Patent Application
20170329909
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to a mechanism of facilitating user interaction with health care data and more particularly relate to a method, apparatus and computer program product for managing workspace interactions of health care data and automatically saving the state of health care data.
Currently, the health care world is extremely interrupt driven. For instance, health care workers are frequently in the middle of an activity focused on a patient when the health care worker is interrupted and needs to answer a question regarding another patient. In this regard, the health care worker is typically forced to abandon their activity and either start a new activity or at the very least require a save action before the health care worker may leave a screen displaying the activity if the health care worker wants their entered data to be retained.
Additionally, health care workers may need ready access to clinical data while the health care workers are completing workflows. Typically, the health care workers are required to switch between multiple windows and even systems to manage their tasks, view relevant clinical and non-clinical data, and manage care for a patient.
At present, in the online retail space, for example, there is familiarity with websites that support an on-screen shopping cart experience, in which a user may view their cart contents while they navigate the website. However, these technologies typically require a user to click a button to populate an item to their cart and click save if making changes to the contents of the cart (e.g., sometimes for each item changed). However, these retail websites typically do not address the concept of saving data automatically for a user as they navigate between different form components.
In view of the foregoing drawbacks, it may be beneficial to provide an efficient and reliable mechanism of enabling navigation between activities in health care data while automatically saving current data and a state.
A method, apparatus and computer program product are therefore provided that may provide an efficient and reliable mechanism for enabling navigation between activities in health care data to facilitate management of one or more tasks and automatically save current data and a state.
In this regard, the exemplary embodiments may automatically save data (e.g., a health care task(s)) as a health care clinician navigates between multiple different windows, different form components or the like to manage health care tasks associated with one or more patients.
The exemplary embodiments may provide a user interface that facilitates display of the steps of a workflow, or list of workflows, which may drive corresponding health care data shown in an adjacent context area. The workflow and context areas may support a pencil state in which data entered by a user (e.g., a health care clinician (e.g., a care manager)) may be automatically saved without requiring the user to click any buttons, menus, tabs or the like, or otherwise take any action.
In this regard, the exemplary embodiments may provide a user interface displaying a workflow area (also referred to herein as workspace area) and a related context area connected or linked to the workflow. The workflow area and the context area may interact with and drive each other. The exemplary embodiments may also enable quick access to a patient's clinical data while enabling a health care clinician to work on tasks related to care of the patient.
The exemplary embodiments may save data in a pencil state. For example, by saving data in a pencil state, a communication device of the exemplary embodiments may automatically save information entered by a user such as, for example, a health care clinician without requiring the user to perform any active action such as, for example, by clicking any buttons, menus or the like in order to have the information they have entered to be saved and stored. In some example embodiments, the pencil state may denote a state that is not committed to an official record. In some other example embodiments, a communication device may be configured to trace the origin of data left in a pencil state.
In some example embodiments, a communication device may detect an expiration of clinical data left in pencil state in response to a predetermined time period assigned to the clinical data elapsing. In this regard, the communication device may determine that the clinical data is stale or irrelevant and may delete the clinical data, or may notify a user (e.g., a health care clinician) that the clinical data expired and request an indication as to the manner in which to handle (e.g., retain, delete, etc.) the clinical data.
In one example embodiment, a method for managing health care data is provided. The method may include enabling display of a generated user interface including a workspace area including visible indicia indicating a plurality of steps of one or more health care tasks to be performed on behalf of at least one patient and a context area arranged adjacent to the workspace area. The context area may include visible information indicating health care data of the patient that is associated with the visible indicia of the workspace area. The method may further include updating display of the visible indicia of the workspace area to include different health care data in response to detecting a change in related data of the visible indicia of the context area or updating display of the visible information of the context area to include different health care information in response to detecting a change in related information of the visible information of the workspace area.
In another example embodiment, an apparatus for managing health care data is provided. The apparatus may include a processor and a memory including computer program code. The memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform operations including enabling display of a generated user interface including a workspace area including visible indicia indicating a plurality of steps of one or more health care tasks to be performed on behalf of at least one patient and a context area arranged adjacent to the workspace area. The context area may include visible information indicating health care data of the patient that is associated with the visible indicia of the workspace area. The memory and computer program code are also configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to update display of the visible indicia of the workspace area to include different health care data in response to detecting a change in related data of the visible indicia of the context area or updating display of the visible information of the context area to include different health care information in response to detecting a change in related information of the visible information of the workspace area.
In yet another example embodiment, a computer program product for managing health care data is provided. The computer program product includes at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein. The computer-executable program code instructions may include program code instructions configured to enable display of a generated user interface including a workspace area including visible indicia indicating a plurality of steps of one or more health care tasks to be performed on behalf of at least one patient and a context area arranged adjacent to the workspace area. The context area may include visible information indicating health care data of the patient that is associated with the visible indicia of the workspace area. The computer program product may further include program code instructions configured to update display of the visible indicia of the workspace area to include different health care data in response to detecting a change in related data of the visible indicia of the context area or updating display of the visible information of the context area to include different health care information in response to detecting a change in related information of the visible information of the workspace area.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Some embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, various embodiments of the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similar terms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of being transmitted, received and/or stored in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Moreover, the term “exemplary”, as used herein, is not provided to convey any qualitative assessment, but instead merely to convey an illustration of an example. Thus, use of any such terms should not be taken to limit the spirit and scope of embodiments of the invention.
As defined herein a “computer-readable storage medium,” which refers to a non-transitory, physical or tangible storage medium (e.g., volatile or non-volatile memory device), may be differentiated from a “computer-readable transmission medium,” which refers to an electromagnetic signal.
As referred to herein, a workflow(s) may, but need not, denote a process for activities associated with performing one or more tasks (e.g., health care tasks). In this regard, for example, a workflow(s) may be a series of processing steps and visual forms that define the manner in which to perform a task(s) such as, for example, a patient assessment. Additionally, as referred to herein, health care data, health care information or the like may, but need not, denote clinical and non-clinical information of importance to a person's (e.g., a patient's) health. Clinical data may include, but is not limited to, vitals, diagnostics, lab data, prescriptions, etc. Non-clinical data may include, but is not limited to, a person's (e.g., a patient's) insurance or advanced directives and any other suitable data.
As referred to herein, a pencil state may, but need not, denote data input in a form, application, workflow, workspace area, context area or the like that is retained, stored and/or saved even without user interaction.
Reference is now made to
In one exemplary embodiment, the electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 and 125 may be utilized by clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physical therapists and/or any other suitable health care professionals. The electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 may be maintained by a health care institution or a medical entity.
The electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, and 125 may receive medical information from and may transmit medical information to each other. The electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 and 125 may utilize the medical information in part to generate one or more tasks (e.g., health care tasks) for one or more patients.
It should be pointed out that although
For example, the memory 86 may store content transmitted from, and/or received by, other communication devices (e.g., electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 and 125). In this regard, in one exemplary embodiment, the memory 86 may store data received from various disparate sources. For example, the memory 86 may store medical information received by the communication device 145 from electronic devices of a hospital, a pharmacy, a laboratory, a clinic, or any other suitable medical entities. Additionally, the memory 86 may store task(s) (e.g., health care task(s)) data for one or more patients that are linked to corresponding clinical data of the one or more patients. The tasks may be provided in a workspace area of a user interface and the corresponding patient clinical data may be provided in an adjacent context area of the user interface.
Also for example, the memory 86 may store client applications, instructions, algorithms or the like for execution by the processor 70 to perform steps associated with operation of the communication device 145 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As explained below, for example, the memory 86 may store one or more client applications such as, for example, software (e.g., software code also referred to herein as computer code).
The processor 70 may be embodied in a variety of ways. For instance, the processor 70 may be embodied as a controller, coprocessor, microprocessor of other processing devices including integrated circuits such as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 70 may execute instructions stored in the memory 86 or otherwise accessible to the processor 70.
The communication device 145 may include one or more logic elements for performing various functions of one or more client applications. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication device 145 may execute the client applications. The logic elements performing the functions of one or more client applications may be embodied in an integrated circuit assembly including one or more integrated circuits (e.g., an ASIC, FPGA or the like) integral or otherwise in communication with a respective network entity (e.g., computing system, client, server, etc.) or more particularly, for example, a processor 70 of the respective network entity.
In addition to the memory 86, the processor 70 may also be connected to at least one interface or other means for displaying, transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like. The interface(s) can include at least one communication interface 88 or other means for transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like. In this regard, the communication interface 88 may include, for example, an antenna and supporting hardware and/or software for enabling communications with a wireless communication network. For example, the communication interface(s) may include a first communication interface for connecting to a first network, and a second communication interface for connecting to a second network. In this regard, the communication device is capable of communicating with other communication devices (e.g., for example, electronic devices 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125) over one or more networks (e.g., network 140) such as a Local Area Network (LAN), wireless LAN (WLAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), the Internet, or the like. Alternatively, the communication interface may support a wired connection with the respective network.
In addition to the communication interface(s), the interface(s) may also include at least one user interface that may include one or more earphones and/or speakers, a display 80 (also referred to herein as screen 80), and/or a user input interface 82. The user input interface, in turn, may comprise any of a number of devices allowing the entity to receive data from a user, such as a microphone, a keypad, keyboard, a touch display, a joystick, image capture device, pointing device (e.g., mouse), stylus or other input device.
In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 70 may be in communication with and may otherwise control a workspace interaction module 78. The workspace interaction module 78 may be any means such as a device or circuitry operating in accordance with software or otherwise embodied in hardware or a combination of hardware and software thereby configuring the device or circuitry (e.g., a processor, controller, microprocessor or the like) to perform the corresponding functions of the workspace interaction module 78, as described below. In examples in which software is employed, a device or circuitry (e.g., processor 70 in one example) executing the software forms the structure associated with such means. As such, for example, the workspace interaction module 78 may be configured to, among other things, manage one or more tasks (e.g., of a workflow(s)) which may trigger output of corresponding data in an adjacent context area of a user interface shown via a display (e.g., display 80). The workspace interaction module 78 may also automatically save a state of a task(s), data of a workspace area, and/or data of context area, as described more fully below.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention may provide an efficient and reliable mechanism for facilitating navigation between tasks (e.g., health care tasks) to enable management of the tasks on behalf of one or more patients and automatically save data during the navigation of the health care tasks.
Referring now to
These created tasks (e.g., health care tasks) may be provided to and shown on a side of a screen 80 (also referred to herein as display 80) in a workspace area 3. As shown in
In an example embodiment, the steps of a task of a workflow for completion of the task(s) associated with health of a patient may be displayed in the workspace area 3. As a user such as, for example, a health care clinician moves or progresses through the steps of the task(s) of the workflow, the data in the context area 5 may be changed, by the workspace interaction module 78. The data in the context area 5 may be changed to display the most relevant data pertaining to the step of the task of the workflow in which the user is actively engaged which may be indicated in the workspace area 3. For example, in an instance in which the workspace interaction module 78 performs a medication reconciliation task, the workspace interaction module 78 may trigger the context area 5 to display a patient's list of current medications. In an instance in which a corresponding step of the task denotes reconciling each medication type, the workspace interaction module 78 may enable the context area 5 to display the applicable medication type in response to the user evaluating the step in the workflow denoting reconciliation of each medication type.
On the other hand, in an instance in which the workspace interaction module 78 detects a data change in the context area 5, the workspace interaction module 78 may display information in the workspace area 3 that is relevant to or corresponds to the new data of the context area 5. For purposes of illustration and not of limitation, a provider (e.g., primary care physician) or non-provider (e.g., father) may be added to a patient's care team in the context area 5 and the workspace interaction module 78 may display the new care team member in the workspace area 3 (e.g., as a potential care team member that may be contacted to discuss the patient's care) In this regard, user interactions in one area (e.g., context area 5) of the screen 80 may alter the view in the other area (e.g., workspace area 3) of the screen 80 (e.g., a click in the context area 5 may trigger the workspace interaction module 78 to change the data in the workspace area 3, for example, utilizing a pointer to hover over the context area 5 may refresh the display of the workspace area 3). In one example embodiment, the workspace interaction module 78 may configure the interactions between the workspace area 3 and the context area 5. In this regard, the workspace interaction module 78 may enable the workspace area to configure data such as, for example, a form shown in the context area. The workspace interaction module 78 may trigger configuring of interactions with the context area by changing a form in the workspace area or, for example, by providing a hyperlink in a form of the workspace area that a user may click on which changes the display of the context area.
Referring now to
In the example embodiment of
The workspace interaction module 78 may also include a context area 9 in the user interface 11. In the example embodiment of
For purposes of illustration and not of limitation, consider an example in which the care manager evaluated claims information for patient Debra Miller and determined that Debra Miller was taking a drug such as captopril. In this regard, the care manager may utilize a user input interface (e.g., user input interface 82) to input data in the workspace area 7 specifying that the patient Debra Miller is taking captopril and in response to receipt of the indication the workspace interaction module 78 may (e.g., automatically) trigger the context area 9 to visibly indicate the list of medications that patient Debra Miller is currently prescribed in the medications section of the summary. In this manner, the care manager may be able to reconcile any medication discrepancies for patient Debra Miller. For example, by evaluating the medications, the care manager may determine that patient Debra Miller was prescribed enalapril instead of captopril and that patient Debra Miller should not take captopril.
In another example embodiment, in an instance in which the care manager utilizes a user input interface to add a medication(s) for patient Debra Miller to the workspace area 7, the workspace interaction module 78 may detect the added medication(s) and may automatically change or update the visible indicia of the context area 9 to show medication data (e.g., prescriptions) for patient Debra Miller associated with a medication tab (e.g., medication tab 12).
In another example embodiment, the workspace interaction module 78 may automatically change the visible indicia of the context area 9 in response to receipt of an indication of a selection of another step of the task. In this regard, for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, in an instance in which a care manager utilizes a user input interface (e.g., user input interface 82) to select the diagnosis step, the workspace interaction module 78 may automatically trigger display of data associated with the problems tab 10. In another example, for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, in response to receipt of an indication of a selection of the medication step of the task, the workstation interaction module 78 may automatically trigger display of medication data (e.g., medication reconciliation data) associated with the medications tab 12 in a context area of a user interface.
Referring now to
In
In an example embodiment, the workspace interaction module 78 may automatically save the state of a workspace area and/or a context area in a pencil-state without requiring any additional user action. The workspace interaction module 78 may automatically save the state of a workspace area and/or context area in an instance in which a user (e.g., a health care clinician (e.g., a care manager)) (1) navigates during an in-progress task(s) to another task(s) (e.g., another workflow(s)), (2) a user's login times out, (3) a user changes to another application(s), form(s) or the like, (3) a user changes context to another patient(s) or some other data, when the user logs out of a system, or (4) for any other suitable reasons such as, for example, closing a workspace area, a context area, a user interface or a browser. Additionally, the workspace interaction module 78 may automatically save the state of a workspace area and/or a context area periodically (e.g., every two seconds or some other time period).
To save the state and corresponding data, the workspace interaction module 78 may record or save any data that the user has entered in a workspace area (e.g., workspace area 3), information in a context area (e.g., context area 5), any history of actions and any other suitable data. For purposes of illustration and not of limitation, in an instance in which a user is inputting data in a workspace area for a step of a task but switches to another step(s), application(s), form(s) or the like before completing the step of the task, the workspace interaction module 78 may automatically save the workspace area without user intervention. As such, in an instance in which the user returns to the step of the task the workspace interaction module 78 may retrieve the saved state from a memory (e.g., memory 86) and present the saved state to the workspace area of a user interface. In this manner, the user may take action on a task at the step in which progress was previously stopped or interrupted.
In an example embodiment, the workspace interaction module 78 may detect or trace the origin of data added via pencil state. In this regard, the workspace interaction module 78 may indicate an origin of a piece of data by specifying where the data came from (e.g., a workspace area, a context area). For example, in an instance in which a new medication was added through a workspace area such as, for example, a form of a workspace area and is in pencil state, an instance of the form, its associated task, and the workflow may each be captured and indicated by the workspace interaction module 78.
In some example embodiments, clinical data remaining in a pencil state may become stale or irrelevant upon the expiration of a predetermined time period (e.g., 48 hours, 72 hours, etc.). As such, the workspace interaction module 78 may detect the expiration of clinical data in response to the predetermined time period elapsing for data saved in a pencil state and may provide one or more messages to a user (e.g., a health care clinician) informing the user that the clinical data expired. In this regard, the workspace interaction module 78 may include data in the message(s) requesting input from the user indicating whether to delete or remove the clinical data from a memory (e.g., memory 86) or continue to save the clinical data until expiration of another predetermined time period.
Referring now to
Referring now to
At operation 705, the apparatus (e.g., communication device 145) may update display of the visible indicia of the workspace area (e.g., workspace area 7) to include different health care data in response to detecting a change in related data of the visible indicia of the context area (e.g., context area 9). Alternatively, the apparatus may update display of the visible information of the context area (e.g., context area 9) to include different health care information (e.g., data indicating active medications of a patient) in response to detecting a change in related information (e.g., input of new medication data for the patient) of the visible information of the workspace area (e.g., workspace area 7). Optionally, at operation 710, the apparatus (e.g., communication device 145) may automatically save a state of the workspace area or the context area without requiring any input or action by a user (e.g., health care clinician).
It should be pointed out that
Accordingly, blocks or steps of the flowchart support combinations of means for performing the specified functions and combinations of steps for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that one or more blocks or steps of the flowchart, and combinations of blocks or steps in the flowchart, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus for performing the methods of
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings describe exemplary embodiments in the context of certain exemplary combinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15294331 | Oct 2016 | US |
| Child | 15608521 | US | |
| Parent | 13782783 | Mar 2013 | US |
| Child | 15294331 | US |
