Apparatus for Clinical Data Capture

Abstract

A clinical data interface device provides integrated portions of the electronic medical record system to identify and confirm a patient file for receiving data and personality modules for receiving and translating data from a variety of clinical device monitors for that identified patient.

What we claim is: 
     
         1 . A clinical data interface device comprising:
 a portable unit adapted for relocation among different locations by a user and including:   a graphic interface having an electronic display and electronic sensor responsive to user commands and adapted to output a display of data to a user and receive input of data from a user;   a data input being a wireless or wired circuit adapted to communicate with a patient monitoring device monitoring physiological parameters of the patient to receive physiological parameters from the patient monitoring device;   a wireless transceiver being an electronic circuit adapted to communicate with a remote electronic medical record database system (EMR) holding multiple records associated with patients; and   at least one electronic processor and associated memory, the memory holding at least one non-transitory program executed by the at least one electronic processor to:   (a) receive data identifying the patient and identifying a clinical monitor associated with the patient;   (b) receive wireless signals from the clinical monitor providing physiological parameters of the patient and display the physiological parameters;   (c) receive wireless signals from the clinical monitor providing maintenance data on the clinical monitor;   (d) pass the physiological parameters to an electronic medical record; and   (e) pass the maintenance data to a maintenance database.   
     
     
         2 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further uses an identification of the clinical monitor to select a personality file for that monitor interpreting maintenance data into a common format for storage in the maintenance database. 
     
     
         3 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further operates to generate reports indicating at least one of required scheduled maintenance based on the maintenance database and a need for calibration of particular clinical monitors using data of the maintenance database. 
     
     
         4 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 3  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further operates to transmit an automatic warning message triggered by a service limit and the maintenance data. 
     
     
         5 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further operates to predict service requirements from the maintenance data. 
     
     
         6 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further operates to:
 receive data identifying an individual performing maintenance; and 
 wherein the maintenance data includes the data identifying the individual performing the maintenance and a date of the performed maintenance by the individual. 
 
     
     
         7 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further operates to collect service information from multiple portable units to identify trending of calibration issues based on the collected service information. 
     
     
         8 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the maintenance data is selected from the group consisting of total operating hours and total operating cycles. 
     
     
         9 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the maintenance data includes program error codes. 
     
     
         10 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the maintenance data identifies a serial number of the clinical data interface. 
     
     
         11 . The clinical data interface device of  claim 1  wherein the at least one non-transitory program further operates to:
 present the user with an EMR search screen for accessing a record of the remote electronic medical record database system associated with a patient at the patient location; 
 provide the user with access to the record of the remote electronic medical record database system; 
 receive the data identifying the patient from the accessed record of the electronic medical record database related to the patient; 
 receive an input from the user confirming that a particular patient monitoring device is physically associated with the patient; 
 identify the personality file from among multiple personality files according to the physically associated patient monitoring device; and 
 receive from the data input, physiological parameters having a first electronic communication format; and 
 use the identified personality file to determine that the physiological parameters should be formatted to a second electronic communication format; 
 format the physiological parameters to the second electronic communication format; 
 transmit the physiological parameters to the accessed record of the electronic medical record database in the second electronic communication format through the wireless transceiver; and 
 display the physiological parameters on the graphic interface.