Medical reminder device suited for use with nebulizers

A system for use in collecting data representative of administration of medical procedures and characteristic of actual performance of at least some medical procedures by a user and for transmitting such data to a medical professional for subsequent review of the course of administration of the medical procedures, comprising:

• a programmable reminder device including a microprocessor, read only memory including instructions for operation of the reminder device, and read/write memory for storing times for administration of scheduled medical procedures and actual performance of at least some medical procedures, information identifying the medical procedures, and data representative of administration of the medical procedures;
• an alarm on the programmable reminder device for notifying a user of scheduled times for administration of medical procedures stored in the read/write memory;
• an acknowledgment input on the programmable reminder device actuatable by a user to denote receipt of the alarm, the time of each acknowledgment input being stored in the read/write memory;
• and
• a communications interface device connectable to the programmable reminder device and to an external communications network for downloading times for administration of scheduled medical procedures and information identifying the medical procedures to the programmable reminder device, and for uploading data stored in the read/write memory representative of alarm times and acknowledgment times for corresponding medical procedures and characteristic of actual performance of at least some medical procedures in response to a downloaded request submitted through the external communications network.

A system for storing data representative of administration of a scheduled medical procedure in which an electrically powered medical apparatus is used to perform the medical procedure, the system comprising:

• an on/off switch on the electrically powered medical apparatus;
• a separate electronic device connectable to the electrically powered medical apparatus by cable means, and including accessible memory, and an alarm for notifying a user according to the schedule for administering the medical procedure;
• the cable means being connected to the electrically powered medical apparatus so that a signal is transmitted to the electronic device when the on/off switch on the electrically powered medical apparatus is activated to perform the medical procedure, the times of actuation of the on/off switch being stored in the accessible memory so that that interval during which the scheduled medical procedure is performed can be retrieved from memory;
• and
• an acknowledgment switch on the separate electronic device which is actuated at the time the scheduled medical procedure is initiated so that the stored interval can be associated with the correct medical procedure.

A programmable reminder device for use in reminding a user of a scheduled medical procedure and for storing data characteristic of actual performance of the scheduled medical procedure, the device comprising:

• a microprocessor
• programmable read only memory including instructions for operation of the reminder device:
• read/write memory for storing times for performance of scheduled medical procedure, information identifying the medical procedure, and data representative of actual performance of the medical procedure;
• a visible display in communication with the microprocessor for displaying information identifying the medical procedure;
• an alarm for prompting a user to begin the scheduled medical procedure;
• a switchable user actuated input for acknowledging the alarm;
• and
• the reminder device being connected to a switch on an apparatus used in performing the medical procedure, the status of the switch, indicative of actual performance of the scheduled medical procedure otherwise independent of the reminder device, being detected by the reminder device and being storable in the read/write memory.

An apparatus for dispensing vapors to treat a patient comprising:

• a nebulizer;
• a nebulizer compressor to which the nebulizer is attachable;
• an output on the nebulizer compressor, the output having a state indicative of actual operation of the nebulizer compressor:
• a device receiving the output of the nebulizer compressor and storing times when the nebulizer compressor is in operation so that a record of times in which the nebulizer is in use in maintained by monitoring use of the nebulizer compressor.