Method and apparatus for analyte measurement, display, and annotation

A critical care bedside system for periodic blood withdrawal and automated measurement and display of multiple analyte values, the system comprising:

• a connector configured to interface with one lumen of a catheter having constant access to a critical care patient's blood;
• a housing configured for bedside placement in the critical care environment, the housing supporting a large touchscreen on its exterior, the large touchscreen covering more than half of a user-facing surface of the housing and configured to provide control and display functions in the critical care environment by showing critical data large enough to be readable to a distance of 30 feet, the housing comprising:
• a series of interconnected medical-grade fluid tubes with mechanical valves positioned at intersections between tubes and configured to control fluid flow therein, at least one of said tubes extending out of the housing and configured to connect to the catheter through the connector;
• at least two valve control motors configured to interface physically with the valves;
• a blood withdrawal pump in fluid communication with the connector and configured to automatically and periodically draw blood through at least one fluid tube and one mechanical valve;
• at least one external sensor adjacent to a fluid tube and configured to receive signals related to the presence of fluid within the fluid tubes inside the housing;
• at least one analyte measurement complex comprising a flow cell in fluid communication with the fluid tubes and an analysis module, the analysis module configured to interface with the fluid and evaluate resulting signals to determine measurements of at least two analytes;
• at least one internal sensor positioned for periodic fluid communication with the blood withdrawal pump, with fluid in a fluid tube in the housing, and with fluid in the connector, the internal sensor sensitive to flow or pressure of fluid therein;
• and
• a computer processor configured to receive signals from the at least one external sensor, the analyte measurement complex, the at least one internal sensor, and the large touchscreen;
• the large touchscreen comprising:
• a pause button integrated into the touchscreen and operable to cause the computer processor to pause a function of the bedside system, the function comprising one or more of analysis by the analyte measurement complex, fluid flow caused by the withdrawal pump, or display of information on the large touchscreen itself;
• a delay button integrated into the touchscreen and operable to cause the computer processor to send a signal to the blood withdrawal pump, thereby deferring automatic operation of the blood withdrawal pump for a time and delaying subsequent fluid flow through the connector and the fluid tubes;
• an operating graphic displayable on the large touchscreen, the touchscreen controllable by the processor to display the operating graphic to indicate a running status when the processor determines from sensor signals that the connector is connected with the lumen of the catheter and that normal fluid flow is occurring in the housing through the tubes;
• a time graphic displayable on the large touchscreen, the touchscreen controllable by the processor to display the operating graphic to constantly indicate the present time;
• at least two prominent current measurement regions of the large touchscreen configured to automatically display by default the most recent analyte value resulting from signals from the analyte measurement complex, said analyte values visible from 30 feet to facilitate emergency action in critical care environments;
• an automatically scrolling interactive history region of the large touchscreen that coordinates with the processor to:
• receive and display data from the computer processor to record a series of outputs of the analyte measurement complex associated with analyte measurements of the critical care patient;
• respond to a touch by a user on a portion of the interactive history region corresponding to a selected time by displaying an annotation interface associated with the selected time, the annotation interface comprising a virtual keyboard display;
• accept annotation inputs within the annotation interface, associate the annotation inputs with at least the selected time and data associated with the selected time, and record them in a database;
• display a symbol on any future renderings of the interactive history region that include the selected time to indicate presence of an annotation for that selected time;
• and
• facilitate future on-demand retrieval and display of the recorded annotation inputs using the symbol, the on-demand retrieval comprising display of at least the annotation and the data associated with the selected time;
• the two prominent current measurement regions of the touchscreen configured to vary a graphic characteristic based on a current value for a corresponding analyte or a predicted value for the corresponding analyte at a future time;
• and
• the automatically scrolling interactive history region configured to coordinate with the processor further to display:
• a first line corresponding to an upper threshold for at least one analyte;
• a second line corresponding to a lower threshold for the at least one analyte;
• a first area under one or more determined concentrations that are between the upper threshold and the lower threshold with a first color;
• and
• a second area under the series of outputs of the analyte measurement complex that are above the upper threshold or below the lower threshold with a second color that contrasts with the first color.