Method and system for monitoring patient care
The subject invention is a Patient Care Monitoring System which employs a novel method and system for monitoring the care provided to a patient at a health care facility. In one embodiment, the subject invention includes a central processor in communication with a health care facility's computer systems, receiving data therefrom. This data is arranged and correlated to enable the subject invention to filter through the data and detect if a particular treatment, diagnostic test, or course of action has been or is in danger of being overlooked.
1. A method for monitoring patient care in a computer-implemented system, comprising:
a) accessing a rule criterion, the rule criterion comprising a plurality of conditions;
b) accessing a response criterion, the response criterion comprising a plurality of responses:
c) receiving patient data comprising at least one target event having a current value;
d) analyzing the patient data according to the rule criterion and the response criterion;
e) generating a practice interval having a defined length of time that is determined based upon the response criterion and the patient data;
f) dynamically adjusting the practice interval based on the patient data:
wherein the practice interval is dynamically adjusted based upon a criticality of the patient data or based upon one or more trends indicated by the patient data,
wherein the criticality is determined as a percentage of the distance between a critical value of the target event and a baseline value of the target event and weighted in relation to a predetermined criticality factor pertaining to the target event, and
wherein a trend indicated by the patient data is determined based upon a value and timing of at least one or more previously received target event, if any, the critical value of the target event, the baseline value of the target event, and a predetermined trend factor pertaining to the target event; and
g) generating a reminder notification if the patient data does not satisfy the response criterion within the practice interval,
wherein the accessing, receiving, analyzing, and generating functions are performed by the computer-implemented system.
2. A system for monitoring patient care, comprising:
a) a rule criteria, the rule criteria comprising a plurality of conditions;
b) a response criteria, the response criteria comprising a plurality of responses;
c) a data source for receiving patient data comprising at least one target event;
d) a central processor configured to communicate with the data source;
wherein the central processor is further configured to analyze the patient data according to the rule criterion and the response criterion, generate a practice interval having a defined length of time that is determined based upon the rule criterion, the response criterion and the patient data, and generate a reminder notification if the patient data does not satisfy the response criterion within the practice interval; and
wherein the practice interval is configured to be dynamically adjusted by the central processor based upon a criticality of the patient data or based upon one or more trends indicated by the patient data, wherein the criticality is determined as a percentage of the distance between a critical value of the target event and a baseline value of the target event and weighted in relation to a predetermined criticality factor pertaining to the target event, and wherein a trend indicated by the patient data is determined based upon a value and timing of at least one or more previously received target event, if any, the critical value of the target event, the baseline value of the target event, and a predetermined trend factor pertaining to the target event,
3. A computer program product, comprising:
a) a computer usable medium, the computer usable medium having embodied thereon a computer readable program code comprising instructions to cause a computer to:
1) access a rule criteria, the rule criteria comprising a plurality of conditions;
2) access a response criteria, the response criteria comprising a plurality of responses:
3) access a data source for receiving patient data comprising at least one target event;
4) analyze the patient data according to the rule criterion and the response criterion;
5) generate a practice interval having a defined length of time that is determined based upon the response criterion and the patient data; and
6) generate a reminder notification if the patient data does not satisfy the response criterion within the practice interval,
wherein the practice interval is dynamically adjustable based upon a criticality of the patient data or based upon one or more trends indicated by the patient data, wherein the criticality is determined as a percentage of the distance between a critical value of the target event and a baseline value of the target event and weighted in relation to a predetermined criticality factor pertaining to the target event, and wherein a trend indicated by the patient data is determined based upon a value and timing of at least one or more previously received target event, if any, the critical value of the target event, the baseline value of the target event, and a predetermined trend factor pertaining to the target event.