Patent ID: 7764179

Claim:
Apparatus for performing at least one of a plurality of medical procedures on a patient, each procedure being associated with at least one of a plurality of departments at a medical facility, the apparatus comprising: a) a computer system including a display screen, and memory which stores a plurality of procedures for at least one department at the facility, and entries from medical facility workers that order and perform events and steps involved in the processing of the procedures, wherein each procedure comprises a standard protocol involved in processing the procedure, including various events, steps, worker performance instructions, and specified amounts of time allowed for workers to perform at least one of the events and steps involved in processing the procedure; wherein a specified amount of time is allotted for a complete processing of a procedure, such that when any worker involved in a particular event or step of the procedure does not perform the event or step within the specified amount of time, the computer compares the actual performance time to the specified amount of time of the selected procedure and issues a warning accordingly, b) medical equipment for performing medical functions involved in at least one of the procedures, wherein the equipment is operated by workers in at least two different ways; c) said computer system having stored instructions for operating said equipment in said at least two different ways, respectively; and d) said computer system recording at least one of the events, steps, or functions that the workers perform during the procedure, such that at least one of the events or steps involved in the performed functions is compared with at least one of said stored instructions, thereby causing the computer system to issue a message, wherein, when the comparison shows that the at least one event or step was performed correctly, a reminder message including a reminder pertaining to at least one future event or step is issued, when at least one future event or step is required; and when the comparison shows that the at least one event or step was performed incorrectly, a warning message including instructions on how to correct the performed function is issued; and when a set number of warning messages are sent to a particular worker pertaining to a specific event or step performed by the worker, an alarm is issued to a manager of that particular worker indicating that the set number of warning messages have been reached.