Systems, methods, and computer program products for facilitating communications, workflow, and task assignments in medical practices and clinics

Abstract

A method of facilitating patient examinations in a medical office includes the following steps performed via a handheld device: identifying an examination location of a patient; identifying one or more medical procedures to be performed, wherein the one or more medical procedures are selected from the group consisting of: laboratory analysis of biological samples obtained from the patient, diagnostic tests on the patient, patient vaccinations and/or injections, and preparing a medical prescription; displaying a patient examination summary, wherein the displayed summary includes patient identification information, patient location information, patient health status information, and a list of identified medical procedures; and communicating wirelessly the patient examination summary to a nurse station computer within the medical office.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communications network for use by a medical office for implementing various aspects of embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 2-9 and 10A-10B illustrate various graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that are displayed via handheld communications devices, according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 11-13 illustrate various GUIs that are displayed via a nurse station computer, according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 14-16 illustrate various GUIs that are displayed within a reception station computer, according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates a “Code Blue” display of emergency information, according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart that illustrates operations for facilitating patient examinations in a medical office, according to some embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating patient examinations in a medical office, the method comprising the following steps performed via a handheld device: identifying an examination location of a patient;identifying one or more medical procedures to be performed, wherein the one or more medical procedures are selected from the group consisting of: laboratory analysis of biological samples obtained from the patient, diagnostic tests on the patient, patient vaccinations and/or injections, and preparing a medical prescription;displaying a patient examination summary, wherein the displayed summary includes patient identification information, patient location information, patient health status information, and a list of identified medical procedures; andcommunicating the patient examination summary to a nurse station computer within the medical office.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a drug sample to be dispensed to the patient and communicating the selected drug sample to the nurse station computer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising launching a third party medical prescription program and writing a pharmaceutical prescription for the patient via the third party medical prescription program.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising writing a pharmaceutical prescription for the patient and communicating the prescription to a pharmacy external to the medical office.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying health-related educational material to be given to the patient and communicating the identified educational material to the nurse station computer for delivery to the patient.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising editing content of the identified health-related educational material prior to communicating the identified health-related educational material to the nurse station computer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying health-related educational material to be given to the patient and printing the identified health-related educational material via a printer in communication with the handheld communications device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying an examination location of a patient comprises selecting the location from a predefined examination location list.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one or more procedures to be performed on the patient comprises selecting the one or more procedures from a predefined or customizable list.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the patient examination summary to the nurse station computer comprises wirelessly communicating the patient examination summary.

11. A handheld device that facilitates patient examinations in a medical office, comprising: means for identifying an examination location of a patient;means for identifying one or more procedures to be performed, wherein the one or more procedures are selected from the group consisting of: laboratory analysis of biological samples obtained from the patient, diagnostic tests on the patient, patient vaccinations and/or injections, and preparing a medical prescription;means for displaying a patient examination summary, wherein the displayed summary includes patient identification information, patient location information, patient health status information, and a list of identified medical procedures to be performed; andmeans for communicating the patient examination summary to a nurse station computer within the medical office.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for retrieving a patent examination summary from the nurse station computer and modifying the retrieved patient examination summary.

13. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for selecting a drug sample to be dispensed to the patient.

14. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for communicating drug sample information to an external third party.

15. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for launching a third party medical prescription program and writing a pharmaceutical prescription for the patient via the third party medical prescription program.

16. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for writing a pharmaceutical prescription for the patient and means for communicating the prescription to a pharmacy external to the medical office.

17. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for identifying health-related educational material to be given to the patient.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising means for editing content of the identified health-related educational material.

19. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for identifying health-related educational material to be given to the patient and means for printing the identified educational material via a printer in communication with the handheld communications device.

20. The device of claim 11, wherein the means for identifying an examination location of a patient comprises means for selecting the location from a predefined examination location list.

21. The device of claim 11, wherein the means for selecting one or more procedures to be performed on the patient comprises means for selecting the one or more procedures from a predefined list.

22. The device of claim 11, wherein the means for communicating the patient examination summary to the nurse station computer comprises means for wirelessly communicating the patient examination summary.

23. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for securely communicating directly with third party health care providers.

24. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for receiving advertisements from external third parties and for displaying received advertisements.

25. The device of claim 11, further comprising means for displaying a third party referral form.

26. A medical office system that facilitates patient examinations, comprising: a nurse station computer; andone or more handheld devices, wherein each handheld device communicates wirelessly with the nurse station computer, and wherein each handheld device comprises: means for identifying an examination location of a patient;means for identifying one or more procedures to be performed on the patient, wherein the one or more procedures are selected from the group consisting of: laboratory analysis of biological samples obtained from the patient, diagnostic tests on the patient, patient vaccinations and/or injections, and preparing a medical prescription;means for displaying a patient examination summary, wherein the displayed summary includes patient identification information, patient location information, patient health status information, and a list of identified procedures to be performed on the patient; andmeans for communicating the patient examination summary wirelessly to the nurse station computer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein each handheld device is configured to communicate wirelessly with any other handheld device.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising a patient reception computer that receives and stores patient demographic information, wherein the patient reception computer communicates wirelessly with the nurse station computer and with each handheld device.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein each handheld device is configured to display a daily log of patients to be examined by a physician, and wherein the patient reception computer is configured to add patients checking in at the medical office to a physician's daily log.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein each handheld device is configured to display emergency information transmitted by another handheld device or by the nurse station computer, and wherein the emergency information identifies the location of the emergency within the medical office.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein each handheld device is configured to sound an audio alert in response to receiving emergency information transmitted by another handheld device or by the nurse station computer.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the nurse station computer is configured to display emergency information transmitted by a handheld device, and wherein the emergency information identifies the location of the emergency within the medical office.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein each handheld device is configured to record and store dictation.

34. The system of claim 26, wherein each handheld device is configured to send and receive voice and/or text communications.

35. The system of claim 26, wherein each handheld device is configured to send and receive electronic mail.

36. The system of claim 26, wherein the nurse station computer and each handheld device are configured to communicate directly with a third party laboratory service and request medical laboratory work directly therefrom.

37. A method of facilitating examination of a patient in a medical office, the method comprising: receiving a patient examination summary, wherein the patient examination summary comprises patient identification information, patient location information, patient health status information, and information about one or more medical procedures to be performed; anddisplaying all information in the patient examination summary in a single GUI displayed on a screen.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the one or more medical procedures to be performed are selected from the group consisting of: laboratory analysis of biological samples obtained from the patient, diagnostic tests on the patient, patient vaccinations and/or injections, and preparing a medical prescription.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the patient examination summary comprises information about one or more drug samples to be dispensed to the patient.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the patient examination summary comprises information about one or more pharmaceutical prescriptions for the patient.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein the patient examination summary comprises information about health-related educational material to be given to the patient.

42. A method of displaying medical emergency information communicated by a first device connected to a medical office network, comprising: receiving information at a second device connected to the medical office network about a medical emergency within the medical office; anddisplaying the received medical emergency information in a single GUI that substantially fills a display screen of the second device, wherein the emergency information identifies the location of the emergency within the medical office, and wherein the second device is rendered unusable until the medical emergency has been responded to.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising sounding an audio alert at the second device in response to receiving the medical emergency information.

44. A computer program product for facilitating patient examinations in a medical office, comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code being configured to carry out the method of claim 1.

45. A computer program product for facilitating patient examinations in a medical office, comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code being configured to carry out the method of claim 37.

46. A computer program product for displaying medical emergency information communicated by a first device connected to a medical office network, comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code being configured to carry out the method of claim 42.