Patient-based results display

Abstract

A user interface used with a medical testing machine provides improved recall and display of the outcomes of tests performed by the machine. Test outcomes and other information are stored in mass storage directly accessible by the medical testing machine. In one aspect, outcomes of tests relating to a particular patient may be recalled. The system may be especially useful for tests that may be performed multiple times for a particular patient over a period of time, for example testing for HbA1c hemoglobin levels in diabetes patients. The user interface presents a set of screens that allow the display of data according to various filters, and so as to provide detailed information about tests performed by the machine.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A user interface for a medical testing machine, the medical testing machine comprising a testing system that performs a medical test on media sampled from patients, each test instance having an outcome, and the medical testing machine storing the test outcomes in a storage system along with other information about each test instance, the user interface comprising:
 a number of user-selectable tabs at a top of a first displayed user interface screen, the tabs including a first tab that when selected causes to be displayed a second user interface screen with controls for recalling and displaying stored test instance outcomes, and the tab including a second tab that when selected causes to be displayed a third user interface screen that can present information about the performance of a particular test instance;   wherein the controls displayed on the second user interface screen include controls for selecting a number of filters to be applied, alone or in combination, to the stored test instance outcomes before display, the filters including a patient ID filter that limits displayed test instance outcomes to those associated with a particular patient number, an accession number filter that limits the displayed test instance outcomes to those associated with a particular accession number, a result value filter that limits the displayed test instance outcomes to those having a particular result value or a result value falling within a specified range, and a date filter that limits the displayed test instance outcomes to those resulting from tests performed within a specified date range.   
     
     
         2 . The user interface of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface further comprises a fourth user interface screen on which the filtered outcomes are displayed. 
     
     
         3 . The user interface of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of the displayed test instance outcomes is the result of a repeated test, and the fourth user interface screen displays a repeated test icon in association with the displayed outcome of each displayed repeated test. 
     
     
         4 . The user interface of  claim 3 , wherein the fourth user interface screen also displays an indication of the reason for the repetition of each displayed repeated test. 
     
     
         5 . The user interface of  claim 3 , wherein the repeated test icon is selectable by a user of the medical testing machine, and when the repeated test icon is selected, the user interface causes to be displayed a list of all of the test instances related to the test instance for which the repeated test icon is displayed. 
     
     
         6 . The user interface of  claim 5 , wherein all related test instances are included in the list regardless of whether any of the related test instances would otherwise be omitted from display by a filter in place at the time of the display. 
     
     
         7 . The user interface of  claim 5 , wherein the related test instances are displayed consecutively regardless of whether they would otherwise be displayed consecutively based on the filters in use at the time of the display. 
     
     
         8 . The user interface of  claim 2 , wherein each of the displayed test instance outcomes is selectable, and when one of the displayed outcomes is selected, the user interface causes to be displayed additional information about the selected test instance. 
     
     
         9 . The user interface of  claim 8 , wherein the medical testing machine is configured to perform high performance liquid chromatography, and the additional information includes a chromatogram resulting from the selected test instance. 
     
     
         10 . The user interface of  claim 9 , wherein the medical testing machine is configured to test for the level of HbA1c hemoglobin in a blood sample, and wherein a peak of the chromatogram corresponding to HbA1c is highlighted. 
     
     
         11 . The user interface of  claim 8 , wherein the user interface screen displaying the additional information includes a user interface control that when selected causes to be displayed additional details of the selected test instance. 
     
     
         12 . The user interface of  claim 11 , wherein the displayed details include an indication of the time and date of the most recent calibration of the medical testing machine. 
     
     
         13 . The user interface of  claim 11 , wherein the displayed details include a lot number of a consumable item used in the medical test instance. 
     
     
         14 . The user interface of  claim 11 , wherein the additional details are displayed in a pop-up window overlaid on the user interface screen that displays the additional information. 
     
     
         15 . The user interface of  claim 14 , wherein the user interface can also display a summary of rules in place at the time of the displayed medical test instance. 
     
     
         16 . The user interface of  claim 15 , wherein the rules are displayed in a pop-up window overlaid on the pop-up window that displays the additional details. 
     
     
         17 . The user interface of  claim 1 , wherein the third user interface screen displays a timer indicating the amount of time remaining until completion of the particular test instance. 
     
     
         18 . The user interface of  claim 1 , wherein the third user interface screen displays an indication of the remaining amount of a consumable item used by the medical testing machine. 
     
     
         19 . The user interface of  claim 1 , wherein the tabs include a tab that when selected causes to be displayed a screen that facilitates calibration of the medical testing machine.