Abstract:
The present disclosure provides methods and apparatuses for generating toxicology reports. Using the methods and apparatus disclosed herein, physicians can more easily understand toxicological lab test results. Physicians receive a toxicology report that explains, in plain language, the toxicological lab test results. A rules engine provides rules for interpreting the toxicological lab test results. Detailed explanations are associated with the rules, and the explanations appear on the toxicology report. The toxicology report greatly reduces the need for the physician to call the toxicology scientist.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims benefit to U.S. Patent Application No. 60/868,225, VIRTUAL TOXICOLOGIST SYSTEM, filed on Dec. 1, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Physicians use toxicology testing to determine the presence of chemical compounds in a patient&#39;s system. Often, a physician will send a toxicology sample to an outside testing lab to determine what is wrong with a patient. At the outside testing lab, the toxicology sample is put through a series of laboratory tests. The results of the tests are verified by a verification scientist. The verification scientist compiles the results and sends the results to the physician that requested the toxicology testing. In many cases, the results require interpretation. In those cases, the doctor typically calls the verification scientist. Calling the verification scientist may delay treatment of the patient. Additionally, the verification scientist may not be available when the physician calls, further delaying treatment. 
     In some cases, outside labs charge a fee for each call that a verification scientist receives from a physician. When the physician calls for an explanation of the test results, the extra fee is incurred. The extra fees add unnecessary expense to the treatment of a patient. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure provides methods and apparatuses for generating toxicology reports. Using the methods and apparatus disclosed herein, physicians can more easily understand toxicological lab test results. Physicians receive a toxicology report that explains, in plain language, the toxicological lab test results. A rules engine provides rules for interpreting the toxicological lab test results. Detailed explanations are associated with the rules, and the explanations appear on the toxicology report. The toxicology report greatly reduces the need for the physician to call the toxicology scientist. 
     Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is a high level block diagram of an example toxicology reporting system. 
         FIG. 2  is a more detailed block diagram showing one example of a client device. 
         FIG. 3  is a more detailed block diagram showing one example of a server. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an example process for generating a toxicology report. 
         FIG. 5  is an example test result page screenshot. 
         FIG. 6  is an example supplemental explanation report screenshot. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present system is most readily realized in a network communications system. A high level block diagram of an exemplary network communications system  100  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The illustrated system  100  includes one or more physician terminals  102 , one or more toxicologist terminals  104 , one or more toxicology testing machines  106 , one or more toxicology servers  108 , and one or more toxicology databases  110 . Each of these devices may communicate with each other via a connection to one or more communications channels  112  such as the Internet or some other data network, including, but not limited to, any suitable wide area network or local area network. It will be appreciated that any of the devices described herein may be directly connected to each other instead of over a network. 
     The toxicology server  108  stores a plurality of files, programs, and/or web pages in one or more toxicology databases  110  for use by the physician terminals  102 , the toxicologist terminals  104 , and/or the toxicology testing machines  106 . The toxicology database  110  may be connected directly to the toxicology server  108  or via one or more network connections. The toxicology database  110  preferably stores toxicology test data, patient data, toxicology rules, etc. The patient data may include the patient&#39;s age, date of birth, height, weight, etc. 
     The toxicology testing machine  106  may be any device adapted to perform toxicological lab tests. The toxicology testing machine  106  may be connected to the toxicology terminal  104  and/or the toxicology server  108 . 
     One toxicology server  108  may interact with a large number of terminals. Accordingly, each toxicology server  108  is typically a high end computer with a large storage capacity, one or more fast microprocessors, and one or more high speed network connections. Conversely, relative to a typical toxicology server  108 , each physician terminal  102  or toxicologist terminal  104  typically includes less storage capacity, a single microprocessor, and a single network connection. A toxicology testing machine  106  may also have less storage capacity and a single microprocessor. 
     A more detailed block diagram of a physician terminal  102  or toxicologist terminal  104  is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The physician terminal  102  or toxicologist terminal  104  may include a personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a cellular telephone, or any other suitable communication device. The physician terminal  102  or toxicologist terminal  104  preferably includes a main unit  202  which preferably includes one or more processors  204  electrically coupled by an address/data bus  206  to one or more memory devices  208 , other computer circuitry  210 , and one or more interface circuits  212 . The processor  204  may be any suitable processor, such as a microprocessor from the INTEL PENTIUM® family of microprocessors. The memory  208  preferably includes volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Preferably, the memory  208  stores a software program that interacts with one or more of the other devices in the system  100  as described below. This program may be executed by the processor  204  in any suitable manner. The memory  208  may also store digital data indicative of documents, files, programs, web pages, etc. retrieved from one or more of the other devices in the system  100  and/or loaded via an input device  214 . 
     The interface circuit  212  may be implemented using any suitable interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface and/or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. One or more input devices  214  may be connected to the interface circuit  212  for entering data and commands into the main unit  202 . For example, the input device  214  may be a keyboard, mouse, touch screen, track pad, track ball, isopoint, and/or a voice recognition system. 
     One or more displays, printers, speakers, and/or other output devices  216  may also be connected to the main unit  202  via the interface circuit  212 . The display  216  may be a cathode ray tube (CRTs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), or any other type of display. The display  216  generates visual displays of data generated during operation of the physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106 . For example, the display  216  may be used to display web pages received from the toxicology server  108 . The visual displays may include prompts for human input, run time statistics, calculated values, data, etc. 
     One or more storage devices  218  may also be connected to the main unit  202  via the interface circuit  212 . For example, a hard drive, CD drive, DVD drive, and/or other storage devices may be connected to the main unit  202 . The storage devices  218  may store any type of data used by the physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106 . 
     The physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106  may also exchange data with other network devices  220  via a connection to the network  112 . The network connection may be any type of network connection, such as an Ethernet connection, digital subscriber line (DSL), telephone line, coaxial cable, etc. Users of a physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106  may be required to register with the toxicology server  108 . In such an instance, each user of a physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106  may choose a user identifier (e.g., e-mail address) and a password which may be required for the activation of services. The user identifier and password may be passed across the network  112  using encryption built into the physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106  browser. Alternatively, the user identifier and/or password may be assigned by the toxicology server  108 . 
     A more detailed block diagram of a toxicology server  108  is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . Like the physician terminal  102 , toxicologist terminal  104  or toxicology testing machine  106 , the main unit  302  in the toxicology server  108  preferably includes one or more processors  304  electrically coupled by an address/data bus  306  to a memory device  308  and a network interface circuit  310 . The network interface circuit  310  may be implemented using any suitable data transceiver, such as an Ethernet transceiver. The processor  304  may be any type of suitable processor, and the memory device  308  preferably includes volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Preferably, the memory device  308  stores a software program that implements all or part of the method described below. 
     In particular, the memory preferably stores a testing module  312  and a toxicology rules module  314 . The testing module  312  may transmit patient information from the toxicology database  110  to the toxicology testing machine  106 . The testing module  312  may also determine which results are inconsistent with the patient medication history. For example, Codeine is a metabolite for Tylenol. If a patient is taking Tylenol and the test for codeine comes back negative, the testing module  312  may determine that the result is inconsistent. The testing module  312  may create a flag indicating the inconsistent result associated with the patient&#39;s test results. 
     The toxicology rules module  314  may use a rules engine to process the test results. For example, the rules engine may include a toxicology rule that a lower percentage of a metabolite in a toxicology sample than expected could be explained by a patient&#39;s higher metabolism. The toxicology rules module  314  may process the lab results using the rules engine and receive a rules engine output. The rules engine output may be in an electronic format, print out format, etc. The toxicology rules module  314  may use the rules engine output and an explanation chart to generate a supplemental explanation report. For example, using the rules engine output and an explanation chart, the toxicology rules module  314  may produce a supplemental explanation report stating, “Patient is prescribed Tylenol. Finding parent drug without metabolite could be due to individual metabolism.” 
     These software modules  312 , and  314  may be executed by the processor  304  in a conventional manner. However, some of the acts described in the method below may be performed manually or without the use of the toxicology server  108 . The memory device  308  and/or a separate toxicology database  110  also store files, programs, web pages, etc. for use by other toxicology servers  108 , physician terminals  102 , toxicology terminals  104  and/or toxicology testing machines  106 . 
     The toxicology server  108  may also receive subscription information from a physician at a physician terminal  102 . The subscription information may include payment information. For example, the subscription information may include a credit card number, bank routing number, etc. The toxicology server  108  may store the subscription information in the toxicology database  110 . The toxicology server  108  may assign a unique username and password to the physician at the physician terminal  102  after receiving the subscription information. The unique username and password may allow the physician to access the supplemental explanation report  600  page, which is described below. 
     The toxicology terminal  104  may be used to modify the toxicology rule. The toxicology terminal  104  may use a graphical user interface to modify a toxicology rule. For example, a toxicology rule may be represented in a graphical format and a toxicology scientist may use a graphical user interface to modify it. Additionally, the toxicology scientist using the toxicology terminal  104  may use a graphical user interface to add or delete a toxicology rule from the rules engine. 
     A flowchart of an example process  400  for generating toxicology reports is shown in  FIG. 4 . Preferably, the process  400  is embodied in one or more software programs stored in one or more memories and executed by one or more processors. Although the process  400  is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in  FIG. 4 , it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process  400  may be used. For example, the order of many of the acts may be changed, and some of the acts described may be optional. 
     In this example, the process  400  receives a toxicology sample (block  402 ). For example, a physician may send a toxicology sample to a testing lab. The toxicology sample may be a urine sample taken from a patient, a blood sample, etc. The toxicology lab may be a laboratory specializing in toxicology analysis. The toxicology lab may be associated with a hospital, a third party laboratory, associated with a research organization, etc. 
     The process  400  then receives patient data (block  404 ). For example, the physician may send a patient chart along with the specimen. The patient chart may contain the patient&#39;s age, sex, weight, height, medication information, etc. In another example, the physician may electronically transmit data indicative of the patient information from a physician terminal  102  to a toxicology server  108  at the testing lab. 
     The process  400  then performs a toxicological lab test on the toxicology sample to produce a lab result (block  406 ). For example, the toxicology sample may be analyzed using a toxicology testing machine  106 . The toxicology testing machine  106  may perform a series of toxicology lab tests on the toxicology sample. For example, the toxicology testing machine  106  may chemically analyze the contents of the toxicology sample. The toxicology testing machine  106  may also produce a lab result. For example, the toxicology testing machine  106  may provide a print out. In another example, the toxicology testing machine  106  may transmit data indicative of a lab result to the toxicology server  108  or toxicology terminal  104 . 
     The lab result may include data indicating the presence of metabolites in the toxicology sample. For example, the lab result may indicate the presence of methamphetamine. The lab result may also indicate the amount of the metabolite in the toxicology sample. For example, the lab result may indicate that the sample contains 1200 milligrams per milliliter (mg/ml) of methamphetamine. 
     Additionally, the lab result may include data indicating a drug-to-metabolite correlation. For example, the lab result may include data indicating whether an expected metabolite of a drug was found. For example, the drug may be Tylenol and the metabolite may be Codeine. 
     The lab result may be verified by a verification scientist. For example, a verification scientist may examine the lab result to ensure that the lab result is consistent with the patient information. The verification scientist may perform additional tests to ensure that the lab result is correct. The verification scientist may also run the toxicological lab tests again to ensure that the results are correct. 
     The verification scientist may also indicate that the lab results are verified. For example, the verification scientist may transmit data indicative of verification from the toxicology terminal  104  to the toxicology server  108 . The toxicology server  108  may store the data indicative of the verification in the toxicology database  110  associated with the patient and/or lab results. 
     The process  400  then stores the lab result (block  408 ). For example, the toxicology server may store the lab result into a toxicology database  110 . In another example, a toxicology scientist may enter the lab result into his or her toxicologist terminal  104  and transmit the data representing the lab result to the toxicology server  108 . The toxicology server  108  may then store the lab result in a toxicology database  110 . 
     The process  400  then submits the lab result to a rules engine for analysis (step  408 ). For example, the toxicology server  108  may transmit the lab result to a rules engine. The rules engine may reside in the memory of the toxicology server  108  itself or it may reside in the memory of another machine. The rules engine may include a toxicology rule stored in the toxicology database  110 . 
     The toxicology rule may be a rule associated with a lab result and the patient medication information. For example, the toxicology rule may state that a patient taking Tylenol should test positive for Codeine. 
     The rules engine may produce a rules engine output. The rules engine output may be electronic data, a print out, etc. The rules engine output may include a code representing the result of the analysis by the rules engine. For example, the code may be an alphanumeric sequence of characters associated with a toxicology rule. The rules engine output may also include an explanation indicating the result of the analysis by the rules engine. 
     The process  400  then generates a supplemental explanation report. The toxicology server  108  may receive the rules engine output and produce a supplemental explanation report. For example, if the patient is not taking any medication and tests positive for Codeine and Tylenol, the toxicology server may use the rules engine output to generate a report stating “Tylenol and Codeine are indicative of use of a Tylenol medication. There is no prescription for Tylenol listed.” 
     The supplemental explanation report may be in electronic format. For example, the toxicology server  108  may host a web page containing data indicative of the supplemental explanation report, an example supplemental explanation report page  600  is described below. The toxicology server  108  may require a physician, at a physician terminal  102 , to log in with a unique username and password before accessing the supplemental explanation report. The supplemental explanation report may also be in a printed format. For example, the toxicology server  108  may create a print out, which includes the supplemental explanation report. 
     A screenshot of an example test result page  500  is presented in  FIG. 5 . Although the test result page  500  is described in reference  FIG. 5 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible. For example, elements could be in different locations, elements could have different names, and elements could have different graphical representations. 
     For example, the test result page  500  may include patient information  502 . The patient information  502  may include the patient name, birth date, height, weight, gender, unique identifier, etc. 
     The test result page  500  may also include a test result chart. The test result chart may contain a test result indicating the presence of a metabolite in the toxicology sample. The test result may also indicate the amount of metabolite in the toxicology sample. For example, the test result may state that 1200 mg/ml of methamphetamine are present in the toxicology sample. The test result may also indicate that the presence of methamphetamine is inconsistent with the patient&#39;s medication information. 
     A screenshot of an example supplemental explanation report page  600  is presented in  FIG. 6 . Although the test result page  600  is described in reference  FIG. 6 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible. For example, elements could be in different locations, elements could have different names, and elements could have different graphical representations. 
     For example, the supplemental explanation report page  600  may contain an explanation chart  602 . The explanation chart  602  may contain plain language explanations for a test result. For example, if a patient&#39;s medication information indicates that Meprobamate should be present in the toxicology sample but it is not, the explanation chart  602  may read, “Sample is negative for Meprobamate. This could be due to individual metabolism or to not taking the medication as prescribed.” The supplemental explanation report may assist the physician in interpreting the lab result by providing a detailed explanation of the lab results. 
     It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.