Patent ID: 6434531
Filing Date: 2002-08-13
Classification: G06Q,G16H

Abstract:
A method of facilitating the management of patient care, the method implementing clinical pathway flowsheets on a computer system, comprising:storing clinical pathway templates, said template being a pre-defined patient care path; assigning a template to a given patient under treatment; tailoring the predefined patient care path of the assigned template for the requirements of the given patient; said tailoring including entering into the computer system order information specific to the given patient relating to the pre-defined patient care path; said tailoring also including automatically creating an updated clinical pathway flowsheet for the given patient reflecting the tailoring of the assigned template by automatically transferring said entered information to the flowsheet, the updated flowsheet for indicating the progression of patient care for the given patient; displaying the updated clinical pathway flowsheet at a computer display station wherein the clinical pathway flowsheet indicates a progression of time including the progression of patient care for the given patient; entering subsequently change information into the computer system relating to the patient care pathway flowsheet provided for the given patient, the change information indicative of a change in the care for the given patient; recording automatically variance information for the clinical pathway flowsheet for the given patient responsive to the entered change information to inform the user of changes in future patient care for the given patient; and developing a modified, optimized pre-defined care path in accordance with the variance information of the given patient and variance information obtained from a plurality of other clinical pathway patients utilizing the pre-defined care path of the template assigned to the given patient.