1. A system for capturing medical information, comprising:
a first software component that receives pictorial input that represents at least one of a physical finding and a treatment associated with an anatomical portion of a patient;
a second software component that translates the pictorial input into Cartesian coordinates representative of the received pictorial input;
a third software component that records the translated pictorial input as a dataset for storing, wherein the dataset is recallable for annotation or updating; and
a display software component that is configured to output information related to the anatomical portion of the patient using the dataset to facilitate recording a diagnosis or a treatment associated with the patient,
wherein all of the software components execute on a computer platform having an input and output interface.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first software component receives textual information associated with the pictorial input.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the received pictorial information is received as drawn free-hand user input.
4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a fourth software component that executes and outputs a graphical presentation of a body part prior to receiving the pictorial input to aid in capturing and associating the pictorial input with the body part.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the graphical representation of the body part is preselectable by a user.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the outputted graphical presentation is associated with a quadrant for receiving input associated with that quadrant.
7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a fifth software component that executes and generates a text description based on the received pictorial input.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the generated text description comprises a part of an electronic medical record (EMR).
9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sixth software component that executes and generates a current procedural terminology (CPT) code or international classification of diseases (ICD-9) code based on the received pictorial input as part of a electronic medial record (EMR).
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the generated CPT code andor the generated ICD-9 code is used for billing purposes.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first software component is any one of: a spider vein marking tool, a varicose vein marking tool, a laser treatment tool and a sclerotherapy treatment tool.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the dataset includes a code to indicate graphical characteristics of the received pictorial input including at least any one of: a color of a line, a width of a line, and transparency of a line.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the dataset includes a numeric code that represents a medical condition of at least a portion of the body part, represents a particular type of pathology, represents a resolution of a pathology, represents imaging results, or represents a procedure performed.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein the dataset includes information indicative of a tool used to annotate the anatomical portion of the patient.
15. A method for capturing medical information, comprising:
outputting to a display an electronic rendering of a body part based on a selection for receiving in response a pictorial annotation representative of a medical condition or treatment of at least a portion of the body part;
receiving the pictorial annotation;
translating the pictorial annotation into storable indicia representative of the pictorial annotation so that the indicia are recallable for updating with additional annotation; and
associating at least one of the pictorial annotation and the storable indicia with a electronic medical record (EMR) viewable as part of the EMR.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:
translating the pictorial annotation into text and including the text as part of the electronic medical record.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the outputting is associated with a quadrant for capturing an annotation or displaying a particular view associated with an angle from among different angles for viewing the at least a portion of the body part.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein the pictorial annotation is representative of a medical condition of at least a portion of the body part, represents a particular type of pathology, represents a resolution of a pathology, represents imaging results, or represents a procedure performed.
19. A method of documenting medical findings, the method comprising:
receiving free-hand input to annotate a computer generated visual representation of a body part;
translating the free-hand input to a dataset representative of multiple characteristics of the body part; and
associating the information contained in the dataset with an electronic medical record (EMR).
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising processing a request to apply a tool for annotating the computer generated visual representation of the body part, the tool applying and storing as part of the dataset a visual context to the annotated computer generated visual representation of the body part
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the applying a visual context provides at least one of a color attribute and a size attribute indicative of a condition or status of at least a portion of the body part.
22. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of generating a current procedural terminology (CPT) code or international classification of diseases (ICD-9) code based on the dataset as part of an electronic medical record (EMR).
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the generated CPT code and the generated ICD-9 code is used for billing purposes.
24. The method of claim 19, wherein the dataset includes coding that represents a medical condition of at least a portion of the body part, represents a particular type of pathology, represents a resolution of a pathology, represents imaging results, or represents a procedure performed.
25. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing as part of the dataset information related to a tool that annotates the computer generated visual representation of the body part
26. A method of documenting medical findings, the method comprising:
receiving a tool selection to select a tool for annotating a computer generated visual representation of a body part;
receiving free-hand input to annotate the computer generated visual representation of a body part;
translating the free-hand input to a dataset representative of multiple characteristics of the body part, the dataset including information related to the tool selected for annotating the computer generated visual representation of a body part; and
recalling the dataset and using the stored information related to the tool for recreating the annotated computer generated visual representation of the body for display or updating.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the translating step translates the free-hand input into Cartesian coordinates representative of the received free-hand input relative to the computer generated visual representation of a body part.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus comprising:
a first portion comprising a projection extending in a first direction;
a second portion comprising an aperture extending in the first direction, where the first portion and the second portion are configured for relative movement in at least the first direction;
and wherein the projection extends from the first portion in the first direction between the first portion and the second portion through the aperture
and wherein the aperture surrounds the projection with clearances
configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the first portion and the second portion and configured to enable reciprocating movement of the first portion and the second portion in the first direction towards each other and away from each other.
2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus provides an exterior housing for at least some electronic components.
3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the exterior housing is formed from rigid components.
4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the projection is positioned at an interior surface of the first portion and the aperture is positioned at an interior surface of the second portion.
5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein an exterior surface of the first portion and an exterior surface of the second portion are aligned in the first direction when the projection and the aperture are aligned in the first direction.
6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein an exterior surface of the first portion and the projection are connected via a surface portion of the first portion and wherein an exterior surface of the second portion and a portion of the second portion defining the aperture are connected via a surface portion of the second portion, wherein the surface portion of the first portion and the surface portion of the second portion are configured to abut to limit movement of the first portion and the second portion towards each other.
7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the surface portion of the first portion is concave and the surface portion of the second portion is convex to match the concave surface portion of the first part.
8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first portion and the second portion overlap at an area of overlap which increases in size when the first portion and the second portion move towards each other in the first direction and which decreases in size when the first portion and the second portion move away from each other in the first direction and wherein the projection extends through the aperture in the area of overlap.
9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second portion comprises an exterior visible edge that permanently overlaps the first portion and defines an extremity of the area of overlap.
10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clearances between the projection and surrounding aperture are configured to enforce limits on relative transverse movement of the first portion and the second portion.
11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clearances between the projection and surrounding aperture comprise lateral clearances configured to enforce limits on relative lateral movement of the first portion and the second portion relative to the first longitudinal direction.
12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clearances between the projection and surrounding aperture comprises lateral clearances configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the first portion and the second portion about a vertical transverse axis orthogonal to the first longitudinal direction.
13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clearances between the projection and surrounding aperture comprise vertical clearances configured to enforce limits on relative vertical movement of the first portion and the second portion relative to the first longitudinal direction.
14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clearances between the projection and surrounding aperture comprise vertical clearances configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the first portion and the second portion about a horizontal transverse axis orthogonal to the first longitudinal direction.
15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clearances between the projection and surrounding aperture are configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the first portion and the second portion about a horizontal axis parallel to the first longitudinal direction.
16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the projection is not rotatable within the aperture about an axis parallel to the first direction.
17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a length of the projection is configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the first portion and the second portion about a horizontal transverse axis orthogonal to the first longitudinal direction.
18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising multiple portions interconnected in series via interconnections between adjacent portions of the multiple portions, wherein the multiple portions comprise the first portion and the second portion, wherein each interconnection comprises a projection extending through an aperture that surrounds the projection with clearances configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the adjacent portions while enabling reciprocating movement of the adjacent portions.
19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the clearances for each interconnection is the same.
20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the clearances for at least some of the interconnections are different.
21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the clearances for interconnections that are positioned equal distances from a transverse center line are the same.
22. An apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the multiple portions comprise:
a first terminal portion comprising a projection extending in a first direction from a first end;
a second terminal portion comprising an aperture extending in a first direction at a second end;
one or more intermediate portions each of which comprises
a projection extending in a first direction from a first end and an aperture extending in the first direction at a second end,
where the multiple portions are configured for relative movement in at least the first direction;
and wherein each projection extends in the first direction through the aperture of an adjacent one of the multiple portions and wherein each aperture surrounds each projection with clearances configured to enforce limits on relative movement of the adjacent portions while enabling reciprocating movement of the adjacent portions in the first direction towards each other and away from each other.