Claims
- 1. A method of building a surgical case for a patient and an identified surgeon comprising the steps of:
retrieving a set of events for the surgical case; graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes; and providing a warning indicator when a relationship between the events is improperly coordinated.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the set of events for the surgical case includes contacting a database to obtain the set of events.
- 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of selecting a date and time to schedule the surgical case.
- 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of coordinating the relationships between the events to develop a coordinated case.
- 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising a step of forwarding the coordinated case to a scheduling engine.
- 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of modifying the set of events to develop a modified set of events for the surgical case.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of modifying the set of events includes adding additional events.
- 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the modified set of events includes a complete and accurate set of events that are based on a set of preferences.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the events are characterized by a set of preferences.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein a facility or the surgeon determines the set of preferences.
- 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of verifying the availability of a set of resources required for the surgical case.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing an alert indicator comprises adding a colored hatching to at least one of the boxes.
- 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing an alert indicator comprises changing the appearance of a box by adding a warning symbol.
- 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes includes corresponding the width of the boxes to quantities of time.
- 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes includes using the boxes to represent an amount of time allocated to a person, a resource, or a procedure.
- 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes includes representing the total amount of time required for a surgical case by a box that is larger than any other box.
- 17. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of coordinating the relationships between the events includes warning a user when a smaller contained box is expanded beyond the edge of a larger containing box.
- 18. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes includes using a peripheral device to expand or shrink the size of a box by selecting and dragging an edge of the box.
- 19. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes includes representing the beginning of an event with a left edge of a box and the end of an event with a right edge of the box.
- 20. The method of claim 1 wherein the events comprise a setup time for a surgery, a time allocated to a patient for the surgery, and a time allocated for cleaning up after the surgery.
- 21. A computer routine for building a surgical case for a patient and an identified surgeon, comprising:
a first routine for retrieving a set of events for the surgical case; a second routine for graphically depicting the events as a group of nested boxes; and a third routine for providing an alert indicator when a relationship between the events is improperly coordinated.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/246,831, entitled “An Operating Room Resource Management System Incorporating an Interactive, Visual Method For Coordinating Multiple, Interdependent Events,” filed Nov. 8, 2000 (attorney docket no. 29794/36769), the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60246831 |
Nov 2000 |
US |