (FSMP) consisting of scheduled prescription data can be used for reminding purpose in the same device that performs the scheduler functionality. Or FSMP may be transmitted to another device that performs the reminding function. When required to be transmitted, the FSMP file can be extracted and directed to specific user/formatting software as an input file. The CPU, memory, and CPU-executable code loaded in the memory would format the FSMP in the transmission format. The protocol specific data file thus prepared is handed over to data link/software, which then reframes it in a format suitable to actual physical software file of transmission. The user may specify format instructions via an input device. The FSMP and its transmittable format are prepared such that they are compliant with the recipient device and/or are compliant with said device's SMP reminder application program. This is accomplished by defining the parameters to be used by the application process in generating a formatted input file. This transmission formatted FSMP is then ready for transmission. Communication means has an execution flow that can handle various processes, formats, transformations, and conditional logic, and routes/transmits electronic data transmissions of formatted SMP to end users through wireless or wire-lined transmission or through networks with an appropriate networking protocol. Said communication means transmits the FSMP to a reminder device (RD) or transmits the SMP to the desired elements like a printer or a pharmacy or a database or a computing means. Alternatively, the formatted SMP file can be downloaded to a RD or on a storage medium like flash card or SIM card to be used by a RD. Then again, instead of TSS data, one can have raw data regarding the medication specifications. Such raw data is typically useful when there are output means in the RD like audio. Preferably a copy of the SMP is stored in the patient's file for future reference and the same file can be imported/exported from/to other patient data management or insurance related or health related database/software.
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the scheduling aspect (scheduler function) of the present invention could be embodied as a method or a dedicated scheduling device or an integrated device or a data processing system or a computer program product and accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Or said scheduling aspect may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code means embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or computer memory. The computer program product/software of scheduling aspect could reside as well as run on the same computing system or it may reside in one and run on another computing system or it may reside and run in the same computing means but used from another. Such method of usage from remote computing means may be realised by means like internet, intranet or any other interconnection systems. The usage may be accomplished with the aid of scripts or servers. The scheduler function may also be implemented on an existing computer system. For example, a physician would be able to install the executable software program on the existing computer system and add the appropriate peripheral devices like a transmission module to form the SD of the present invention. Such configuration is merely an example that implements one of the embodiments of the invention, and that various other configurations can be employed so long as they permit application of the invention. For example, a drive for a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) or a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory) or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash memory may be provided through an interface such as an ATA (advanced technology attachment). The scheduler function may be stored on magnetic tape or a floppy disc or a pen drive. It can also be stored on other media such as writeable compact discs, digital versatile discs, zip drives, USB flash drives etc. Or it may utilize an optical disc. The optical disc may be a CD or a DVD. Or an optical magnetic disc, a flexible disc or the like may be used instead of the optical disc.
Transmission of data is a very well known art. Any suitable known technology can be employed for transmission of FSMP file. One of the possible ways of transmission is described hereinafter as an illustrative example only. A user, using the scheduler device, can command the transmission of the FSMP file to a remote receiving reminder device. The transmission process of FSMP comprises of the following intermediate processes: The user commands transmission of FSMP file to a reminder device specified by its unique number, email address, web-address, hardware address etc. The CPU detects the said command and retrieves the FSMP. The CPU invokes communication interface, which is a combination of hardware like communication ports (like USB, Ethernet etc), modem, antenna etc, and software like socket communication drivers, transmission control protocol/internet protocol stack, bluetooth stack etc. Said communication interface converts the data of the FSMP file into a signal format specific to communication media and protocol by putting additional data fields like preamble, header, trailer, sender and receiver node addresses or identifiers, error correction bits etc to form data frames. The communication media establishes connection with said receiving device either directly or indirectly through any one or combination of inter connecting networks like local area network, wide area network, public switched telephone network, internet, intranet, GSM, CDMA etc through servers, routers etc. Said communication interface sends the data frames on the physical media like optic-fiber, wired media, wireless media etc in the form of analog or digital as per the specification of the physical media.
Upon transmission of the FSMP file to the intended receiver like a receiving reminder device, a suitable notification like ringing, vibration or pop-up message would take place to indicate the user about an outstanding reception. Upon approval and request by the user to accept the reception, a similar communication interface as described hereinabove functions in the receiving device in a similar way so as to facilitate the reception and to extract the scheduler file from the received data frames. Optionally, an acknowledgement may be sent back to the transmitting device to notify the success/failure status of reception if any. Furthermore, a scheduled medical prescription can be specially formatted for transmission to a pharmacy or printer or data storage or server or a computer, and transmitted accordingly.
A reminding device preferably consists of a reminding feature (reminding functionality) that comprises receiving means for receiving a formatted scheduled medical prescription and reminding means for precisely reminding each dose of each prescribed medication till acknowledged. The reminding alarm function is implemented at each drug utilizing time and related text/symbol data is displayed for the drug dose/doses to be administered at that instant. Said reminding feature is of conceivable utility when integrated with small and commonly used electronic devices like portable telephones or cell phones or hand held computing devices. Such devices are not only becoming increasingly trendy but are also turning into a need even for a common man.
An electronic computing device capable of performing reminding functionality is a reminder device (RD). An electronic computing device, if devoid of reminding functionality and which is upgradeable with the hardware and/or software pertaining to the reminding feature, and which is upgraded and made compatible with receiving the FSMP and executing the reminding function according to the received scheduled prescription data, is hereafter called as integrated reminder device (IRD). The process of upgradation is termed as integration. Said reminding feature could preferably be integrated in a portable telephone like a cellular/mobile phone or a personal handy phone or a car telephone or a telephone or hand-held devices such as personal digital assistants or palmtop computers or digital diaries or personal computers. Or said reminding feature could be integrated in a smart phone or a maritime mobile radiotelephone or a pager or the likes, or wrist-worn devices, or a timepiece or a wristwatch, or laptops or computers or interactive phone devices, or household appliances, or televisions, or television set top boxes, or other computers and the like or other devices capable of bearing and implementing the reminding application. The devices selected for integration are selected on the basis that said devices already incorporate various functional units more or less capable to receive the transmitted FSMP and more or less capable to execute the reminding function. Instead of incorporating the reminding feature in a hand held computing device, a tiny independent dedicated reminder device (DRD) can be configured such that it can be clipped to a pocket or kept in a purse or worn on the body. Though apparently dissimilar, IRD and DRD would efficiently execute the reminding function till acknowledgment and therefore henceforth called as reminder device (RD).
A memory means 24 is coupled with the CPU for storing the received FSMP or any other data required for reminding function. Memory means may be static RAM, volatile/non-volatile RAM, Dynamic RAM, Flash, EEPROM or any type of memory suitable for the data to be stored and addressed in a manner that allows them to be accessed, written and managed. A Real Time Clock (RTC) supplies time data to be used to control the reminding operation. Alternatively, the processor/controller may also have an on-chip RTC or a programmable real time clock or a real time source or a timer for counting time and may contain software driven routine for comparing the real time with the scheduled prescription time data. The CPU 23, memory means 24, and RTC are suitably connected to each other. A keyboard or any other pointer device is used to input various instructions to the CPU. A display screen 21 displays various types of information in the form of a text and/or an image/symbol. Alarm means intended for reminding each dose of each prescribed medication is included in RD for urging or reminding a patient for taking each medication at proper time. As a matter of fact, most of the hand held devices like cellular phones or personal digital assistants, wherein the reminding function could be integrated, inherently consist of a single or plurality of intrinsic alarm means. An integrated reminding device, for example, could be a cellular phone, which generally includes a CPU, ROM, RAM, and interfaces. It includes a display driver for driving the display unit, a touch-sensitive panel, a light source driver, and an image data generator, which are connected to the CPU and controlled thereby. The image data generator delivers image data to the display. It also includes a real time clock or a real time source. A transmit/receive antenna/port is connected to transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals such as selective call signals, command data signals and information data signals. Software driven routine could be added for comparing the real time with the reminding schedule, and for implementing reminding alarm function at each timed occurrence of each scheduled drug utilizing time, and simultaneously for displaying the pertinent textual and/or symbolic data of relevant prescribed medication/s.
A CPU of the reminder device may accept FSMPs from different scheduler devices. The FSMP may be received by means of transmit/receive unit through transmit/receive port via a wireless or wire-line link or wired network or wireless network or cell network or other network connection. Said communicated input may be a text file, a data feed, an image, or the like, or instructions for a display of text and/or image, or instructions for alarm for reminding, or the like. The received communication may include the FSMP with embedded/attached application software or may contain only the FSMP file, wherein the application software is present or preloaded in the communicated reminder device, which is intelligent enough to operate upon. The received FSMP, received by the receiving reminder device, is passed to the computing element via the data communication interface. The computing element processes the data and parses metadata from it, that is, parses information related to the data such as an intended recipient or group of recipients or priority of the data etc. The processor may also format the received data, which preferably has a format that can be compressed and stored. A reminding device having intrinsic software for performing the reminding function can audio-visually remind a user with received FSMP, which includes only ‘scheduled prescription data’. Or in the absence of such intrinsic software, such software could be attached/embedded with the SMP while formatting. After downloading of FSMP, such software is detached and is stored in the memory as application program. Said attached/embedded software instructions include instructions for setting each time of day of each dose of each medication in the programmable clock of the reminder device for actuating the alarm means and to display related text/symbol data. Or said FSMP may be attached/embedded with instructions compliant with said reminder device for the CPU of the RD for keeping track of current standard time, regularly comparing said current standard-time with medication time specified by said scheduled prescription time data, and upon the timed occurrence of each administration time, to generate an alarm signal and to display related text/symbol data for every dose of medication to be administered at that time instant. Said application software generally refers to files that contain instructions or codes to be executed, typically called as program files or the executable files, which define the operation or structure of an application or system. The CPU, coupled with said memory means and RTC/on-chip-RTC/timer, executes operations comprising of storing said executable file in the memory means and running the executable file for a plurality of times for automatically generating periodic alerts and simultaneously displaying related pertinent text and/or graphics and/or symbols.
One skilled in the art would appreciate a method of implementing the reminding functionality that is not dependent on the operating system platform like Windows, PalmOS, Linux etc of the reminding device or intrinsic software or the file format of reminding software like .exe etc. To have such a ‘platform-independent mechanism’ of reminding function, the scheduler file while formatting can be embedded with instructions to perform reminding function. Such instructions embedded in the SMP are compatible with target hardware and perform programming/monitoring of timer to generate alarms and perform the reminding actions. The instruction execution of embedded instructions in the FSMP just have to be triggered/activated. This process is similar to the way a virus is triggered by host system. Said triggering/activation can either be done by inputting a suitable command or can occur by default upon mere downloading of FSMP file in a reminder device. The FSMP, upon triggering, uses the time and medication information contained in itself to perform the reminding actions. To exemplify, the timer is programmed using assembly language instructions specific to the timer. Said programming comprises of loading the timer buffer with the absolute time at which alarm is to be generated or the time with reference to current time, after which alarm is to be generated. The timer generates an alarm when said programmed time occurs. The alarm interrupts the CPU, which thereupon performs the reminding actions.
Intrinsic or received application software programs the programmable real time clock for setting and sounding alarms consistent with the received formatted scheduled prescription data. Alarm settings in RTC include alarm time in hours, minutes with/without AM/PM, or alarm time and date in hours, minutes, year, month, date with/without AM/PM and/or day-of-month specified for each dose of each medication. Such clock timing circuitry for setting and sounding alarms is a very well known art and is used in a number of consumer items. Or the reminding at each specified drug administration time could also be achieved by comparing ‘alarm time’ or ‘alarm time and alarm date’ with current time in RTC. Typically, the CPU, under its intrinsic or received application software programs, performs software driven routine of comparing the real time with the scheduled prescription time data stored in data storage to execute the reminder function at the occurrence of each prescribed administration time. Thus, the CPU continuously keeps track of the standard time in RTC and continuously compares stored drug administration times. The CPU is programmed to generate a dosage alarm signal upon the timed occurrence of a drug administration time specified in the programmed dosage schedule. In response to dosage alarm signal, the driver circuitry generates a reminding/acoustical alarm signal to generate vibrations and/or to generate a buzzer/signal/beeper and/or to broadcast an audio message and/or to generate an illumination/blinking and simultaneously displays a related concise and customized form of alphanumeric and/or graphical and/or symbolic display.
An alarm such as a buzzer or a speech synthesizer may operably be coupled to the CPU, which includes means for generating a verbal sound signal. Such generation of signal is based upon a programmed instruction, which corresponds to the scheduled prescription time data. An amplifier may be coupled to the speech synthesizer for providing an audio signal to a loudspeaker. A single or plurality of conventional alarm means could be included in the reminding device. Such alarm means may include: a buzzer/speaker for emitting an audio signal, or a light source on the housing for illumination/blinking, or a tactile stimulation means such as vibrating the housing, or a transmitter adapted to transmit through a transmit/receive port via any media like free space or wire, or a voice signaling achieved through a recording or digital generation, or a wireless output as a transducing element to activate a triggering of secondary devices (e.g., alarms, patient assistance equipment, etc.), or an audio signals to output recorded signaling, or a wireless output transmitting alarming information to other intelligent secondary devices. Upon generation of the dosage alarm signal, the CPU (computing means) accesses the related scheduled prescription display data stored in data storage unit. The accessed data is then provided to display interface circuitry. The display interface circuitry generates signals, which are provided to display device so as to graphically display the related textual/symbolic scheduled prescription display data in accordance with the programmed dosage schedule. Upon hearing the alarm signal, the patient is reminded to comply with the prescribed dosage schedule frame being visually displayed on the display surface of the display screen. Or, a user-initiated action may be required to initiate the display of either visual or recorded identification and instructional information. The reminding device may first emit an audio, visual or tactile stimulus, and then an action by the user will cause the device to display the appropriate audio and/or visual information. Display of such audio or visual information may be accomplished in a manner so as to preserve the privacy of the user in hearing or viewing such information.
RD provides means for the user to acknowledge the reminding and indicate that he/she has taken the prescribed medication. Such compliance (acknowledgement) could typically be done by pressing a key/touch-screen or a combination of keys or by shaking the device (motion/vibration) or voice input or closing the flap of a mobile phone etc. Each compliance could be recorded. Or the reminder device could be interfaced with other existing signaling or acknowledging devices, which notify that patient has followed the reminded schedule. The compliance can be complete or partial wherein, complete compliance is done when all the instructions and/or medication at that time instance are followed; and partial compliance is done to convey that medication cannot be followed completely because of some reasons like unavailability of medicine etc. The said partial compliance is done by selective input. The application software of the reminding device would keep track of the compliance, would store the same in the memory means and would format it to make it transmittable. This compliance status may be sent to any intelligent device or it may be transferred to a similar intelligent device upon visiting the doctor.
The present invention may include a system, which has recognition means for recognizing a user. This means that a user is recognized by the system, when he/she starts to work with the scheduler/reminder device to input/manipulate at the operator interface. Recognition can take place, for example, by means of a password. Recognition can however also take place by means of biometric data, for example, the recording or reading of a fingerprint, or voice input via the input means or biometric data like iris scanning or other methods for pattern recognition to recognize a user. Another embodiment of the present invention comprises of a single device consisting of both the scheduler as well as the reminder function. In yet another embodiment, said program/software could reside as well as run on the same computing system or it may reside in one and run on another computing system or it may reside and run in the same computing means but used from another. The hereinabove mentioned method of usage from remote computing means may be realised by means like internet, intranet or any other interconnection systems. The usage may be accomplished with the aid of scripts or servers.
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the scheduling and/or reminding aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a method, or a dedicated device, or integrated device, or data processing system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code means embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or computer memory.
The above description thus indicates certain embodiments of the present invention, and it is apparent to those expert and skilled in the art that numerous versions and modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention. The detailed description of the invention with reference to drawings should therefore be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the detailed description are intended to be embraced therein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 981/MUM/2008 | May 2008 | IN | national |
| 2423/MUM2008 | Nov 2008 | IN | national |
Priority is claimed for US provisional patent application: An application claiming the benefit under 35 USC 119(e) US Provisional patent application number: U.S. 61/133,750 Filing date: Jul. 30, 2008 Priority claimed: Yes Priority is also claimed for two Indian patent applications (foreign patent applications): 1) Provisional Patent Application number: 981/MUM/2008 Filing date: May 7, 2008 Priority claimed: Yes 2) Nonprovisional Patent Application number: 2423/MUM/2008 Filing date: Nov. 17, 2008 Priority claimed: Yes All of the aforementioned patent applications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61133750 | Jul 2008 | US |
