System and Method of Infant Care Control and Workflow

Abstract

An infant care system creates a microenvironment about an infant patient. An environmental control device is operable to change an environmental condition within the microenvironment. An auxiliary sensor is operable to intermittently obtain auxiliary data. A processor operates the environmental control device based upon at least the intermittently obtained auxiliary data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An infant care station comprising:
 at least one physiological sensor disposed to connect to the patient and continuously obtain physiological data from the patient;   at least one auxiliary data sensor operable by a user to intermittently obtain physiological data from the patient;   a graphical display operable to visually present data;   a processor communicatively connected to the at least one physiological sensor, the at least one auxiliary data sensor, and the graphical display, and operates the graphical display to present a trend graph in conjunction with the intermittently obtained physiological data from the patient.   
     
     
         2 . The infant care system of  claim 1 , further comprising a data storage device, upon which at least one trend graph is stored and the processor accesses the data storage device to present the at least one trend graph on the graphical display. 
     
     
         3 . The infant care system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor operates to calculate a trend graph from the continuously obtained physiological data from the at least one physiological sensor and the processor operates the graphical display to present the calculated trend graph. 
     
     
         4 . The infant care system of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a user input device connected to the processor, the user input device configured to receive data inputs indicative of the patient condition from a user;   wherein the processor is communicatively connected to a computer readable medium upon which an electronic medical record (EMR) of the patient is stored and the processor operates to store the received data inputs indicative of the patient condition from the user in the EMR.   
     
     
         5 . The infant care system of  claim 4 , wherein the processor further operates to store the continuously obtained physiological data and the intermittently obtained physiological data in the EMR. 
     
     
         6 . The infant care system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one auxiliary data sensor is communicatively connected to the processor by a universal service bus (USB) connection. 
     
     
         7 . The infant care system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one auxiliary data sensor is an electronic tape measure operable by a user to produce patient measurement data, and the processor is communicatively connected to a computer readable medium upon which an electronic medical record (EMR) of the patient is stored and the processor operates to store the received patient measurement data in the EMR. 
     
     
         8 . The infant care system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one auxiliary data sensor is a thermometer operable to produce patient temperature data, and the processor is communicatively connected to a computer readable medium upon which an electronic medical record (EMR) of the patient is stored and the processor operates to store the received patient temperature data in the EMR, 
     
     
         9 . The infant care system of  claim 8  further comprising:
 a microenvironment defined to receive a patient; and 
 at least one environmental control device communicatively connected to the processor and operable to change at least one environmental condition within the microenvironment; 
 wherein the processor operates the at least one environmental control device based upon the received patient temperature data from the at least one auxiliary data sensor. 
 
     
     
         10 . The infant care system of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one environmental control device is at least one of a heater, a humidifier, and an oxygen source. 
     
     
         11 . An infant care station operable to create a microenvironment about a patient, the infant care station comprising:
 an environmental control device operable to change an environmental condition within the microenvironment;   an auxiliary sensor operable by a user to intermittently obtain auxiliary data;   a graphical display operable to visually present data; and   a processor communicatively connected to the auxiliary sensor, environmental control device, and the graphical display, and the processor is selectively communicative with the auxiliary sensor, the processor operates the graphical display to present the intermittently obtained auxiliary data, and the processor operates the environmental control device based upon at least the intermittently obtained auxiliary data.   
     
     
         12 . The infant care station of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 an environmental sensor operable to continuously obtain environmental data from the microenvironment; and   a physiological sensor configured to connect to the patient and operable to continuously obtain physiological data from the patient;   wherein the environmental sensor and physiological sensor are communicatively connected to the processor, the processor operates the graphical display to present a trend graph of at least one of the environmental data and the physiological data in conjunction with the intermittently obtained auxiliary data, and the processor operates the environmental control device based upon the environmental data obtained from the environmental sensor and the intermittently obtained auxiliary data.   
     
     
         13 . The infant care station of  claim 12 , wherein the auxiliary sensor is an axillary thermometer and the auxiliary data is axillary temperature, and the physiological sensor is an infant skin thermometer and the physiological data is patient skin temperature, wherein the processor calculates a trend in the patient skin temperature, and the processor further operates the graphical display to present the calculated trend in the patient skin temperature and the intermittently obtained auxiliary temperature. 
     
     
         14 . The infant care station of  claim 12 , wherein the auxiliary sensor is an external environment sensor, operable to obtain external environment data, and the processor operates the environmental control device based upon the auxiliary data and the external environment data. 
     
     
         15 . The infant care station of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is communicatively connected to an electronic medical record (EMR) server upon which an EMR of the infant patient is stored, and the processor operates to store the auxiliary data in the EMR of the infant patient. 
     
     
         16 . The infant care station of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a user input device communicatively connected to the processor, and the processor receives event data entered by a clinician into the user input device;   wherein the processor operates to store the event data in the EMR of the infant patient.   
     
     
         17 . A method of caring for an infant, the method comprising:
 providing a microenvironment for the infant with an infant care station;   sensing environmental data from at least one environmental sensor disposed within the microenvironment;   controlling the microenvironment based upon the sensed environmental data;   Sensing physiological data from the infant in the microenvironment provided by the infant care station;   selectively connecting an auxiliary sensor to the infant care station;   intermittently obtaining auxiliary data with the auxiliary sensor;   presenting the obtained auxiliary data on a graphical display; and   controlling the microenvironment based upon the obtained auxiliary data.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 storing the obtained auxiliary data in an electronic medical record (EMR) of the infant patient.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the EMR is stored at a location remote to the infant care station, and communicatively connected to the infant care station. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 receiving at least one clinician input of event data with the infant care station;   controlling the microenvironment based upon the received event data; and   storing the received event data in the EMR of the infant patient.