INTERFACE FOR MEDICAL INFUSION PUMP

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A method of programming a medical infusion pump with a protocol, the method comprising:

providing a protocol including a plurality of pump parameters that define one or more operational aspects of the medical infusion pump, at least one of the pump parameters defining a dosing range of acceptable programmable dosing values of the infusate, the dosing range defined on a weight measure basis, such that the medical infusion pump can process the acceptable programmable dosing values based on the dosing range and the weight of a patient to be treated by the medical infusion pump;

providing a user interface configured to allow user adjustment of at least one dosing value of the infusate within the acceptable programmable dosing range;

uploading the protocol into the medical infusion pump.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein one or more of the plurality of pump parameters is a patient specific pump parameter and one or more of the plurality of pump parameters is a non-patient specific pump parameter.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the user interface does not display the one or more non-patient specific pump parameters.

24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein providing the user interface includes displaying an adjustable slider bar for the one or more patient specific pump parameter.

25 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising formatting the protocol to correspond to the format understood by the medical infusion pump.

26 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising displaying the user interface on a computing system associated with the medical infusion pump.

27 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising displaying the user interface on a display of the medical infusion pump.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein displaying the user interface includes displaying one or more non-adjustable patient specific pump parameters.

29 . The method of claim 21 , wherein plurality of pump parameters is selected from the group consisting of:

drug delivery rate;

drug capacity;

demand dose;

demand dose lockout;

bolus level;

bolus occurrence;

delivery period.

30 . An apparatus for programming a medical infusion pump for delivery of an infusate for delivery, the medical infusion pump being programmable with a pump protocol defining at least one dosing range of the infusate, the apparatus comprising:

a display monitor;

a user interface in electrical communication with the display monitor, the user interface configured to enable a caregiver to establish a pump protocol through selection of a therapy, a qualifier and a drug, the pump protocol providing a set of instructions dictating operation of the medical infusion pump and defining a dosing range of acceptable programmable dosing values of the infusate, the dosing range defined on a weight measure basis, such that the medical infusion pump can process the acceptable programmable dosing values based on dosing range, and the weight of a patient to be treated by the medical infusion pump; and

a programmable circuit programmed to:

display on the display monitor a meter, a first location and a second location on the meter corresponding to the dosing range,

display on the display monitor an indicator, the indicator having a selectable positional relationship to the meter,

monitor the selected position of the indicator, and

modify the programming of the infusion pump based on the selected position of the indicator.

31 . The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the programmable circuit is further programmed to display a numerical value related to at least one of (i) the dosing range or (ii) the selected position of the indicator.

32 . The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the first location comprises an upper hard dosing limit, and the second location comprises a lower hard dosing limit.

33 . The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the first location comprises an upper soft dosing limit, and the second location comprises a lower soft dosing limit, the upper soft dosing limit and the lower soft dosing limit defining a soft limit dosing range of typical and acceptable programmable dosing values of the infusate

34 . The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the programmable circuit is further programmed to:

process the monitored selected position of the indicator for displaying a first color in a region around the meter and the indicator when the indicator is within the dosing range, and a second color, different from the first color, in the region around the meter and indicator when the indicator is outside of the dosing range such that the selected position of the indicator corresponds to an acceptable programmed dosing value.

35 . The apparatus of claim 34 , wherein the programmable circuit is programmed to issue an alert when the first color is displayed in the region around the meter and the indicator.

36 . The apparatus of claim 34 , wherein the programmable circuit is further programmed to:

detect a current condition of the medical infusion pump, and

display on the monitor a color related to the detected current condition.

37 . The apparatus of claim 36 , wherein the programmable circuit is programmed to display the color related to the detected current condition as a background color on the monitor.

38 . The apparatus of claim 36 , wherein the current condition is selected from the group consisting of: a portion of a hospital coding system; a current location of the medical infusion pump; and an alert condition.

39 . The apparatus of claim 36 , wherein the color includes an image.

40 . The apparatus of claim 39 , wherein the image is a graphical representation of a region of a medical facility.

41 . The apparatus of claim 36 , wherein the programmable circuit is programmed to change the display of the color related to the detected current condition in response to detection of the current condition.