Interactive Patient Education and Informed Consent System

Abstract

Interactive patient education system for use in operatory or office settings, provides interactive 3-D animations, graphics and other media, enabling real-time markup and customization to better illustrate and communicate not only generic information, but the individual patient's physiology, treatment options, and anticipated outcomes. Preferred embodiments are portable, computer-implemented, interactive multimedia educational tools. Import of patient-specific graphics, video and audio contributes to full-custom educational content to optimize patient understanding and to facilitate obtaining and recording a patient's informed consent.

1 . A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to execute a computer-implemented method for patient education, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 creating a display on an electronic display screen;   responsive to a user input, commencing display of a selected animation on the display screen;   responsive to a pause input, pausing the animation at a selected frame of the animation and generating a still image that is a copy of the selected frame;   presenting the still image on the display screen; and   responsive to receiving marking on the still image, saving the still image and the marking.   
   
   
       2 . The computer program product of  claim 1  further comprising:
 enabling marking of the still image on the display screen with an input device.   
   
   
       3 . The computer program product of  claim 2  wherein said marking is received via a user interface device. 
   
   
       4 . The computer program product of  claim 3  wherein said marking comprises freehand drawing on to the still image by applying a stylus over a pen-enabled screen. 
   
   
       5 . The computer program product of  claim 1  further comprising:
 associating a digital audio recording with the still image.   
   
   
       6 . The computer program product of  claim 1  further comprising:
 enabling importing of an image and marking of the imported image.   
   
   
       7 . The computer program product of  claim 6  wherein the imported image is a patient-specific image. 
   
   
       8 . The computer program product of  claim 1  further comprising:
 presenting on the display screen a history panel comprising a reduced-size image of the saved still image.   
   
   
       9 . A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to execute a computer-implemented method for facilitating and recording a patient's informed consent, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 creating a display on an electronic display screen;   responsive to a user input, commencing display of a selected animation on the display screen; and   enabling a user to record an acknowledgement of the patient's informed consent.   
   
   
       10 . The computer program product of  claim 9  wherein the step of enabling a user to digitally record an acknowledgement of the patient's informed consent comprises:
 recording at least one of a verbal acknowledgement and a written acknowledgement; and   associating the recorded acknowledgement with the selected animation.   
   
   
       11 . The computer program product of  claim 10  wherein the acknowledgement is a written acknowledgement and the step of recording at least one of a verbal acknowledgement and a written acknowledgement comprises:
 responsive to a pause input, pausing the animation at a selected frame of the animation and generating a still image that is a copy of the selected frame;   presenting the still image on the display screen; and   responsive to receiving the written acknowledgement on the still image, saving the still image and the written acknowledgement.   
   
   
       12 . The computer program product of  claim 11  further comprising:
 enabling importing of an image and marking of the imported image.   
   
   
       13 . The computer program product of  claim 12  wherein the imported image is a patient-specific image. 
   
   
       14 . The computer program product of  claim 11  further comprising:
 presenting on the display screen a history panel comprising a reduced-size image of the saved still image.   
   
   
       15 . The computer program product of  claim 10  wherein the acknowledgement is a verbal acknowledgement and the step of recording at least one of a verbal acknowledgement and a written acknowledgement comprises:
 recording the patient's verbal acknowledgement during the display of the selected animation.   
   
   
       16 . A method for facilitating patient education and recording a patient's consent comprising:
 presenting content directed to a topic of interest on a display screen;   recording at least one of a verbal acknowledgement of the patient's consent and a written acknowledgement of the patient's consent; and   associating the recorded acknowledgement with at least a portion of the content.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the acknowledgement is a written acknowledgement and the step of recording at least one of a verbal acknowledgement of the patient's consent and a written acknowledgement of the patient's consent comprises:
 pausing the content at a selected portion and generating a still image that is a copy of the selected portion;   presenting the still image on the display screen; and   responsive to receiving the written acknowledgement on the still image, saving the still image and the written acknowledgement.   
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein the content is an animation and the selected portion is a frame of the animation. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 17  wherein the content is an image that is a patient-specific image. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the acknowledgement is a verbal acknowledgement and the step of recording at least one of a verbal acknowledgement of the patient's consent and a written acknowledgement of the patient's consent comprises:
 recording the patient's verbal acknowledgement during the display of the content.