Processing status information of a medical device

{
  "publication_number": "US9820699B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Processing status information of a medical device",
  "abstract": "A system (100) is provided for processing status information of a medical device (020 - 023). The medical device performs a medical function at a bedside of a patient and is arranged for generating an alarm signal (030) to alert a caregiver of the patient to an occurrence of an event which is associated with the performing of the medical function. A status interface (120) acquires a device signal (024) of the medical device, the device signal comprising status information which is indicative of a current status of the performing of the medical function. Moreover, an analysis subsystem (140) analyzes the status information to estimate an imminent occurrence of the event based on said current status, and a notification subsystem notifies the caregiver of the imminent occurrence away from the bedside of the patient of the event by a generating a notification signal (162) for a notification device (060 - 064). The priority of notifying the caregiver is based on an estimate of whether the patient is asleep. The system enables the caregiver to be notified about the event ahead of time, i.e., before the event occurs and thus before the medical device generates an alarm signal. Advantageously, the patient is less disturbed by alarm signals during sleep.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A system for processing status information of a medical device performing a medical function at a bedside of a patient, the medical device being arranged for generating an alarm signal which is perceivable at the bedside of the patient to enable alerting a caregiver of the patient to an occurrence of an event which is associated with the performing of the medical function, the system comprising: a status interface for acquiring a device signal of the medical device, the device signal comprising status information which is indicative of a current status of the performing of the medical function; an analysis subsystem for analyzing the status information to estimate an imminent occurrence of the event based on said current status; and a notification subsystem for notifying the caregiver of the imminent occurrence of the event away from the bedside of the patient by a generating a notification signal for a notification device, the notification subsystem being arranged for i) determining a priority of the notifying of the caregiver based on estimating whether the patient is asleep, and ii) effecting the notifying of the caregiver based on the priority.",
    "2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the notification subsystem is arranged for estimating whether the patient is asleep based on at least one of the group of: physiological data as obtained from a patient monitor, time data indicating a time of day, and light data being indicative of an amount of light in a room of the patient.",
    "3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the notification subsystem is arranged for delaying or discarding said notifying if the priority does not exceed a threshold.",
    "4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the analysis subsystem is arranged for i) tracking the status information over time to obtain a time series of status information, and ii) estimating the imminent occurrence of the event based on an extrapolation of the time series of status information.",
    "5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the analysis subsystem is arranged for estimating a time of the imminent occurrence of the event, and wherein the notification subsystem is arranged for generating the notification signal to notify the caregiver of said time.",
    "6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the status interface is further arranged for acquiring physiological data from a patient monitor of the patient, and wherein the analysis subsystem is arranged for estimating the imminent occurrence of the event further based on the physiological data.",
    "7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the notification subsystem is arranged for generating the notification signal for a mobile notification device of the caregiver.",
    "8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the notification subsystem is arranged for generating the notification signal for effecting a non-auditory notification of the caregiver.",
    "9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the notification device comprises a light source, and wherein the notification subsystem is arranged for generating the notification signal for effecting the notification of the caregiver via the light source.",
    "10. A medical device for performing a medical function at a bedside of a patient, the medical device being arranged for generating an alarm signal which is perceivable at the bedside of the patient to enable alerting a caregiver of the patient to an occurrence of an event which is associated with the performing of the medical function, the medical device comprising the system according to claim 1.",
    "11. A method for processing status information of a medical device performing a medical function at a bedside of a patient, the medical device being arranged for generating an alarm signal which is perceivable at the bedside of the patient to enable alerting a caregiver of the patient to an occurrence of an event which is associated with the performing of the medical function, the method comprising: acquiring a device signal of the medical device, the device signal comprising status information which is indicative of a current status of the performing of the medical function; analyzing the status information to estimate an imminent occurrence of the event based on said current status; and notifying the caregiver of the imminent occurrence of the event away from the bedside of the patient by a generating a notification signal for a notification device, said notifying comprising i) determining a priority of the notifying of the caregiver based on estimating whether the patient is asleep, and ii) effecting the notifying of the caregiver based on the priority.",
    "12. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a processor system to perform the method according to claim 11."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The invention relates to a system and a method for processing status information of a medical device performing a medical function at a bedside of a patient. The invention further relates to a computer program product comprising instructions for causing a processor system to perform said method.\n\nWhen a patient is admitted to a healthcare facility such as a hospital, the patient is frequently provided with one or more medical devices at his/her bedside that perform various medical functions. For example, an infusion pump at the bedside may infuse fluids, medication or nutrients into the patient's circulatory system. Another example is that a patient monitor may measure physiological data of the patient such as vital signs.\n\nSuch medical devices are frequently arranged for generating alarm signals to alert a caregiver of the patient to an occurrence of events which are associated with the performing of the medical function. For example, an infusion pump may be arranged for generating an alarm if a bag connected to the infusion pump runs empty. Accordingly, a nurse may be alerted to replace the empty bag. Another example is that a patient monitor may generate an alarm if the patient monitor determines that the state of a patient is deteriorating, e.g., by a heart rate of the patient becoming increasingly irregular. Yet another example is that the patient monitor may generate an alarm if a system malfunction occurred.\n\nSuch medical devices typically generate auditory alarms to alert a caregiver in the room of the patient or a caregiver being within hearing distance of the room.",
  "cpc": [
    "A61B 5/746",
    "A61B 2505/03",
    "A61B 2560/0266",
    "A61B 5/0002",
    "A61B 5/021",
    "A61B 5/02405",
    "A61B 5/4842",
    "A61B 5/7275",
    "G06F 19/3412",
    "G06F 19/3443",
    "G06F 19/345",
    "G06F 19/3468",
    "G08B 21/0453",
    "G16H 20/17",
    "G16H 40/40",
    "G16H 40/63",
    "G16H 50/20",
    "G16H 50/70"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "A61B 5/00",
    "G16H 20/17",
    "G16H 40/63",
    "G08B 23/00"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Koninklijke Philips NV"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Peter Bingley",
    "Angelique Carin Johanna Maria Brosens-Kessels",
    "Jonathan David Mason",
    "Jia Du",
    "Paul Augustinus Peter Kaufholz"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2014-06-12",
  "publication_date": "2017-11-21",
  "grant_date": "2017-11-21",
  "priority_date": "2013-06-18",
  "application_number": "US-201414897044-A",
  "family_id": "48782158",
  "cited_by_count": 255,
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}