Abstract:
A software program assisting the generation of a medical report. The software program (a) displaying pre-chosen findings and a separate medical report simultaneously on an electronic display, the medical report comprising a summary section; and (b) automatically copying electronically a respective pre-chosen finding selected from the pre-chosen findings into the summary section of the medical report.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Description of the Related Art  
           [0002]    When a patient undergoes a diagnostic procedure such as an echocardiogram, the results of the exam are contained in a report written by the physician reading the exam. One of the steps involved in creating this report is the selection of diagnostic “findings” which describe the underlying diagnosis and/or other relevant information pertaining to the exam. These findings are descriptive text phrases which describe a wide range of pathology one would expect to encounter in a clinical setting and which can be customized by the user to fit their particular reporting scheme. A collection of relevant findings is chosen by the report author. These findings then appear in the report. In another section of the report is a summary of the important results for that study.  
           [0003]    The report can be broken into different sections. For example, groups of an echocardiogram report can include different parts of the heart, such as left ventricle, right ventricle, tricuspid valve, aortic valve, pulmonic valve, great vessels, pericardium/pleural, etc. Each of these groups may have a separate corresponding section in the report. Relevant findings are then associated with each section.  
           [0004]    Typically, a report may contain a summary section on top and then group sections which contain findings for each group. The summary section repeats selected findings in the group sections which are the most important. In this way, a reader of the report can instantly identify which findings are the most important by merely reading the summary section. For more details, the reader can then read the group sections which contain all of the findings.  
           [0005]    A physician writing the report typically desires to include certain findings in the group sections in the summary section. Previously, there was no easy way for the physician to do this.  
           [0006]    One prior art method of selectively including certain findings into the summary section is the pre-programming of certain findings to appear in the summary section. For example, findings predetermined to be important would be automatically copied into the summary section.  
           [0007]    However, a problem with this method is that the physician may decide that additional findings should also be present in the summary section, besides those that are preprogrammed. Alternatively, the physician may decide that in a particular case, findings preprogrammed to appear in the summary section should not appear there.  
           [0008]    One way a physician can overcome the above shortcomings is by manually typing in a finding by hand into the summary section. However, this method is burdensome to the physician, and can result in typographical errors. Further, if the physician is initially unsure of which findings to include in the summary section, he may spend a great deal of time manually editing the summary section.  
           [0009]    Therefore, what is needed is a method of generating a medical report wherein the physician can automatically generate a summary section based on the physician&#39;s chosen findings in a dynamic and burden free manner.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The present invention is directed to a software program allowing a physician to generate a medical report in a dynamic and easy manner. The software program operates by (a) displaying pre-chosen findings and a separate medical report simultaneously on an electronic display, the medical report comprising a summary section; and (b) automatically copying electronically a respective pre-chosen finding selected from the pre-chosen findings into the summary section of the medical report.  
           [0011]    Further, the invention also includes an apparatus and also a computer readable storage medium instructing a computer to perform the above methods. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    The details of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the report area and the work area, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly illustrates the selection of findings, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the generation of the group sections, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the listing of findings from various group sections, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the automatic copying of findings into the summary, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating typical operations performed in order to generate a medical report, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the report area and the work area, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring now to FIG. 1, the display typically comprises a report area  101  and a work area  105 . The report area displays a medical report  103 .  
         [0021]    A report selection box  102  allows a physician to select a particular type of report to work on. In this particular example, an “Adult” report is selected. However, numerous other types of reports can be generated, for example “pediatric” or “stress,” etc. The selection of the report type may change other aspects and options of the display. For example, changing the type of report in the report selection box  102  may change any of the displayed selections discussed below to vary to be applicable to the report selected.  
         [0022]    The work area  105  may typically display report page tabs  107 . In this particular example, the report tabs are the Information tab  109 , Measure tab  111 , Score tab  112 , Interpret tab  113 , and Comments tab  115 . The report page tabs  107  allow the physician to select a particular part of report he/she wishes to work on. For example, the Information Tab  109  can allow the physician to enter in patient information, such as the patient&#39;s name, age, etc. These are only examples of tabs, and the present invention is not limited to these examples.  
         [0023]    The work area  105  may also typically also display section buttons  117 . In this particular example, the display section buttons  117  are displayed when the interpret tab  113  is selected. The section buttons  117  are LV section button  119 , RV section button  121 , Atria section button  123 , MV section button  125 , TV section button  127 , AV section button  129 , PV section button  131 , Great Vessels section button  133  and PE section button  135 . The section buttons  117  allow the physician to select a particular section that he/she wishes to work on. In this example, each section represents a different anatomical region of the heart, i.e. LV stands for “left ventricle,” RV stands for “right ventricle” etc. The section buttons  117  displayed are based on the selection of the report selection box  102 . In this particular example, the section buttons  117  correspond to sections associated with an Adult report, since the Adult report type is currently selected in the report selection box  102 . These are only examples of sections, and the present invention is not limited to these examples. Furthermore, the sections displayed for a particular report type might be configurable by the user, allowing more flexibility in generating medical reports of that particular type. This configurability may be implemented in another portion of the medical report generator program or in another auxiliary program used specifically for configuration.  
         [0024]    The work area  105  may also typically display finding group boxes  139 . In this particular example, the finding group boxes  139  are LV Size/Shape finding group box  141 , LV Thrombus/VSD finding group box  143 , LV Thickness finding group box  145 , LV Function finding group box  147 , and LV Wall Motion finding group box  149 . The finding group boxes  139  which are displayed correspond to which one of the section buttons  117  is pressed. These are only examples of finding group boxes, and the present invention is not limited to these examples. Furthermore, the finding group boxes displayed for a particular section might be configurable by the user, allowing more flexibility in generating medical reports. This configurability may be implemented in another portion of the medical report generator program or in another auxiliary program used specifically for configuration. FIG. 2 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly illustrates the choosing of findings, according to an embodiment of the present invention. If the user selects one of the finding group boxes  139 , a list of findings that are available for the selected group will be displayed. One possible way a user can select one of the finding group boxes  139  is by pointing a mouse to the desired finding group box and left or right clicking. However, other methods of selection can be used as well, for example at trackball or voice recognition.  
         [0025]    If the physician were to select the LV Wall Motion finding group box  149 , a list of available findings for the LV Wall Motion finding group will be displayed. Referring now to FIG. 2, an available finding list  202  is displayed upon selection of the LV Wall Motion finding group box  149  of FIG. 1. The physician may then choose any desired finding(s) which are applicable to the report being generated. The choosing can typically be accomplished by using a mouse or keyboard. In this particular example, septal akinesis  204  is chosen by the physician. The chosen finding may appear highlighted. These are only examples of findings, and the present invention is not limited to these examples. Furthermore, the finding displayed for a particular group might be configurable by the user, allowing more flexibility in generating medical reports. This configurability may be implemented in another portion of the medical report generator program or in another auxiliary program used specifically for configuration.FIG. 3 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the generation of the group sections, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0026]    Referring now to FIG. 3, the report area  101  displays the medical report  103 . The medical report displayed in this particular example comprises an interpretation summary  306  and a Left Ventricle group section  308 . Because septal akinesis was selected previously as a selected finding by the physician, the LV Wall Motion finding group box  149  contains a septal akinesis finding  310  inside the LV Wall Motion finding group box  149 . In addition, the Left Ventricle group section  308  also displays a septal akinesis finding  312 . Note that the septal akinesis finding  310  which appears in the LV Wall Motion finding group box  149  is worded slightly differently from the septal akinesis finding  312  displayed in the Left Ventricle group section  308 . Typically, the wording of findings used in finding group boxes may be abridged or abbreviated to fit inside the box. The findings used in the group sections in the report are typically more verbose and descriptive.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of a software program, and more particularly the listing of findings from various group sections, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Assuming that the physician selects numerous finding codes using the above described methods, a medical report can be generated that includes numerous findings in the various group sections.  
         [0028]    Referring now to FIG. 4, the medical report  103  contains an interpretation summary  306  and numerous group sections  413 . The group sections  413  are Left Ventricle group section  308 , Tricuspid Valve group section  414 , Aortic Valve group section  416 , Pulmonic Valve group section  418 , Great Vessels  420 , and Pericardium/Pleural group section  422 . The medical report  103  is one typical example of a report which can be generated by the methods of the present invention.  
         [0029]    Note that all of the findings displayed in the work area  105  relate to the Left Ventricle group section  308  since the LV section button  119  is pressed. Note that the can not exclude thrombus finding  424  in the LV Thrombus/VSD group box  143 , the no LVOT obstruction finding  426  in the LV Thickness group box  145 , and the Septal akinesis finding  310  in the LV Wall Motion group box  149 , are all displayed in the Left Ventricle group section  308  of the medical report  103 .  
         [0030]    While not pictured, if the physician were to press any of the other section buttons  117 , the corresponding finding group boxes will be displayed for that group. For example, if the physician presses the TV section button  127 , the corresponding finding group boxes will be displayed to list the chosen findings for the Tricuspid Valve group section  414 .  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 5 is a screen shot illustrating the operation of the software program, and more particularly the automatic copying of findings into the interpretation summary  306 . In the FIGS.  1 - 4 , the interpretation summary  306  has been empty. The interpretation summary  306  is the section where the physician typically places the most important findings. When the physician desires to include a particular finding in the interpretation summary  306 , he merely selects the desired findings and they will be automatically included in the interpretation summary  306 . The selection can be made by a variety of methods, for example using a mouse to point to the desired finding and clicking the mouse. Note, however, that the selecting method used for copying a finding into the interpretation summary  306  should typically be different from the previous selection method used to initially choose a finding.  
         [0032]    Referring now to FIG. 5, assume the physician has selected both the can not exclude thrombus finding  424  in LV Thrombus/VSD group box  143  and Septal akinesis finding  310  in the LV Wall Motion group box  149  to be included in the interpretation summary  306 . The software program automatically copies the selected findings into the interpretation summary  306 . The interpretation summary  306  includes a “There is septal akinesis” finding  526  and a “Thrombus can not be excluded” finding  528 . The automatic copying is performed electronically, without any manual typing of the finding codes by the physician. One way the automatic copying is implemented can be by electronically transferring data representing the selected finding into a memory area of the computer where the interpretation summary is stored. In addition, the report can be stored using a data structure which entails easy inclusion/deletion of the selected findings. For example, the interpretation summary can be stored merely by a storing list of pointers or identifiers which point to the findings which are selected. Then the interpretation summary can be generated by displaying each of the selected findings in the list.  
         [0033]    Further, when a finding is selected in a group box to be included in the interpretation summary, an indicator is used identifying the finding as such. An asterisk  528  is displayed next to the can not exclude thrombus finding  424 , identifying that this finding is also displayed in the interpretation summary. An asterisk  530  is also displayed next to the septal akinesis finding  310  in the LV Wall Motion group box  149 , identifying that this finding is also displayed in the interpretation summary. While an asterisk is used in the present example to identify inclusion in the interpretation summary, it can be appreciated that any type of identifier can be used, such as highlighting the finding, underlining the finding, etc.  
         [0034]    If the physician changes his mind and decides that he no longer wants to include a particular finding in the interpretation summary, he can merely select that finding in the group box again. The finding will automatically be removed from the interpretation summary, and the indicator next to that finding in the group box will be removed.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating typical operations performed in order to generate a medical report, according to an embodiment of the present invention. It can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the illustrated operations need not be performed exactly as described, but are provided as merely one example of one possible implementation of the present invention.  
         [0036]    Referring now to FIG. 6, a first operation performed in generating a medical report can be to select a type of report, illustrated as operation  601 . The report selection box  102  illustrated in FIG. 1 illustrates one approach of how a type of report can be selected. Further, some embodiments of the invention may not even require a selection of a type of report, as one type of report may be all that is necessary.  
         [0037]    After operation  601  is completed, the process continues to operation  602 , wherein the physician can select a section of the report to work on using the section buttons  117 . The section buttons  117  illustrated in FIG. 1 illustrate one approach of how a section can be selected. Further, some embodiments of the present invention may utilize only one section, in such cases operation  602  would not be necessary.  
         [0038]    After operation  602  is completed, the process continues to operation  603  wherein the physician can select a group. The finding group boxes  139  illustrated in FIG. 1 illustrate one approach of how a group can be selected. A desired finding group boxes  139  is selected for which the physician desires to enter a finding.  
         [0039]    After operation  603  is completed, the process continues to operation  605 , wherein the physician can choose applicable findings for each group. The available finding list illustrated in FIG. 2 illustrates one approach of how findings can be chosen. The available findings displayed correspond to the particular finding group box which was selected.  
         [0040]    Note that from operation  605 , the process may return to operation  602  or operation  603 , as the physician is free to choose applicable findings for particular sections or groups in any order he/she chooses.  
         [0041]    From operation  605 , the process continues to operation  607 , wherein the physician can select some of the chosen findings which were chosen in operation  605  to appear in the summary section of the report.  
         [0042]    From operation  607 , the process may continue to optional operation  609 , wherein the physician can deselect selected chosen findings. This would be the case if the physician changes his mind, and decides a chosen finding selected in operation  605  should no longer appear in the summary section. The physician merely again selects the previously selected chosen finding, and that finding will automatically be removed from the summary section.  
         [0043]    Moreover, operations  602  to  609  can continuously be performed in any order, as the physician is free to refine the generated report to his liking.  
         [0044]    As a result of the above described operation, the physician will have completed a medical report with ease. The medical report can typically be printed on a printing device after it is generated. Further, the medical reports generated by the above methods can be typically stored on a computer readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk drive, optical storage, etc. In addition, the medical reports generated by the above methods can be made available to interested readers at remote locations through use of the internet, electronic facsimile, or other means.  
         [0045]    Note that the above described methods are typically performed on a digital computer. The digital computer is not limited to being any particular type of computer, and might be, for example, a mainframe computer, a minicomputer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other type of portable computing device or other computing device capable of executing a software program implementing the above described methods. In a typical scenario, the computer might be a laptop computer running a standard MICROSOFT WINDOWS based operating system. Of course, the present invention is not limited to any particular operating system running on computer. Further, any choosing or selecting as described above can typically be performed using a standard mouse or keyboard. However, other input devices may also be used to perform the above described operations, such as a trackball, voice input, etc. Additionally, the medical report can be displayed on any type of output device or display unit, for example a CRT monitor, LCD display, etc.  
         [0046]    Moreover, the software program used to implement the above described methods on a digital computer can also be stored on any type of computer readable storage medium, including those described above.  
         [0047]    Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.