Computerized medical diagnostic and treatment advice system

Abstract

A system and method for providing computerized, knowledge-based medical diagnostic and treatment advice. The medical advice is provided to the general public over a telephone network. Two new authoring languages, interactive voice response and speech recognition are used to enable expert and general practitioner knowledge to be encoded for access by the public. “Meta” functions for time-density analysis of a number of factors regarding the number of medical complaints per unit of time are an integral part of the system. A semantic discrepancy evaluator routine along with a mental status examination are used to detect the consciousness level of a user of the system. A re-enter feature monitors the user's changing condition over time. A symptom severity analysis helps to respond to the changing conditions. System sensitivity factors may be changed at a global level or other levels to adjust the system advice as necessary.

1. A computerized method of providing information related to any one of a plurality of patients for use in an automated medical advice system, the method comprising:
 selectively executing at least a portion of medical diagnostic code, wherein the portion of medical diagnostic code:
 accesses a patient medical history during an evaluation process, wherein the patient medical history comprises a plurality of records, each patient being associated with at least one unique record, wherein the patient medical history is persistently stored; 
 determines medical advice particular to a medical condition associated with the portion of the medical diagnostic code through communication with a selected one of the patients and with information stored in the patient medical history; and 
 provides the medical advice to a selected recipient. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method defined in  claim 1 , wherein the selected recipient is the selected one of the patients. 
     
     
       3. The method defined in  claim 1 , wherein the selected recipient is a health care professional associated with the selected one of the patients. 
     
     
       4. The method defined in  claim 1 , additionally comprising generating a diagnosis during the selective execution of the portion of the medical diagnostic code. 
     
     
       5. The method defined in  claim 4 , wherein the diagnosis comprises a single disease. 
     
     
       6. The method defined in  claim 4 , wherein the diagnosis comprises a differential diagnosis list. 
     
     
       7. The method defined in  claim 1 , additionally comprising storing the medical advice in a patient consultation summary during the selective execution of the portion of the medical diagnostic code. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein a health care professional accesses and uses the patient consultation summary through the automated medical advice system to make a diagnosis. 
     
     
       9. The method defined in  claim 8 , additionally comprising storing the diagnosis in the patient medical history. 
     
     
       10. The method defined in  claim 8 , additionally comprising providing the diagnosis to the selected one of the patients through the automated medical advice system. 
     
     
       11. The method defined in  claim 4 , additionally comprising:
 storing a treatment table in a medical advice system; 
 accessing the treatment table based on the diagnosis so as to select a treatment; and 
 communicating the selected treatment to the selected one of the patients. 
 
     
     
       12. The method defined in  claim 1 , additionally comprising protecting a medical history of the selected one of the patients against unauthorized access. 
     
     
       13. A method of providing information to a patient for use in a medical diagnostic advice system comprising a computerized device including an input and an output device, the method comprising:
 transmitting information to the patient by the output device; 
 receiving information from the patient by the input device; 
 processing the received information; 
 selectively executing at least a portion of medical diagnostic code based on at least a portion of the received information; 
 scoring at least a portion of the processed received information; and 
 diagnosing a medical condition associated with the executed portion of the medical diagnostic code based upon a comparison of the score and a threshold. 
 
     
     
       14. The method defined in  claim 13 , additionally comprising communicating medical advice to the patient via the output device if the score does not reach or exceed a threshold. 
     
     
       15. The method defined in  claim 14 , wherein the medical advice comprises instructions to consult with the medical advice system at a later time. 
     
     
       16. The method defined in  claim 13 , additionally comprising communicating the diagnosed medical condition and the score to the patient via the output device. 
     
     
       17. The method defined in  claim 16 , additionally comprising communicating information about a treatment associated with the diagnosed medical condition to the patient via the output device. 
     
     
       18. The method defined in  claim 13 , additionally comprising communicating the diagnosed medical condition and the score to a physician via the output device. 
     
     
       19. The method defined in  claim 18 , wherein the diagnosed medical condition comprises a differential diagnosis list. 
     
     
       20. The method defined in  claim 13 , additionally comprising associating the portion of the medical diagnostic code with one or more medical conditions. 
     
     
       21. The method defined in  claim 13 , wherein the portion of the medical diagnostic code is selectively executed on a processor in the computerized device. 
     
     
       22. A method of providing patient information for use in a medical diagnostic advice system comprising a computerized device, including an input and an output device, the method comprising:
 transmitting information to a patient via the output device; 
 receiving information from the patient via the input device; 
 processing the received information; 
 selectively executing at least one portion of a plurality of medical diagnostic code portions based on at least a portion of the received information; 
 scoring at least a portion of the processed received information; and 
 diagnosing a medical condition associated with the executed portion of the medical diagnostic code portions based upon a comparison of the score and a threshold. 
 
     
     
       23. The method defined in  claim 22 , additionally comprising communicating the diagnosed medical condition and the score to a physician via the output device. 
     
     
       24. The method defined in  claim 23 , wherein the diagnosed medical condition comprises a differential diagnosis list. 
     
     
       25. The method defined in  claim 24 , additionally comprising receiving a selected diagnosis from the differential diagnosis list. 
     
     
       26. The method defined in  claim 25 , additionally comprising providing the selected diagnosis to the patient. 
     
     
       27. A computerized method of providing medical information related to any one of a plurality of patients for use in an automated medical advice system, the method comprising:
 accessing a patient medical history during an automated evaluation process, wherein the patient medical history comprises a plurality of electronic medical records, each patient being associated with at least one unique record, wherein the patient medical history is persistently stored; 
 determining medical advice particular to a medical condition associated with the automated evaluation process through communication corresponding to a selected one of the patients and with information stored in the patient medical history; and 
 providing the medical advice to a selected recipient. 
 
     
     
       28. The method defined in  claim 27 , wherein the selected recipient is the selected one of the patients. 
     
     
       29. The method defined in  claim 27 , wherein the selected recipient is a health care professional associated with the selected one of the patients. 
     
     
       30. The method defined in  claim 27 , wherein the patient selected recipient is a proxy for the patient the selected one of the patients. 
     
     
       31. The method defined in  claim 27 , additionally comprising storing the medical advice in a patient consultation summary during the evaluation process. 
     
     
       32. The method of  claim 31 , wherein a health care professional accesses and uses the patient consultation summary, through the automated medical advice system, to make a diagnosis. 
     
     
       33. The method defined in  claim 32 , additionally comprising storing the diagnosis in the patient medical history. 
     
     
       34. The method defined in  claim 32 , additionally comprising providing the diagnosis to the selected one of the patients through the automated medical advice system. 
     
     
       35. The method defined in  claim 27 , wherein the communication comprises information obtained during a consultation.