US 2003/0145854 A1 · Apparatuses and methods for automatically assessing and monitoring a patient's responsiveness

Abstract

A care system and associated methods are provided for alleviating patient pain, anxiety and discomfort associated with medical or surgical procedures. The care system facilitates a procedural clinician's safely and efficaciously providing sedation and analgesia and in some measure, amnesia to a patient by providing a responsiveness monitoring system which monitors the responsiveness of the patient and generates a value representing the level of patient responsiveness. In further aspects of the invention, the responsiveness monitoring system is an automated system which includes patient query and response devices. Additional embodiments of the system and methods are directed to alleviating patient pain or discomfort while enabling safe drug delivery (automated, clinician-controlled or patient-controlled) in correlation with the monitoring of patient health conditions.

Claims33

Dependent claims

A patient monitoring system for monitoring a patient's responsiveness comprising:

(a) at least one query initiate device for prompting a response from a patient;
(b) at least one query response device for sensing a patient's response to a prompt from the at least one query initiate device;
and
(c) an electronic controller in communication with the at least one query initiate device and the at least one query response device, wherein said controller generates an assessment of a patient's responsiveness based upon patient's response or lack of response to a prompt from the at least one query initiate device.

1 more element

A care system for alleviating patient pain, anxiety and discomfort associated with medical or surgical procedures said system comprising:

(a) one or more patient health monitor devices adapted so as to receive a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition;
(b) a patient responsiveness monitor adapted so as to receive at least one signal reflecting patient responsiveness;
(c) a drug delivery controller supplying one or more drugs;
(d) a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting safe and undesirable parameters of at least one monitored patient physiological condition and of patient responsiveness;
and
(e) an electronic controller interconnected between the one or more patient health monitor devices, the patient responsiveness monitor;
the drug delivery controller and the memory device storing the safety data set;
wherein said electronic controller receives said signal reflecting at least one physiological condition and said signal reflecting patient responsiveness, and in response manages the application of the drugs in accord with the safety data set.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

10/329,763Filed 27 Dec 2002

Priority

3 Jun 1998

Published

7 Aug 2003

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification32 codes

A61B 5/4821
Other medical applications: determining level or depth of anaesthesia
A61B 5/162
Devices for psychotechnics ; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state: testing reaction times
A61B 5/411
Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the immune or lymphatic systems: detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an…
A61B 5/417
Evaluating particular organs or parts of the immune or lymphatic systems: the bone marrow

Family

Application60/087,841Us provisional application · filed 3 Jun 1998

Application09/324,759Continuation in part · filed 3 Jun 1999

Application60/342,773Us provisional application · filed 28 Dec 2001

Application10/329,763Continuation in part · filed 27 Dec 2002

US 6,807,965 B1Related patent

US 7,565,905 B2Related patent

US 2003/0145854 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Apparatuses and methods for automatically assessing and monitoring a patient's responsiveness

Life of this patent

Apparatuses and methods for automatically assessing and monitoring a patient's responsiveness

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims33