Medical image importer and method

摘要

Provided are a medical information importer and method for importing medical information into a network-accessible database. The medical information importer includes a housing includes with an external stand-alone form factor, the housing including an interface for receiving a portable computer-readable medium storing medical information. An information reading component is provided for reading the medical information from the portable computer-readable medium when operatively connected to the interface. A computer-readable memory in communication with the information reading component stores, at least temporarily, the medical information read by the reading component under the direction of a controller. And a network interface connects the medical information importer to a communication network without a local connection between the medical information importer and a computer terminal including a display device for viewing the medical information.

主权项

1. A medical image importer comprising:
a housing comprising an external stand-alone form factor for being operatively connected to a communication network via a network interface without a local connection to a computer terminal including a display device; an optical drive provided to the housing for reading from an optical computer-readable medium introduced to the optical drive a medical image associated with a patient captured by a medical modality; a local, non-volatile computer-readable memory provided to the housing in communication with the optical drive for storing, at least temporarily, the medical image read by the optical drive; a controller that is operable to execute computer-executable logic for controlling operation of the medical image importer; and an instructional computer-readable memory storing computer-executable instructions to be executed by the controller for performing a method comprising:
initiating a query of a remotely-located patient information database in communication with the communication network and storing patient information to be associated with the medical image read by the optical drive, said querying comprising transmitting the patient information associated with the medical image over the communication network to identify a patient entry in the patient information database at a time of the query in an attempt to retrieve information specific to the patient;serving content, from the medical image importer, over the communication network to be used for generating a display on a remotely-located computer terminal, said display being presentable in an application executed on the remotely-located computer terminal to display at least a portion of the patient information associated with the medical image read by the optical drive and the information specific to the patient associated with the patient entry stored in the patient information database returned in response to said querying;updating, in the local computer-readable memory provided to the medical image importer, the patient information read by the optical drive based on the information associated with the patient entry in the patient information database returned in response to said querying, wherein said updating comprises supplementing, changing, or supplementing and changing the patient information read by the optical drive to include at least a portion of the information associated with the patient entry in the patient information database returned in response to said querying, and saving updated information in the local computer-readable memory comprising the patient information as supplemented, changed or supplemented and changed;associating the medical image with the patient information updated based on the information associated with the patient entry in the patient information database; andtransmitting over the communication network the updated information to be stored in a standard-compliant manner in a PACS image database.