System and method for tracking informal observations about a care recipient by caregivers

Abstract

The present system is configured to track informal observations by multiple caregivers about a care recipient and provide actionable feedback to the multiple caregivers for managing health of the care recipient based on informal observations. Informal caregivers are constantly observing the health and/or wellness of care recipients they provide care for. Within families for example, multiple informal caregivers coordinate the care they provide for a care recipient amongst each other to balance the workload. These caregivers observe the same care recipient often on different occasions, from different perspectives, and with varying levels of subjectivity. Keeping an eye out for abnormal behavior by the care recipient, changes in capabilities of the care recipient, and/or potential disease progression, for example, are pieces of data caregivers commonly observe in an informal, rarely structured way.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method when executed on data processing hardware causes the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
 receiving output signals generated by one or more sensors associated with a care recipient, the output signals conveying medical information related to the health of the care recipient;   from a computing device associated with a caregiver, receiving observations entered by the caregiver about the care recipient via a graphical user interface presented on the computing device, the graphical user interface configured to facilitate selection of one or more selectable observation categories for entry of the observations by the respective caregiver;   processing the observations and the medical information conveyed by the received output signals to identify at least one of a change in the health of the care recipient or a medical event experienced by the care recipient;   generating actionable feedback for the caregiver based on the at least one of the change in health of the car recipient or the medical event experienced by the care recipient identified by processing the observations and the medical information, the actionable feedback comprising recommendations for obtaining medical services to provide treatment to the care recipient; and   transmitting the actionable feedback to the computing device associated with the caregiver, the actionable feedback when received by the computing device causing the computing device to present the actionable feedback via the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more selectable observation categories are customizable, such that a new selectable observation category can be added to the one or more selectable observation categories. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more selectable observation categories are customizable, such that one of the one or more selectable observation categories can be removed. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the actionable feedback further comprises supporting content related to the recommendations obtained from one or more external sources of data. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating a summary report for a healthcare provider of the care recipient based on the actionable feedback, the medial information, and the observations; and   transmitting the summary report to a healthcare computing device associated with the healthcare provider.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface presented on the computing device associated with the caregiver comprises:
 one or more views corresponding to the one or more selectable observation categories; and   one or more fields within each of the one or more views that correspond to textual descriptive notes, ratings, dates, and/or visual images.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving medical history information about the care recipient, the medical history information indicating the health of the care recipient including one or more medical conditions experienced by the care recipient,   wherein processing the observations and the medical information to identify at least one of the change in the health of the care recipient or the medical event experienced by the care recipient is further based on processing the medical history information about the care recipient.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the medial history information about the care recipient is received from a medical records system of a healthcare provider of the care recipient. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein processing the observations comprises processing the observations using natural language processing sentiment analysis to categorize each observation as at least one of: positive, negative, subjective, objective, feature-related, and aspect-related. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device associated with the caregiver comprises a tablet or a smart phone. 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 data processing hardware; and   memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware and storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware causes the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
 receiving output signals generated by one or more sensors associated with a care recipient, the output signals conveying medical information related to the health of the care recipient; 
 from a computing device associated with a caregiver, receiving observations entered by the caregiver about the care recipient via a graphical user interface presented on the computing device, the graphical user interface configured to facilitate selection of one or more selectable observation categories for entry of the observations by the respective caregiver; 
 processing the observations and the medical information conveyed by the received output signals to identify at least one of a change in the health of the care recipient or a medical event experienced by the care recipient; 
 generating actionable feedback for the caregiver based on the at least one of the change in health of the car recipient or the medical event experienced by the care recipient identified by processing the observations and the medical information, the actionable feedback comprising recommendations for obtaining medical services to provide treatment to the care recipient; and 
 transmitting the actionable feedback to the computing device associated with the caregiver, the actionable feedback when received by the computing device causing the computing device to present the actionable feedback via the graphical user interface. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more selectable observation categories are customizable, such that a new selectable observation category can be added to the one or more selectable observation categories. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more selectable observation categories are customizable, such that one of the one or more selectable observation categories can be removed. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the actionable feedback further comprises supporting content related to the recommendations obtained from one or more external sources of data. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating a summary report for a healthcare provider of the care recipient based on the actionable feedback, the medial information, and the observations; and   transmitting the summary report to a healthcare computing device associated with the healthcare provider.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the graphical user interface presented on the computing device associated with the caregiver comprises:
 one or more views corresponding to the one or more selectable observation categories; and   one or more fields within each of the one or more views that correspond to textual descriptive notes, ratings, dates, and/or visual images.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving medical history information about the care recipient, the medical history information indicating the health of the care recipient including one or more medical conditions experienced by the care recipient,   wherein processing the observations and the medical information to identify at least one of the change in the health of the care recipient or the medical event experienced by the care recipient is further based on processing the medical history information about the care recipient.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the medial history information about the care recipient is received from a medical records system of a healthcare provider of the care recipient. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein processing the observations comprises processing the observations using natural language processing sentiment analysis to categorize each observation as at least one of: positive, negative, subjective, objective, feature-related, and aspect-related. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device associated with the caregiver comprises a tablet or a smart phone.