Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to displaying health data. More specifically, particular embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for reporting data related to a patient's health to a medical practitioner.
Remote monitoring of patients enables doctors to detect, diagnose, and/or treat heart problems, such as arrhythmias, that may produce only transient symptoms and, therefore, may not be evident when the patients visit their doctor. Health data may be collected by multiple sensors or monitors for subsequent analysis by a physician or other healthcare professional (“user”).
A “Holter” monitor is worn by a patient and collects and stores data for a period of time, typically at least 24 hours, and in some cases up to two weeks. After the data has been collected, the Holter monitor is typically brought or sent to a physician's office, laboratory, or the like, and the data is retrieved from the monitor and analyzed.
A pre-symptom (looping memory) event monitor collects and stores patient data in a “loop” memory device, wherein the event monitor constantly overwrites previously-stored data with newly-collected data. The event monitor includes a button, which the patient is instructed to actuate if the patient feels ill or otherwise detects a heart-related anomaly. In response, the event monitor continues to record data for a short period of time and then stops recording, thereby retaining data for a time period that spans the button actuation. Typically, the retained data represents a period of time that extends from a few minutes before the user actuated the button to a few minutes after the user actuated the button. The retained data may then be sent or transmitted by the patient to a physician's office or to a laboratory for analysis. Such an event monitor can facilitate analysis of patient data more proximate in time to the patient-detected anomaly. However, relying on the patient to actuate the device and then send the data can be problematic.
Some event monitors automatically detect certain arrhythmias and, in response, record electrocardiograph (ECG) data. Automatic event monitors are thought to be more sensitive, but less specific, for significant cardiac arrhythmias than manually-triggered cardiac event monitors. These devices rely on patients to send the recorded data for analysis, and there is a delay between detection of a suspected arrhythmia and transmission of the data. Some of such monitors have cellular transmission capabilities incorporated therein.
Mobile cardiovascular telemetry (MCT) refers to a technique that involves noninvasive ambulatory cardiac event monitors that are capable of continuous measurements of heart rate and rhythm over several days to weeks. MCT devices may include an automatic ECG arrhythmia detector that couples to a cellular telephone device to immediately transmit automatically detected abnormal ECG waveforms to a remote monitoring center, which can then alert a physician. Patients are also able to indicate symptoms they experience through the device should they occur during the monitoring period. Such devices may also include a memory capable of storing ECG waveform data, which is transmitted to a cellular phone for analysis, and then to the remote monitoring center whenever an event is detected by the smartphone algorithms or a symptom is indicated by the patient. Typically, memory storage for MCT devices ranges from 24 hours up to 30 days. Some MCT devices continuously send all collected ECG data to a remote monitoring center for analysis while others only send a subset of the data (e.g., detected abnormal data and reported data, etc.). MCT devices that continually send all collected ECG data typically do not perform any ECG analysis on the device level.
Regardless of how data is collected, and how much health data is collected and analyzed (locally and/or remotely), the resulting data is typically presented to physicians in long, printed reports. Such reports may be numerous, tedious to review, difficult to understand, and may inhibit physicians and other healthcare professionals from making a quick and comprehensive assessment of a patient's condition.
Thus, there remains a need for improved systems and methods for reporting and displaying health data.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate various exemplary embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosed embodiments.
In one aspect, a method for displaying health data is disclosed. The method may include receiving two or more health data sets. Each health data set may be physiological data of a patient as a function of time. The method may also include generating a display of the two or more health data sets such that a first health data set of the two more health data sets is visually aligned with a second health data set of the two or more health data sets at multiple points in time.
Additionally or alternatively, the method may include one or more of the following aspects: generating a display may include generating a display such that all health data sets of the two or more health data sets are visually aligned at all points in time; each health data set of the two or more health data sets may be displayed in a graph extending along a horizontal time axis, with the graph of each data set being stacked along a vertical axis; the two or more health data sets may include at least one of a cardiovascular parameter, a respiratory parameter, a cognitive parameter, a musculoskeletal parameter, a dermatological parameter, a vascular parameter, and a gastrointestinal parameter; the two or more health data sets may include one or more of a heart rate, an activity level, a respiration rate, a blood pressure, a blood oxygen saturation level, a blood insulin level, a pulse oximetry value, an impedance value, and a body temperature; the generated display may further include comments from at least one of a physician, a healthcare provider, and the patient; generating a display may include generating a display of the two or more health data sets for a period of time of twenty-four hours; the generated display may distinguish a period of time corresponding to day time and a period of time corresponding to night time; the generated display may include an indicator that indicates a normal range of at least one data set of the one or more data sets; and the indicator may include a bar extending parallel to a time axis.
In another aspect, a device for displaying health data of a patient is disclosed. The device may include a data storage device storing instructions for displaying health data and a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method. The method may comprise receiving two or more health data sets. Each health data set may be physiological data of the patient as a function of time. The method may also include generating a display of the two or more health data sets such that a first health data set of the two more health data sets is visually aligned with a second health data set of the two or more health data sets at multiple points in time.
Additionally or alternatively, the device may include the following aspects: generating a display may include generating a display such that all health data sets of the two or more health data sets are visually aligned at all points in time; each health data set of the two or more health data sets may be displayed in a graph extending along a horizontal time axis, with the graph of each data set being stacked along a vertical axis; the two or more health data sets may include one or more of a heart rate, an activity level, a respiration rate, a blood pressure, a blood oxygen saturation level, a blood insulin level, a pulse oximetry value, an impedance value, and a body temperature; the generated display may further include comments from at least one of a physician, a healthcare provider, and the patient; the generated display may include an indicator that indicates a normal range of at least one data set of the one or more data sets; the generated display may further include information received from at least one of: a physician, a healthcare provider, or the patient.
In yet another aspect, a non-transitory computer readable medium is disclosed. The computer readable medium may include instructions that when executed on a processor may cause the processor to perform operations including receiving two or more health data sets. Each health data set may be physiological data of the patient as a function of time. The operations may also include generating a display of the two or more health data sets such that a first health data set of the two more health data sets is visually aligned with a second health data set of the two or more health data sets at multiple points in time.
Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the non-transitory computer readable medium may include the following aspects: generating a display may include generating a display such that all health data sets of the two or more health data sets may be visually aligned at all points in time; each health data set of the two or more health data sets may be displayed in a graph extending along a horizontal time axis, with the graph of each data set being stacked along a vertical axis.
Reference will be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may include methods and systems for reporting health data. Various aspects of the present disclosure may be used in combination with and/or include one or more features disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,478,418, issued Jul. 2, 2013, entitled “Remote Health Monitoring System” and/or U.S. Pat. No. 8,620,418, issued Dec. 31, 2013, entitled “Systems and Methods for Processing and Displaying Patient Electrocardiograph Data,” both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Patient health data (“health data”) may include any detected, measured, or calculated physiological data including, but not limited to, one or more cardiovascular, respiratory, cognitive, musculoskeletal, dermatological, vascular, and/or gastrointestinal parameters. For example, health data may include one or more of heart rate, activity level (e.g., physical mobility or movement), respiration rate, blood pressure (e.g., systolic and/or diastolic), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), blood glucose or insulin level, pulse oximetry, impedance, and/or body temperature. In some embodiments, health data may also include parameters related to incapacitation of a patient, such as, for example, parameters indicative of a patient falling. In some embodiments, health data may include electrocardiography (ECG) and/or other sensor data that may be collected, processed, and displayed, for detection and/or diagnosis of arrhythmic events or conditions. In some embodiments, health data may also include cardiac safety indicators such as QT prolongation, ST elevation, etc. Any of the types of health data, methods of collecting health data, methods of processing health data, and/or methods of displaying health data disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,478,418, and/or U.S. Pat. No. 8,620,418 (both incorporated by reference herein), may be used according to the present disclosure.
The collected health data may be displayed or presented to a user (physician or other healthcare provider) in a report. The report may include multiple (two or more) health data displayed such that the user can quickly gain a good understanding of the patient's health. The health data may include sensor collected data and data calculated based on the collected data. In some embodiments, the displayed health data may include at least two health data, e.g., two, three, four, five, or more health data. The displayed health data may include, for example, two or more of average heart rate, activity level, respiration rate, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, impedance, and patient reported symptoms. In some embodiments, the report may include comments or observations from the user, and/or feedback from the patient, such as reported symptoms or confirmation of medication taken at prescribed times.
Report 400 may also include a graph or a time series representation (time series 402) showing the variation of the presented health data over time. As described previously, the presented health data may include both detected/measured data and parameters calculated based on the measured data. Time series 402 may plot the value of the presented health data for any period of time (1 hr, 12 hrs, 24 hrs, 2 days, 1 week, etc.).
In some embodiments, the user may change the y-axis scaling of the time series 402. The y-axis scaling may be changed separately for each health data set or may be changed together for all the data sets. The scaling may be changed in any manner. In some embodiments, the user may enter (e.g., into a text box) the desired minimum and maximum y-axis values for a health data set. In some embodiments, the user may pick (e.g., using a cursor) values on the y-axis to be used as the minimum and maximum values. For example, in a health data graph of time series 402 having a y-axis between 0 and 20, the user may rescale the graph to have a y-axis between 5 and 10 by clicking on the Y-axis locations of 5 and 10. In some embodiments, a health data set may also be normalized using any y-axis value.
In some embodiments, the y-axis of a health data curve may indicate the normal range (or one or more normal ranges) for that health data. A normal range may indicate a range of the health data values that is considered to be normal for a patient. This normal range may be indicated in any matter. In some embodiments, the normal range indicator may include a shaded or a colored bar (or box) that is overlaid on a health data graph to facilitate identification of values outside the normal range. For example, as illustrated in the average heart rate 404 graph of
The normal range identified in a health data graph may be a range that is considered to be normal for all patients, or it may be a range that is considered to be normal for a particular patient. For instance, based on a patient's individual history (medical history, physical fitness, etc.), a patient may have a normal heart rate range lower (or higher) than a range that is commonly associated as being normal. In some embodiments, the report may allow the user to select or change the normal range associated with one or more of the heath data graphs of a time series 402. A data point that is outside of the normal range would be identified as abnormal for the patient. In some embodiments, a report 400 may include a feature to highlight a health data point (or set an alert) when a health data exceeds a threshold value. For example, the user may indicate a threshold value (or range) for a health data (e.g., respiration rate), and values of the health data that exceed this threshold value (or are outside the range) may be highlighted (by another color, by a shaded region, etc.). In some embodiments, one or more of the health data sets (average heart rate 404, activity level 406, and/or respiration rate 408) may indicate the maximum, minimum, and average value of a measurement. For example, a vertical line through each data point in respiration rate measurements 408 of
The multiple health data graphs of the time series 402 may indicate time averaged values of the health data. For example, values of average heart rate 404, activity level 406, and respiration rate 408 plotted in time series 402 of
Although each of the multiple health data illustrated in
In a report 400, the health data sets presented in a time series 402 (e.g., average heart rate 404, activity level 406, and respiration rate 408) may be aligned temporally (e.g., along the x-axis) such that any vertical line intersecting the data sets may indicate the same point in time. For example, in time series 402 of report 400 (
Time series 402 of a report 400 may include an indicator (e.g., a line) that distinguishes between night and day (or the time period when the patient is sleeping from the time period when the patient is awake). In some embodiments, indicators at fixed times (e.g., 9 PM and 6 AM) may differentiate between day and night. For example, the time period between 9 PM and 6 AM may be considered night time or the time period when the patient is sleeping. In some embodiments, these indicators may be based on patient feedback. For example, in some embodiments, the patient may indicate (for e.g., by pressing a button) when the patient goes to bed and when he/she wakes up. In some embodiments, this information may be derived based on other patient input (e.g., based on when the patient reports taking a medicine, etc.). And, indicators may be located on the time series 402 based on the patient provided input.
In some embodiments, night time or the patient's sleep time in time series 402 may be shaded (or otherwise marked) to aid the user in distinguishing health data recorded during the day from those recorded during the night. This feature may further allow the user to analyze and identify health-related events or trends within the context of a patient's diurnal cycle, such as correlation of sleep apnea with any irregular health measurements such as arrhythmias. The classification of day and night may be adjusted according to the diurnal cycle of a particular patient.
Time series 402 of a report 400 may include also include one or more indicators that record the times at which specified events occur. The events for which the indicators are included may be specified by the user. In some embodiments, indicators may record the times at which the patient takes a medicine. For example, the patient may press a button associated with a health monitoring system to indicate when he/she takes a medicine. Time series 402 may then highlight the time at which it receives this patient notification. In some embodiments, the indications may highlight patient reported symptoms. For example, if at 9 AM the patient reports experiencing discomfort (e.g., dizziness), time series 402 may include an indicator that highlights to the user the patient reported symptom. These indicators may be located at the corresponding time in any or all of the graphs of time series 402, or may be separately indicated (e.g., on a pop-up window, etc.).
While
In some embodiments, report 400 may also include one or more data summary sections. The summary sections may list statistical information (e.g., average, maximum, and/or minimum values) of the health data presented in a report 400. This information may be presented in any manner (diagrams, illustrations, tables, or other descriptive representations) to present the data in a meaningful way. In some embodiments, a summary section may summarize the total time (or the percentage of time) the patient was out of normal range for some or all of the health data. In some embodiments, the summary section may separately summarize the time outside normal range during day time and night time (or any other selected time period). In some embodiments, patient reported data (such as, symptoms (dizziness, etc.) and information (medicine taken, etc.)) may also be included in the summary section. In some embodiments, the summary sections may include one or more of monitoring summary 410, heart rate summary 412, atrial fibrillation (AF) summary 414, and diurnal summary 416. These summary sections may provide a snapshot of the data collected over a time period. In some embodiments, some or all of the summary sections may automatically be included with the report 400. In other embodiments, the user may select the summary sections that are desired to be displayed. For example, in some embodiments, icons (or buttons) may indicate the presence of a summary section. And, clicking an icon (e.g., monitoring summary icon, AF summary icon, etc.) may expand a summary section.
In some embodiments, a summary section may indicate the amount of time a particular health event occurred, or the time period for which a range of health data values was recorded. For example, monitoring summary 410 may include a pie chart to show different types of events recorded over the 24-hour time period, and AF summary 414 may include a pie chart dividing the total time in which an atrial fibrillation event was recorded by ventricular rate/heart rate. Summary sections may also compare the number of events that occurred during the day to those that occurred during the night. For example, diurnal summary 416 compares the number of health related events and/or duration of the events (e.g., AF duration, premature ventricular contraction (PVC), bradycardia, tachycardia, pauses >4 seconds, and number of ventricular tachycardia events >4 beats) recorded during the day to those recorded during the night.
The summary sections may also include comments, observations, conclusions, diagnoses, etc. by a user and/or patient feedback. In some embodiments, these comments may appear as notes that are typed in by the patient and/or the physician. Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, these comments may record instances of an event reported by the patient and feedback from the physician. For example, the heart rate summary 412 of
Patient reports 400 and displays of health data according to the present disclosure also may include one or more raw data, pre-processed data, and/or partially processed data 418. This data may be presented in any manner. In some embodiments, this data 418 may be presented as a graph. For example, report 400 of
In some embodiments, the report 400 may include features that enable the user to view health data of a patient corresponding to a particular time or period. In some embodiments, by using these features, the health data and/or other information presented in the report 400 (and other health data) may be represented in a different manner. In some embodiments, the user may select a time point (or a time window) in the time series 402 to get health data associated with the selected time point. A time point may be selected in any manner.
The health data associated with the time point 436 may be displayed in any manner. In some embodiments, selecting the time point 436 may open a pop-up window or a box with the health data associated with the time point 436. In some embodiments, this health data may be presented in a tabular form, and in other embodiments some or all of the health data may be presented graphically or pictorially.
In some embodiments, display 450 may also include data such as ECG data 454 at a time period 456 that encompasses the selected time point 436. The time period 456 may be selected by the user or may be preprogrammed into the system. In some embodiments, the display 450 may initially use a default preprogrammed time period which may be changed by the user. Display 450 may also include comments 458 (provided by the patient and/or the user) that are associated with the selected time point 436 or time period 456. In use, the user may select a time point 436 (in
In some embodiments, instead of selecting a time point 436, the user may select a time period 456 from the time series 402 of
In some embodiments, report 400 may include a display that indicates the values of some or all of the health data corresponding to a time (or time period) when one of the monitored health data is abnormal.
In some embodiments, the user may select a data point (or a time point) on the time series 402 (or
Although
Patient reports 400 and displays of health data according to the present disclosure may be provided in written form and/or displayed electronically, such as on a graphical user interface, e.g., of a computer, tablet computer, smartphone, or other mobile device. The reports 400 may be displayed (or otherwise presented) in any language. In some embodiments, the user may select and/or change the language of the report 400. The user may interact with the health data (including the displayed and summarized health data) through the device, and use the interactive display to modify the display of data, and to make health-care related decisions (e.g., healthcare management, patient care, etc.) based on the displayed and reviewed patient health data.
Additional objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosed embodiments. The objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.
This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/925,129, filed on Jan. 8, 2014, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61925129 | Jan 2014 | US |