Time coordination and synchronization of event times in electronic medical records
A computer-implemented method of recording the times of events related to the medical care delivered to patient, and for integrating those times to provide a patient history, including recording a first time of occurrence of a first event, recording first clock information characterizing a first time source from which the first time of occurrence was obtained, recording a second time of occurrence of a second event, recording second clock information characterizing a second time source from which the second time of occurrence was obtained, wherein the first time source and the second time source are independent of one another and not synchronized with one another, transferring recorded data so that the first time of occurrence, first clock information, second time of occurrence, and second clock information are accessible at a computer; and producing a patient history using at least the first and second times of occurrence.
1. A computer-implemented method of recording times of events related to the medical care delivered to patient, and for integrating those times to provide a patient history, the method being implemented using one or more non-transitory computer readable media, comprising:
recording a first time of occurrence of a first event;
recording first clock information characterizing a first time source from which the first time of occurrence was obtained;
recording a second time of occurrence of a second event;
recording second clock information characterizing a second time source from which the second time of occurrence was obtained,
wherein the first time source and the second time source are independent of one another and not synchronized with one another;
transferring recorded data so that the first time of occurrence, the first clock information, the second time of occurrence, and the second clock information are accessible at a computer;
producing a patient history using at least the first and second times of occurrence,
selecting one of the first and second time sources as a reference time source, synchronizing the first and second times of occurrence to the reference time source, and producing a patient history in which times of occurrence of events are expressed relative to the reference time source,
wherein the patient history comprises an integrated electronic patient record.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first time of occurrence and the first clock information are recorded on a first device, and wherein the second time of occurrence and the second clock information are recorded on a second device, which is different from the first device.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein further events are recorded, and for each event there are recorded a time of occurrence and clock information characterizing a time source from which the time of occurrence was obtained.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the time source has an identity and the information characterizing the time source comprises the identity of the time source.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein there are a plurality of known time sources.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the time source has a quality and the information characterizing the time source comprises information characterizing the quality of the time source.
7. The method of claim 2 wherein the first device is selected from the group consisting of a defibrillator, a personal digital assistant, a Tablet PC, a laptop computer, and a physiological monitoring device, and the second device, different from the first device, is selected from the group consisting of a defibrillator, a personal digital assistance, a Tablet PC, a laptop computer and a physiological monitoring device.