Extensibility for manipulation of medical data
A method for extending a functionality of a computing device programmed to obtain physiological measurements from a patient includes: registering, at the computing device, a plug-in module, the plug-in module providing additional functionality for the computing device; using the plug-in module to communicate with a medical device; commanding the medical device to obtain physiological information from a patient; receiving data associated with the physiological information from the medical device; and transferring the data to a central repository.
1. A method for extending a functionality of a vitals monitoring workstation programmed to obtain physiological data from a patient, the method comprising:
providing, at the vitals monitoring workstation, a plug-in module, wherein the vitals monitoring workstation is not configured to communicate with a medical device;
extending the functionality of the vitals monitoring workstation to communicate with the medical device through the plug-in module, wherein extending the functionality includes the plug-in module registering an information schema for a measurement supported by the plug-in module;
receiving, at the vitals monitoring workstation, the physiological data associated with the patient from the medical device, the physiological data being collected from the medical device by the plug-in module, and the plug-in module providing the physiological data to the vitals sign monitoring workstation; and
performing an operation on the physiological data using the information schema.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
manipulating the physiological data at the vitals monitoring workstation; and
transferring the data to a central repository.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising providing a trend of the physiological data.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the physiological data.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising incorporating the physiological data in a report.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising incorporating the physiological data in a report template defined by the plug-in module.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plug-in module is a vitals plug-in, the vitals plug-in facilitating vitals measurement acquisition.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising operating within a workflow.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprises operating within a monitoring workflow, wherein the monitoring workflow includes obtaining a series of measurements of one or more physiological parameters of the patient.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising operating within a non-monitoring workflow.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising operating within a spot check workflow or a triage workflow.