Monitoring medical procedures by estimated radiation exposure

A method for monitoring progress of a medical procedure by radiation exposure, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, at a controller, a first location for a first medical equipment item used for the medical procedure and configured to produce radiation for medical treatment purposes (“radiation device”);
• receiving, at the controller, a second location for a second medical equipment item used for the medical procedure which is known to scatter radiation produced by the radiation device (“radiation scattering item”);
• tracking, by way of a number of tracking devices, positions of a number of individuals assisting with performance of the medical procedure;
• receiving, at the controller, the positions of the individuals as tracked by the tracking devices at intervals during the medical procedure, wherein each of the positions is associated with a time;
• receiving, at the controller, data indicating one or more instances radiation is produced by said radiation device and scattered by said radiation scattering item, wherein said data indicates a time, approximate distance of scatter, and approximate intensity of radiation on a distance specific basis to define a radiation scatter intensity field at each of said one or more instances;
• determining, by way of an analytics subsystem associated with said controller, an estimated cumulative exposure level for each of the individuals during said medical procedure based on the positions of each individual within the radiation scatter intensity field at each of the instances the radiation device is activated;
• and
• comparing, by way of the analytics subsystem, the estimated cumulative exposure level of each of the individuals to one or more benchmarks.

A system for monitoring progress of medical procedures by radiation exposure, said system comprising:

• a number of augmented reality (“AR”) tracking devices, each associated with one of a number of individuals which assist with performance of medical procedures at medical facilities, each respective one of said AR tracking devices comprising:
• a display portion comprising a transparent or translucent material and configured to display one or more images for a respective one of the individuals to view as an overlay to a respective one of said medical facilities while a respective one the medical procedures is underway;
• a position tracking device configured to track a position of the respective one of the individuals while the respective one of the medical procedures is underway;
• and
• a body attachment portion configured to facilitate securement of said AR tracking device to a portion of a body of the respective one of the individuals such that the display portion is normally visible to the respective one of the individuals;
• a number of controllers, each in electronic communication with a subset of the number of AR tracking devices;
• a database in electronic communication with each of said number of controllers;
• one or more intervention subsystems, each in electronic communication with one or more of the number of controllers and comprising a notification subsystem;
• one or more reference databases in electronic communication with said one or more intervention subsystems;
• one or more analytics subsystems, each in electronic communication with one or more of the number of controllers;
• and
• executable software instructions stored at one or more electronic storage devices associated with the number of controllers, which when executed, configure one or more processors to:
• receive location data for medical equipment items used for the medical procedures configured to produce radiation for medical treatment purposes (“radiation devices”);
• receive location data for medical equipment items used for the medical procedures which scatter radiation produced by the radiation devices (“radiation scattering items”);
• receive location data for the number of AR tracking devices continuously or periodically throughout the medical procedures, wherein each location measurement provided by said location data is associated with a time;
• receive data from said radiation devices indicating each time radiation is produced by a respective one of said radiation devices and a radiation scatter intensity field encountered at each of said one or more instances based on at least a type of said respective one of said radiation devices and a position of said respective one of said radiation devices relative to a respective one of said radiation scattering items when said respective one of said radiation devices is activated;
• determine, by way of said one or more analytical subsystems, an estimated cumulative exposure level for each of the individuals during each of the medical procedures based on the location measurements for the individuals within the radiation scatter intensity fields at each of the instances each of the radiation devices are activated;
• store each of said estimated cumulative exposure levels at said one or more databases in association with identifying information for an associated one of the individuals and a procedure code for an associated one of the medical procedures to build a data set;
• develop, by way of said one or more analytical subsystems, average exposure level benchmarks for each of said medical procedures;
• compare a particular one of the estimated cumulative exposure levels of a particular one of the individuals for a particular one of the medical procedures to a respective one of the benchmarks associated with the particular one of the medical procedures;
• and
• if the particular one of the estimated cumulative exposure levels for the particular one of the individuals exceeds the respective one of the benchmarks by at least a predetermined amount:
• provide, by way of the notification subsystem of a particular one of the one or more intervention subsystems, an electronic notification at a particular one of the AR tracking devices associated with the particular one of the individuals, alerting the individual wearing the AR tracking device regarding the exceeded benchmark;
• and
• display, by way of the particular one of the one or more intervention subsystems, an intervention comprising suggested educational or training materials retrieved from said one or more reference databases at the particular one of the AR tracking devices or a prompt to initiate a videoconference with another one of the AR tracking devices associated with a similarly situated one of the individuals having more experience than the individuals associated with the particular one of the AR tracking devices.

A system for monitoring progress of a medical procedure by estimated radiation exposure, said system comprising:

• one or more tracking devices, each associated with one of a number of individuals assisting with performance of the medical procedure and configured to track positions of the individuals within a medical facility where the medical procedure is performed;
• a controller in electronic communication with each of the tracking devices and comprising executable software instructions stored at one or more electronic storage devices, which when executed, configure one or more processors to:
• determine one or more relative locations of a medical equipment item used during the medical procedure which is configured to produce radiation for medical treatment purposes (“radiation device”) and a medical equipment item known to scatter radiation produced by the radiation device (“radiation scattering item”);
• receive position data from the tracking devices during the medical procedure;
• receive data indicating one or more instances radiation is produced by said radiation device to develop a radiation scatter intensity field at each of said one or more instances based on said relative locations;
• and
• determine an estimated exposure level for each of the individuals based on the positions of the individuals relative to the radiation scatter intensity field at each of the instances the radiation device is activated.