Invented by Scott D. Augustine, Susan D. Augustine, Garrett J. Augustine, Brent M. Augustine, Ryan S. Augustine, Randall C. Arnold, Augustine Biomedical and Design LLC

The market for medical modules with automated dose response systems is rapidly expanding as healthcare providers seek to improve patient safety and streamline medication administration processes. These advanced systems offer numerous benefits, including increased accuracy, reduced medication errors, and enhanced efficiency in healthcare settings. Automated dose response systems are designed to automate the process of medication administration, ensuring that patients receive the correct dose of medication at the right time. These systems are equipped with advanced technologies such as barcode scanning, computerized physician order entry (CPOE), and electronic medication administration records (eMAR). By integrating these technologies, medical modules with automated dose response systems can significantly reduce the risk of medication errors caused by human factors, such as misinterpretation of handwritten prescriptions or incorrect dosage calculations. One of the key drivers of the market for medical modules with automated dose response systems is the growing concern over medication errors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), medication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in healthcare systems worldwide. These errors can result in adverse drug events, patient harm, and increased healthcare costs. By implementing automated dose response systems, healthcare providers can minimize the risk of medication errors and improve patient safety. Another factor contributing to the market growth is the increasing demand for efficient medication administration processes. Traditional manual medication administration methods are time-consuming and prone to errors. With automated dose response systems, healthcare providers can streamline medication administration workflows, saving time and reducing the burden on healthcare professionals. These systems can also provide real-time data on medication administration, allowing for better tracking and monitoring of patient medication adherence. Furthermore, the market for medical modules with automated dose response systems is driven by the need for interoperability and integration with existing healthcare information systems. These systems can seamlessly integrate with electronic health records (EHRs) and other clinical systems, enabling healthcare providers to access comprehensive patient information and medication history. This integration facilitates better coordination of care, reduces duplication of efforts, and improves overall patient outcomes. The market for medical modules with automated dose response systems is highly competitive, with several key players offering innovative solutions. These companies invest heavily in research and development to enhance the functionality and usability of their systems. They also collaborate with healthcare providers to understand their specific needs and develop tailored solutions. In conclusion, the market for medical modules with automated dose response systems is witnessing significant growth due to the increasing demand for patient safety, efficiency, and integration in healthcare settings. These systems offer numerous benefits, including improved accuracy, reduced medication errors, and enhanced medication administration processes. As healthcare providers continue to prioritize patient safety and seek ways to optimize medication management, the demand for these advanced systems is expected to rise further in the coming years.

The Augustine Biomedical and Design LLC invention works as follows

An automated dos-response recording system, including a module housing electronic and electromechanical medical devices that produce waste heat, including at least one physiological monitor, as well as a system for measuring, temporally correlating and recording dose and response events.

Background for Medical module with automated dose response system

Over the past century, anesthesia monitors and surgical equipment were invented, developed and introduced sporadically into surgical practice. These equipments are made by many different companies that have no incentive to work together to create an efficient operating room. The equipment in the operating room was placed at random, without any plan, and decades later it is still there.

Over the last 20 years there has been an increasing trend to replace paper anesthetic charts with electronic anesthetic charts (EAR). It was necessary to manually enter the EAR the information about the IV and inhaled drugs, IV fluids, oxygen, ventilation gases, and anesthetics such as intubation. The EAR also requires manual input of blood, urine and fluid outputs using a keyboard and mouse. “The surgical equipment scattered throughout the operating room does not provide a digital output which could be used to memorialize its operation in the electronic record. This output is either not automatically captured or is not presented in a manner that provides a meaningful context or correlation.

Medical information can be gathered by carefully observing a patient under different conditions, including during surgery. In the age of electronic monitoring the art of patient observation is a dying one. It is rarely done, and even if done, it is not entered in the records, so the information lost.

The majority of data input into the electronic medical and anesthetic records comes from vital signs monitors that record the patient’s “response”. The ‘dose’ The ‘dose? Manually entered data can lead to errors, omissions, and a lack of temporal correlation between dose and response. This incomplete and inaccurate record makes any analysis using artificial intelligence or machine learning software difficult, whether for the individual patient or ‘big data’. “Analysis of populations of patients.

This document is about systems and methods that improve safety in patients receiving intravenous fluids and medications by avoiding errors with medication and documentation. This document is intended to be used by all, and not just those who are interested in anesthesia, surgery, and patient records. This document relates to systems and methods for constructing granular (beat-by-beat) anesthetic, surgical and patient records that include both?dose? Events (inputs of electronic monitors, measuring devices, and machine vision “observations”). The dose and response are recorded precisely in time and in the electronic record of the patient. They can also be combined with other records in a database and analyzed using artificial intelligence or machine learning software.

Illustrative Examples of an Automated Dose-Response Record System that Systematizes Surgical Safety for Patients and OR Personnel. This automated dose-response system can be designed to accommodate nearly all the operating room monitors and supporting equipment. Even equipment that is normally kept apart can be grouped together. This unique automated dose response record system can be designed to fit under and next to the armboard of the surgery table, a place that is traditionally occupied with an IV pole. This location was a “no-mans land” for the last 100 years. Between the surgical and anesthesia sides of the operating rooms. The space under and next to the arm-board is the “prime real estate” in reality. The space is ideal for the operating room because it’s adjacent to the patient, allowing optimal monitoring and observation while maintaining the surgical procedure and patient. It is also easily accessible by the surgical and anesthesia staff. Short cables and hoses can reach the patient. This unique area next to the arm-board and under it is the only place in the operating room that allows cables, cords, and hoses to be connected to the monitors or patient support equipment without having to cross the floor.

In some examples, a illustrative automated dosing-response system can accommodate both anesthesia-related and non-anesthesia-related equipment. The illustrative module can be used to house non-proprietary OR devices such as anesthesia machines, patient vital signs monitors, and electro-surgical generators. The automated dose-response system can also be used to house proprietary safety equipment, such as air-free electric warming of patients, surgical smoke extraction, waste alcohol and oxygen removal, and evacuation of flow-boundary zones that disrupt the OR ventilation. This automated dose-response system can also be used to house other equipment, such as non-anesthesia related items (e.g., air mattresses and air pumps), sequential compression leggings and air pumps, RFID counting of surgical sponges, waste fluid and blood disposal systems, and “hover” devices. Mattress inflators. These devices can be recorded in the automated dose response system with or without anesthesia equipment.

In some cases, the automated dos-response system is a specially shaped and specialized rack that can hold and protect the patient monitors, as well as other electronic and electromechanical surgery equipment in an ideal location. This is a very different location than just placing anesthesia monitors atop the anesthesia machine, and scattering the other equipment around the operating room floor.

The various electronic and electromechanical components that are housed in the automated dose response record system described herein can generate relatively large amounts waste heat. The lower bulbous section of the module, which is located below the table’s height because it is beneath the arm-board, is placed on the ground next to the surgery table. The release of waste heat at this location, on the floor adjacent to the surgical table, may result in a risk for sterile contamination by the rising waste heat which may contain squares or other contaminants. The automated dose response system can include a waste-heat management system that safely disposes of waste heat generated by electronic and electromechanical devices housed in the automated dos-response system.

It would be impossible or difficult to contain the waste heat generated by electromechanical and electronic equipment mounted on an open rack, because it could escape in any directions. The module may include a “cowling” in some cases. The cowling can cover the outer or inner surface in large part. The cowling protects equipment against accidental fluid damage, but also confines waste heat generated by the electronic and electromechanical components mounted inside the module to the interior of the module. The confined waste heat in some cases can be safely managed.

In some cases, the cowling of the automated dose response record system may be used to form or support an energy waste management system. In some cases, the cowling is provided on the inner surface of the housing. In some cases, the cowl can be described in terms of insulation. The housing may include additional types of heat or water insulation in some cases. “Any suitable type of insulated house suitable for use in the surgical field can provided.

In some cases, the automatic dose-response recording system of the present invention may contain components of anesthesia gas machines. So-called ?gas machines? Gas machines are a simple collection of piping and valves with flow meters, vaporizers, and ventilators. They could be placed within the automated dos-response system or attached to it for better access and to consolidate the equipment. Close proximity to the patient allows for a shorter ventilation tube and also a shorter sampling tubing. “The close proximity of anesthesia gas machines to patients allows for continuous monitoring of the patient as well as adjusting gas and anesthetic flow.

In some cases, the location of the anesthesia machines in the automated dos-response-record system or adjacent to it allows for direct access to sensors and monitors associated with the anesthesia machines, and the input of data into the electronic anesthetic records being recorded by the equipment in the automated dos-response-record system.

In some examples, a illustrative automated dos-response system can accommodate both anesthesia-related and non-anesthesia-related equipment. The illustrative automated record system for OR equipment can include a range of non-proprietary OR devices, such as patient vital signs monitors and electrosurgical generators. The automated dose-response system can also be used to house proprietary safety equipment, such as air-free electric warming of patients, waste alcohol and oxygen extraction, and evacuation of flow-boundary zones that disrupt the OR ventilation. This automated dose-response system can also be used to house other equipment, such as non-anesthesia related items (such as air mattresses and air pumps), sequential compression leggings and air pumps, RFID counting of surgical sponges, waste fluid and blood disposal systems, and “hover” devices. Mattress inflators. These devices can be stored with or without anesthesia equipment in the automated dos-response recording system and in electrical communication with the processing circuitry of a dose-response-recording system.

In some cases, the automated dos-response system is a specially shaped and specialized rack that can hold and protect the patient monitors, as well as other electronic and electromechanical surgery equipment in an ideal location. This is a very different location than just placing anesthesia monitors atop the anesthesia machine, and scattering the other equipment around the operating room floor.

In some cases, collection canisters of waste fluids and blood could be mounted conveniently on the module. By mounting the canisters to the automated dose response record system, vacuum tubes no longer need to be laid on the floor to travel from the wall outlet and the canister to the surgical field. The module can be mounted with optical or infrared level sensors. Fluid level monitors can be used to automatically activate or deactivate vacuum for a canister. This will automatically shift the blood and fluid flow from one canister to another as it fills.

In some cases, the controls and displays for the surgical equipment contained in the automated dosing-response system can be wirelessly linked to a portable screen, such as an iPad, or “smart tablet”. The nurse can easily access the system from anywhere in the room. The nurse can monitor and control equipment without having to walk across the room. It is more convenient for the surgical nurse, and it increases her awareness of equipment condition. The staff moving around the OR can kick up contaminants from the floor and into the air, where they can then be carried by waste heat to the sterile surgery field. “A portable display screen reduces the amount of movement by surgical staff in the OR, which has been proven to reduce airborne infection and surgical site infections.

The switch to electronic records has made record keeping difficult and time-consuming. The computer record is entered after the incident has occurred, and when the case is settled. This not only causes a distraction from patient care, but also leads to inaccurate records. Hand-entered records do not allow the computer to improve patient safety, by checking dosages, side effects and allergies, alerting clinicians to possible problems, or stopping drug administration. Hand-entered records are useless for managing drug inventory because each medication administration does not correspond to a specific bottle or syringe. The computer keyboard and mouse have also been found to be infected by many different types of bacteria and are difficult to clean. “Automatic anesthetic data input to the EAR will improve patient safety, clinician satisfaction, and OR inventory management.

In general, doctors and nursing staff are not interested to replace themselves or their jobs by automated drug delivery systems or automated anesthesia system. They may be more open-minded about automated record keeping. “The challenge of automated recordkeeping is automating data input to document the many activities, anesthesia-related events, fluid, medication, and gas administration that constitute a medical situation or an anesthetic

The second challenge of implementing an electronic anesthetic or medical record is to make as few changes as possible in the routines of anesthesiologists and other clinicians who use this system. Anesthesiologists, surgeons and other clinicians tend to be tradition-bound. They are resistant to change and will stick with their “tried and tested” ways of doing things. Anesthesiologists and surgeons are generally tradition-bound, and resistant to any changes in their?tried and true? “A successful automated EAR must be able to interact seamlessly with existing anesthesia practices, and the operating room workflow, without causing disruptions.

In some examples, an automated EAR according to this disclosure can include a system that automatically measures and records the administration of fluids and IV medications. The system for measuring and recording IV medications and liquids can include one of more sensors such as a barcode scanner or RFID interrogator to accurately identify a medication or a fluid for IV administration.

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