SYSTEM FOR MANAGING GLUCOSE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES OR HYPERGLYCEMIA
A blood glucose maintenance system for use by hyperglycemic individuals measures their blood glucose level and calculates an appropriate glucose or insulin dosage based on the measurement. Recheck intervals responsive to dosage history are determined. Warning or alert messages or signals are produced if certain measurements or calculations fall outside established normal ranges. It is particularly useful for patients in a hospital or in-patient environment.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/203,978, filed Jul. 6, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/337,157, filed Dec. 17, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/131,707, filed May 18, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,509,156 each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to maintenance of proper glucose levels in hyperglycemic individuals, and in particular, to a system that aids in the correct administration of insulin through the use of computerized insulin dosage calculations that are made with the use of individual-specific information.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONMaintaining proper blood sugar, i.e., glucose, levels is important for hyperglycemic individuals, e.g., diabetics, in order to prevent long term problems such as nerve damage, blindness, and kidney disease. The need to control blood glucose (often referred to as BG) levels is even more important with hyperglycemic patients in critical care situations, such as in hospital intensive care units following surgical procedures, as those patients are more likely to suffer adverse physical effects, e.g., infections, from improperly maintained BG levels. Compounding this problem is the fact that BG levels in such patients may be unstable, necessitating frequent measurements and adjustments of administered insulin dosage. At times the degree of insulin dosage adjustment may be significant, or the calculated dosage amount may be high, so that it is difficult to determine whether the calculated insulin dose is correct or if an error in blood sugar measurement or an equipment malfunction has occurred.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of one embodiment of the present invention to provide a system for monitoring patients' blood glucose levels, calculating proper insulin dosages, and providing relevant feedback information and messages to the individual, or when used in a hospital or other in-patient setting, to the patient's physician, nurse, or other caregiver. Variations of BG levels outside a predetermined range results in more frequent BG measurements, while calculated insulin doses that fall outside normally expected levels (either high or low) generate feedback messages and warnings that require additional measurement or caregiver intervention to insure the correct treatment is administered.
For the purposes of promoting understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is hereby intended and alterations and modifications in the devices, systems and representations illustrated in the Figures of the drawing, and further applications of the principles of the present invention as illustrated herein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
Referring to
In operation, nurse 16 tests the blood sugar or glucose level of patient 12 by a known, available means including, but not limited to, a traditional finger stick using known, commercially available products. Nurse 16 then enters the measured BG level of patient 12 into data handling device 24. Device 24 is illustratively shown as having a display 26 and an input 28. Display 26 may be of any conventional or available display type, such as, for example, a CRT or LCD screen, while input 26 may be a computer keyboard, for example. When the patient's measured glucose level has been entered into device 24, the entered information is sent via communications channel 30 to computer or data processor 32 which may be located at a central location, such as a nurses' station or hospital-wide patient monitor center. Communications channel 30 may be of the form of a hardwired connection, a local area network, or an internet-based wide area network, to cite a few non-limiting examples. Network access may advantageously provide access to patient data from other hospitals or in-patient facilities, and it can allow patent 12 to be moved within a networked facility or between network-linked facilities, while still maintaining active monitoring of the patient's condition and providing access to historical patient data. Data processor 32 illustratively comprises a central processing unit (CPU) 34 and memory 36, which may be of any known or available form, such as, for example, ROM, PROM, RAM, EPROM or EEPROM. Also shown as being connected or associated with data processor 32 are display 38 (such as, for example, a CRT or LCD screen) and input device 40, such as a keyboard, for example.
Data processor 32 evaluates the BG level of patient 12 to determine if the glucose level is high or low. If it is low, data processor 32 calculates an appropriate dosage of glucose, typically administered as dextrose (such as that identified as D-50), that is needed to bring the BG level of patient 12 back within a predetermined “normal” range. If the BG level is high, data processor 32 calculates a proper insulin drip level that required to restore the BG level of patient 12 to the “normal” range. If the BG level is within the “normal” range for patient 12, data processor 32 calculates a proper insulin drip level sufficient to maintain the BG level of patient 12 within the “normal” range. The information is sent back to device 24 via communications channel 30 where it appears on display 26. Nurse or caregiver 16 then administers dextrose, if needed, or makes any necessary adjustments to drip regulator 20 so that the proper amount of insulin 18 is delivered to patient 12. The calculation used by CPU 34 of data processor 32 illustratively utilizes a known algorithm identified as the Protocol of Bode et al., and described in an article entitled “Intravenous Insulin Infusion Therapy: Indications, Methods, and Transition to Subcutaneous Insulin Therapy,” Endocrine Practice, Vol. 10 (Suppl. 2), March/April 2004, but a proprietary algorithm or some other proven calculation could be developed or adapted to be suitable as well.
If the measured BG level is low (i.e., below the lower limit of the desired BG range), step 54 calculates the appropriate amount of glucose (e.g., D-50 dextrose) needed by patient 12. This information is used by process 41 at step 56 to administer the dextrose dose to patient 12. Process 41 then sets an appropriate recheck interval at step 58, e.g., 15 minutes, at which time alarm 60 either provides an audible or visible alert to nurse 16 that it is time to recheck the BG level of patient 12. In an automated arrangement, alarm 60 could initiate a new BG check via step 50 directly. The information determined at step 58 is also stored in database 46 to provide historical data that can be used to generate a complete report about patient 12, re-establish a drip, or more accurately predict the course of treatment needed to control BG levels in patient 12.
If the evaluation at step 52 determines that the BG level is high (i.e., above the upper limit of the desired BG range), process 41 calculates the proper insulin drip rate for patient 12 at step 62. This insulin dosage is then administered at step 64, which permits adjustment of the insulin drip rate and volume being given to patient 12 based on the information determined at step 62. At step 66, process 41 then determines an appropriate BG level recheck interval (that is also stored in database 46) for patient 12. At the end of such interval, alarm 68 provides an alert to a nurse or caregiver that it is time to recheck the BG level of patient 12 or, in an automated system or environment, directly initiates a BG level measurement via step 50.
Process 41 may incorporate additional alerts that require additional evaluations or determinations in order to proceed, so that improper measurements or data entry, or an equipment malfunction, may be discovered before an incorrect treatment is administered to a patient. Such alerts may, for example, be associated with step 50 if the BG level measured at a given time is significantly different than that measured previously, or if the previous measurement was done only a short time before. Alerts could also be associated with steps 54 or 62 if the calculated dextrose or insulin dosage amount appears to be abnormally high or low. Other alert mechanisms may also be included as desired and the actions needed, e.g., doctor or nurse sign-off, BG level recheck, may be specified in order for the process to proceed. Process 41 can use the information stored in database 46, which creates a permanent archived record for each patient, to create individual patient reports or to determine trends and predictions from statistically analyzing a large amount of data from a number of patients.
Many of the functions of system 10 that have been described with reference to
System 70 operates similarly to system 10 of
The operation of system 70 in
Additional information may also be entered and used by system 10, such as a time interval (in minutes) that will issue an alert or warning if a BG measurement has already been done during this interval. This is shown by entry 152 on screen 154 in
The previous description has been made based on treatment of hyperglycemic patients in an in-patient medical/surgical setting, such as a hospital or nursing home, as the novel features of the invention lend themselves particularly well to a critical or intensive care setting. The scope of the invention, however, is not limited to an in-patient environment. Significant advantages can also be realized by ambulatory or otherwise healthy individuals with diabetes through the use of, for example, periodic or continuous blood glucose measurement devices and an insulin pump. The manner in which such as system, incorporating one or more embodiments of the present invention, could provide automatic blood glucose measurement and administration of proper insulin amounts while still maintaining sufficient safeguards to protect against an inadvertent application of an incorrect insulin dose due to an equipment malfunction or some incident of human error. Changes in set-up or default settings can also be made to accommodate patients who encounter wide swings in their BG measurements (e.g., brittle diabetics), or those changes could be made in response to, or in anticipation of, specific events, such as when a hyperglycemic individual intends to engage in an activity that would otherwise cause BG levels to vary beyond normal level, e.g., running a marathon.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawing and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes, modifications and equivalents that come within the spirit of the inventions disclosed are desired to be protected. The articles “a”, “an”, “said” and “the” are not limited to a singular element, and include one or more such elements.
Claims
1. A system for maintaining a blood glucose level in an individual comprising:
- setup means for establishing a desired range of blood glucose levels for said individual, wherein said setup means also receives first historical insulin response data specific to the individual;
- measuring means for determining a first blood glucose level for said individual;
- calculating means responsive to said first blood glucose level for determining a proper first dextrose dosage amount for said individual when said blood glucose level is below said desired range and for determining a proper first subcutaneous insulin dosage amount for said individual when said blood glucose level is above said desired range;
- delivery means for administering at least one of said first dextrose dosage amount or said first subcutaneous insulin dosage amount to said individual;
- evaluation means responsive to said first blood glucose level and said first historical insulin response data for determining a time interval for said individual after which said individual's blood glucose level is to be re-measured; and
- timing means for generating a signal when said time interval has elapsed;
- wherein said evaluation means is responsive to a second blood glucose level determined by said measuring means to determine a second historical insulin response data for the individual; and
- wherein said calculating means is further responsive to and said first and said second historical insulin response data to determine a proper second subcutaneous insulin dosage amount for said individual when said second blood glucose level is above said desired range.
2. The system described in claim 1, wherein said measuring means operates on a periodic basis having a time period specified by the evaluation means.
3. The system described in claim 1, wherein said calculating means is further responsive to at least one criteria associated with said individual.
4. The system described in claim 1, wherein said criteria comprises previously administered insulin delivery dosages for said individual.
5. The system described in claim 1, wherein said criteria comprises information regarding food previously consumed by said individual.
6. The system described in claim 1, wherein said individual is a patient in a hospital.
7. The system described in claim 1, wherein said individual is a resident of a nursing home facility.
8. The system described in claim 1, wherein said individual is in an out-patient setting.
9. The system described in claim 1, further comprising estimating means responsive to said first of second calculated glucose dosage amount or said first of second calculated insulin dosage amount, and to at least one criteria associated with said individual, for estimating the accuracy of said first or second calculated dosage amount.
10. The system described in claim 11, further comprising notification means for generating an alert signal when said estimated accuracy is below a predetermined level.
11. The system described in claim 10, wherein said alert signal is auditory.
12. The system described in claim 10, wherein said alert signal is visual.
13. The system described in claim 1, wherein said timing means signal is auditory.
14. The system described in claim 1, wherein said timing means signal is visual.
15. The system described in claim 1, wherein said delivery means comprises an insulin pump.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 20, 2017
Publication Date: May 3, 2018
Applicant: Indiana University Health, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN)
Inventor: Samuel J. Flanders (Indianapolis, IN)
Application Number: 15/848,183