Interactive patient guidance for medical devices

Abstract

Medical devices and related guidance systems and methods for interactive patient guidance are provided. An exemplary method of interactively providing guidance facilitating operation of a medical device involves identifying, at a computing device communicatively coupled to the medical device, a user objective associated with the medical device, obtaining, at the computing device from the medical device, user interface status information corresponding to a current state of a user interface of the medical device, and providing, on a display associated with the computing device, guidance information influenced by the user interface status information and the user objective. Subsequently, updated user interface status information for the infusion device responsive to a user input with respect to the infusion device may be provided to the computing device, with the guidance information being dynamically updated in response to the updated status information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of facilitating operation of a medical device, the method comprising:
 identifying, at a computing device communicatively coupled to the medical device, a user objective associated with the medical device;   obtaining, at the computing device from the medical device, user interface status information corresponding to a current state of a user interface of the medical device; and   providing, on a display associated with the computing device, guidance information influenced by the user interface status information and the user objective.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising obtaining, at the computing device from the medical device, settings information corresponding to a current configuration of the medical device, wherein the guidance information is influenced by the settings information. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , the settings information corresponding to a feature of the medical device, wherein providing the guidance information comprises providing instructions for enabling the feature on the computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , the medical device comprising an infusion device operable to deliver fluid to a body of a patient to influence a physiological condition of the patient and the feature corresponding to a bolus wizard facilitating delivery of a bolus of the fluid to the body of the patient, wherein providing the guidance information comprises providing, on the computing device, instructions for enabling the bolus wizard on the infusion device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 obtaining, at the computing device from the medical device, updated user interface status information corresponding to an updated state of the user interface of the medical device responsive to a user input; and   dynamically updating the guidance information on the display in response to the updated user interface status information.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 obtaining the user interface status information comprises obtaining a current user input selection state; and   the guidance information reflects the current user input selection state.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 obtaining the user interface status information comprises obtaining a currently displayed menu interface; and   the guidance information corresponds to the currently displayed menu interface.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , the user interface status information corresponding to a graphical user interface display on the medical device, wherein providing the guidance information comprises providing, on the computing device, explanatory information pertaining to the graphical user interface display. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising uploading the user interface status information and an indication of the user objective from the computing device to a remote device in response to a user input at the computing device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising updating the guidance information on the display in response to feedback from the remote device. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processing system of the computing device to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         12 . A medical device comprising:
 a display to provide one or more graphical user interface displays;   a user interface element to receive a user input;   a data storage element to maintain settings information;   a communications interface communicatively coupled to a network; and   a control module coupled to the display, the user interface element, the data storage element, and the communications interface to:
 transmit the settings information and status information characterizing a state of the display to an auxiliary device via the network; and 
 in response to the user input, automatically push updated status information characterizing an updated state of the display responsive to the user input to the auxiliary device via the network. 
   
     
     
         13 . The medical device of  claim 12 , the auxiliary device providing a guidance graphical user interface display based at least in part on the settings information and the status information, wherein the guidance graphical user interface display is dynamically updated in response to the updated status information. 
     
     
         14 . The medical device of  claim 12 , wherein the settings information includes configuration data for an operating mode of the medical device. 
     
     
         15 . The medical device of  claim 12 , wherein the settings information includes configuration data for a feature of the medical device. 
     
     
         16 . The medical device of  claim 12 , further comprising an actuation arrangement operable to deliver fluid influencing a physiological condition to a body of a user, wherein the auxiliary device provides a guidance graphical user interface display that includes a sequence of one or more user actions for delivering a bolus of the fluid, the guidance graphical user interface display being generated based at least in part on the settings information and the status information. 
     
     
         17 . A method of facilitating operation of an infusion device to deliver a fluid influencing a physiological condition to a body of a user, the method comprising:
 identifying, at a computing device communicatively coupled to the infusion device, an objective associated with the infusion device;   obtaining, at the computing device from the infusion device via a network, current user interface status information for the infusion device; and   generating, at the computing device, a guidance graphical user interface display comprising a sequence of one or more user actions with respect to the infusion device for achieving the objective based at least in part on the current user interface status information.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising obtaining, at the computing device from the infusion device via the network, updated user interface status information for the infusion device responsive to a user input with respect to the infusion device, wherein the guidance graphical user interface display is dynamically updated in response to the updated user interface status information. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , the objective comprising administering a bolus of the fluid from the infusion device, wherein the guidance graphical user interface display comprises a sequence of one or more user actions with respect to a user interface of the infusion device for delivering the bolus. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , obtaining, at the computing device from the infusion device via the network, settings information for a feature of the infusion device, wherein the guidance graphical user interface display comprises a sequence of one or more user actions with respect to a user interface of the infusion device for configuring the feature of the infusion device based on the settings information.