# US 8,751,251 B2 · Key notifications in a clinical computing environment

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- Number: US 8,751,251 B2
- Document ID: US8751251B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 11/427,623
- Filed: 2006-06-29
- Published: 2008-01-03
- Granted: 2014-06-10
- Earliest claimed: 2006-06-29
- Assignees: Cerner Innovation, Inc.
- Applicants: Michael A. Ash; John Q. DeVerter; Hal W. Schierts
- Inventors: Michael A. Ash; John Q. DeVerter; Hal W. Schierts
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8751251B2

## CPC

- G16H 40/20: for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
- G16H 40/67: for remote operation
- G16H 80/00: ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA

## Abstract

Automatic triaging of patient information within a clinical computing environment is provided. Items of patient information are received, and each item is compared against predefined criteria to determine whether the item is time-sensitive. If an item satisfies a threshold of time-sensitivity, a key notification is provided for the item. A clinician may receive the key notification regardless of the view or application in which the clinician is working. The clinician may directly navigate from the key notification to the associated information, access additional information if necessary, and resolve the condition. Additionally, clinicians may control the triaging of information by specifying patient populations and thresholds required to trigger key notifications.

## Claims

### Claim 1

One or more computer storage devices storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method in a clinical computing environment for automatically triaging one or more items of patient information, the method comprising:
identifying a plurality of patients associated with a clinician;
receiving the one or more items of patient information, wherein the one or more items of patient information are associated with the plurality of patients associated with the clinician;
filtering the one or more items of patient information based on a predetermined list of patients to provide a filtered set of patient information, wherein the predetermined list of patients comprises a subset of the plurality of patients for which the clinician has indicated a request to receive a key notification, and wherein the filtered set of patient information comprises one or more items of patient information for one or more patients included in the predetermined list of patients;
identifying at least one of the one or more items of patient information in the filtered set of patient information as a time-sensitive item by identifying the at least one of the one or more items of patient information in the filtered set of patient information as requiring attention by a clinician by a particular time, wherein identifying the at least one of the one or more items of patient information in the filtered set of patient information as requiring attention by the clinician by the particular time comprises comparing the one or more items of patient information in the filtered set of patient information against one or more predetermined criteria for patients included in the predetermined list of patients, the one or more predetermined criteria having one or more predefined thresholds for time-sensitivity, wherein the one or more predetermined criteria are based at least in part on the predetermined list of patients, wherein the one or more predefined thresholds includes at least one of the following:
(1) one or more system-defined thresholds for the clinical computing environment, wherein the one or more system-defined thresholds are based on standard practices within at least one of a healthcare industry, a particular clinical facility, and a particular healthcare system, and
(2) one or more user-defined thresholds for the clinical computing environment, wherein each of the one or more user-defined thresholds includes a plurality of rules for determining whether the key notification should be presented for the at least one of the one or more items of patient information in the filtered set of patient information identified as the time-sensitive item; and
automatically presenting the key notification for the time-sensitive item, wherein the key notification provides notification of key information to the clinician, the key information including information regarding the identified at least one item of time-sensitive information, wherein the key notification corresponds with the predetermined list of patients.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein receiving the one or more items of patient information comprises receiving the one or more items of patient information at a user inbox within a clinical computing system.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein the one or more items of patient information comprise at least one of a laboratory testing result, a diagnostic testing result, an electronic mail message, and a due item.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one of the one or more items of patient information as the time-sensitive item comprises filtering the one or more items of patient information based on the predetermined criteria.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein the one or more predetermined criteria are based at least in part on patient characteristics.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein the one or more user-defined thresholds comprise at least one of a global threshold and a patient-specific threshold.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, further comprising determining the time-sensitive item as at least one of a critical item, an abnormal item, and a due item.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein the key notification is provided independent of a user inbox within the clinical computing environment.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, wherein the key notification is provided independent of a patient chart for a patient corresponding with the time-sensitive item.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 1, further comprising allowing a user to address the time-sensitive item.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 10, wherein allowing a user to address the time-sensitive item comprises:
receiving a user selection of the key notification;
accessing the time-sensitive item in response to the user selection of the key notification; and
presenting the time-sensitive item.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 11, wherein allowing a user to address the time-sensitive item further comprises:
receiving a request for additional patient information;
accessing the additional patient information; and
presenting the additional patient information.

### Claim 13

A system in a clinical computing environment for automatically triaging one or more items of patient information, the system comprising:
a computing device having a processor and a memory, wherein the computing device comprises:
an item receiving component for receiving the one or more items of patient information, wherein the one or more items of patient information are associated with patients of a clinician;
an identification component for identifying at least one of the one or more items of patient information as a time-sensitive item, wherein identifying the at least one of the one or more items of patient information as the time-sensitive item comprises identifying the item as requiring attention by the clinician by a particular time by utilizing at least one user-defined threshold for the clinical computing environment that is customized for a patient that is categorized in a particular patient population, wherein each of the at least one user-defined thresholds is customized based on a defined list of patient characteristics for patients belonging to the particular patient population, and further wherein each of the at least one user-defined thresholds includes a plurality of rules for determining whether a key notification should be presented for the at least one of the one or more items of patient information identified as the time-sensitive item; and
a key notification component for automatically presenting the key notification for the time-sensitive item, wherein the key notification provides notification of key information to the clinician, the key information including information regarding the identified at least one time-sensitive item of patient information.

### Claim 14

One or more computer storage devices having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon that provide for a presentation of one or more user interfaces for triaging patient information in a clinical computing environment, the one or more user interfaces comprising:
a key notification area configured to display one or more key notifications to a user, each of the one or more key notifications corresponding with one or more items of patient information determined to satisfy predefined criteria for time-sensitivity, the one or more items of patient information determined to satisfy the predefined criteria for time-sensitivity including a critical item, an abnormal item, and a due item, and the one or more key notifications providing notification of information regarding the one or more items of patient information determined to satisfy the predefined criteria for time-sensitivity, wherein time-sensitivity refers to requiring attention by the user by a particular time, and further wherein the predefined criteria for time-sensitivity comprise a patient population criterion, a system-defined threshold for time-sensitivity for the clinical computing environment, and a user-defined threshold for time-sensitivity for the clinical computing environment, wherein:
the patient population criterion indicates a category of patients that are a subset of a plurality of patients associated with the user,
the system-defined threshold for time-sensitivity is based on standard practices within at least one of a healthcare industry, a particular clinical facility, and a particular healthcare system, and
the user-defined threshold for time-sensitivity includes a plurality of rules for determining whether the one or more key notifications should be presented.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The one or more computer storage devices of claim 14, wherein each of the one or more key notifications allows the user to navigate to corresponding one or more items of patient information.