Method for score confidence interval estimation when vital sign sampling frequency is limited

Abstract

The following relates generally to the medical monitoring arts, medical warning systems concerning a monitored patient, and so forth. In clinical settings, alarms are usually triggered when a single-parameter or a multi-parameter score exceeds certain thresholds. When a score needs to be determined, if certain parameters are not available, the common practice is to use the most recent measurements of the parameters for the score calculation. However, a patient's status may change from moment to moment. The parameters measured hours ago may not be a good indicator of the patient's current status. This uncertainty can put deteriorating patients at great risk. An embodiment uses statistical methods to estimate a range of scores and the probability of these scores if old measurements have to be used for score determination. Instead of giving a single number at a time, a confidence interval may be displayed to emphasize the fact that the score is determined partially based on old measurements. If there is a chance that the actual score is higher and may exceed a critical alarm threshold, a notification can be issued to advise a new measurement reading to improve score confidence.

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