WO2003005241A1

WO2003005241A1 - Information system

Info

Publication number: WO2003005241A1
Application number: PCT/SE2002/001341
Authority: WO
Inventors: Klas Tikkanen; Fredrik ÖBERG; Staffan Holmin; Pia TENGNÉR
Original assignee: Doctool Ab
Priority date: 2001-07-06
Filing date: 2002-07-04
Publication date: 2003-01-16
Also published as: SE0102430D0

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for retrieving and storing medical information, comprising the steps of: inputting at least one character in a first text box in a first window displayed by a user terminal; displaying a list of at least one medical word in response to the inputting of the at least one character; choosing to retrieve a first set of medical information on one of the at least one medical word; displaying a second window associated with the one of the at least one medical word, the second window comprising a second text box and the first set of medical information; inputting a second set of medical information in the second text box; and storing the second set of medical information in a medical information server. The invention also relates to a medical information system and a medical information server.

Description

INFORMATION SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for retrieving and storing medical information. The invention also relates to a medical information system and a medical infor- mation server.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Physicians often work in an environment where they have to meet a number of patients at different places, e.g. when doing the round. Therefore the physicians have to be highly mobile, moving from room to room, from office to office and even between different hospitals and out of hospital. In the case where the physician needs to look u medical information, e.g. information concerning a disease condition, a diagnose code from one of several common medical classification systems, or the recommended doses of a drug, it is usually not possible to find the desired medical information in the rooms that are visited at the moment. Hence valuable time is wasted for getting the desired medical information. Moreover it often takes an even longer time to get the desired medical information in the case where the physician is visiting a patient outside of a hospital, since the desired medical information is not usually accessible in the home of the patient.

The nature of the daily tasks faced by most physicians are such that there is an essential need for looking up medical information from several sources, several times every day. Hence it is a common practice among physicians to keep their own brief notes on medical subjects. The notes are usually written in a note pad or on loose paper sheets. Typically this note pad is of considerable age, not uncommonly dating back to the physicians time as a medical student. The note pad constantly grows, there is an obvious problem of old notes becoming obsolete, the adding of new ones to the note pad creates quite a substantial weight and there is also a problem of keeping the note pad or- ganised in an orderly and easily accessible way. A physician often wears a gown, in which the note pad, loose sheets or pocket reference literature temporarily may be kept, often together with other devices. Thus the gown easily becomes physically heavy and therefore the physician usually takes on and off the gown several times a day, and this is done at places and times different from those where the gown is taken on and off more naturally; such as when coming from home to the place of work. In a stressful environment it is therefore inevitable that notes with medical information sometimes are lost and may not be found. Hence valuable, important and/or confidential notes may be forgotten by the physician and/or be- come public to unauthorised persons by accident.

US-5845255-A discloses a computer implemented prescription system, in which PDA:s (Personal Digital Assistants) are used by physicians in order to overcome the problem with having no access to adequate, reliable drug information at the time and point of prescription. Through the prescription system the physician may get information regarding drugs, relative costs, condition of the patient, current treatment of the patient and current medications for conditions. Hence US-5845255-A acknowledges the physician's need for drug information at the point of care, but the problem it causes due to lost notes and other problems concerning medical information storage and re- trieval, still remains.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to make it more convenient to get desired medi- cal information and make notes related to the desired medical information.

It is also an object of the present invention to make sure that important or confidential notes are not lost and not found by unauthorised persons. Other objects, effects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for retrieving and storing medical information, comprising the steps of: inputting at least one character in a first text box in a first window displayed by a user terminal; displaying in the user terminal a list of at least one medical word in response to the inputting of the at least one character; choosing to retrieve a first set of medical information on one of the at least one medical word; displaying in the user terminal, in response to the choosing to retrieve the first set of medical information, a second window associated with the one of the at least one medical word, the second window comprising a second text box and the first set of medical information; inputting a second set of medical information in the second text box; and storing the second set of medical information in a medical information server con- nected to the user terminal through at least one communications network.

Hereby is achieved that medical information is easy to access and that notes related to the retrieved medical information may be inputted among the accessed medical information. Furthermore, the user of the terminal does not have to worry about losing the notes even if the user terminal gets broken or is lost. Throughout the description and the claims, the term medical word is used as a representative of a single word or several words related to medicine. The medical word may be anything related to medicine, such as medical diagnoses, diagnose codes, drugs, substances used in drugs, pharmaceutical companies, diseases, conditions, ailments, medical procedures, side-effects and medical devices. The displaying of the list of the at least one medical word may be done in the first window. Hereby is achieved that a separate window for the list do not have to be generated, thus making the accessing of information even faster and more user friendly.

The method may comprise the step of retrieving the at least one medical word comprised in the list from at least one medical information database in the medical information server. Hereby is achieved that the medical words are transmitted faster to the user terminals than if an external server would send the medical words via the medical information server.

The method may comprise the step of retrieving the first set of medical information from the at least one medical information database. Hereby is achieved that the first set of medical information is transmitted faster to the user terminals than if an external server would send the medical words via the medical information server.

The step of choosing to retrieve the first set of medical information may be done by clicking on the one of the at least one medical word in the first window, the one of the at least one medical word comprising a hypertext link initiating the displaying of the second window. Hereby the retrieving of the first set of medical information becomes even more convenient and user friendly. Also, the incorporation of hypertext in the words in the list saves valuable displaying area and makes the first window 'cleaner' than in the case where buttons are displayed in association to every one of the medical words in the list.

The method may comprise the step of: displaying at least one icon in the first window, the at least one icon being associated with one of the at least one medical word and one of the at least one medical information database. Hereby is achieved that a user directly and easily is able to see from which databases the first set of medical information corresponding to the medical words originates. The method may comprise the step of displaying the second set of medical information in the second text box after the storing of the second set of medical information. Hereby is achieved that the user's notes may be read by the user even after the storing, thus avoiding a manual request for retrieval of the second set of medical information after the storing.

The method may comprise the step of displaying the second set of medical information in the second window when the second window is displayed later on. Hereby is achieved that the second set of medical information always is retrievable from the medical information server at another time when the user wants to see the second set of medical information again. The second set of medical information may thus be very easily updated and edited at any time. Hence the second set of medical information will function as the user's personal notes on the at least one medical word, with very flexi- ble possibilities for completing the notes and keeping them updated.

The user, at inputting a medical word that is not contained in any medical database or source of information in, or connected to, the medical information server, may, at choosing to display the second window associated by this medical word, be generating a second window only consisting of the medical word (as e.g. a headline) and the second text box which in this case will be empty, the text box being available for personal notes as described above. Thus the user may create, store and update personal notes on any desired medical word, indeed on any possible combination of characters, thus giving the full functionality of the personal note pad. Furthermore, this way of generating new medical words and their corresponding personal notes is exactly the same as the method described for retrieving of information, which makes the method extremely user friendly, eliminating the need to learn a second method of creating new medical words. The first set of medical information, displayed in the second window, may contain, apart from the second text box, a list of medical databases, in or connected to the medical information server, in which there is information on the at least one medical word.

The method may comprise the steps of: choosing to retrieve a third set of medical information on the one of the at least one medical word by clicking on a hypertext link comprised in the second window, displaying in the user terminal a third window associated with the one of the at least one medical word, the third window comprising the third set of medical information. Hereby is achieved that all available medical information associated with the chosen medical word may be in the second window, divided into subgroups according to the source of the medical information, i.e. the medical database where the information is to be found. This medical database can be a drug database, well-known reference litera- tare, etc. This sub-grouping in the second window makes it easier for the user to rapidly choose the exact medical information desired, decreases the amount of data sent from the medical information server in one go, eliminates the scrolling or other kind of navigating in vast amounts of information that would be the inevitable result of presenting all the available medical information directly in the second window, and by in- eluding in the list of medical databases only those databases in which there is information on the one of the at least one medical word, eliminates the need for the user to know exactly in which databases there is information to be found on every single medical word.

The third set of medical information may, in the case of vast amounts of information contained on the medical word in the right spot in the chosen source of information, or in case there is information present at several spots in the chosen source, again be a list of hypertext links to several spots inside the chosen source of information. The method may comprise the possibility for each individual user to make and keep updated a personal configuration so that in the list of medical databases contained in the second window mentioned in the previous paragraphs will only be presented those databases chosen by the individual user, i.e. not all databases in or connected to the medical information server. This will make a list of medical databases in the second window shorter, easier to handle, and made to exactly correspond to the needs and wishes of the particular user.

The first set of medical information, contained in the second window, may, apart from the second text box and the list of databases described above, contain buttons for starting applications. For example, when the medical word is the name of a particular drug, this application may be a computer program generating a prescription, and sending this prescription electronically to a pharmacy.

The invention also relates to a medical information system comprising a medical information server and at least one user terminal, where the medical information server and the at least one user terminal are adapted to communicate with each other over at least one communications network and the medical information server comprises at least one medical information database and the at least one user terminal comprises a displaying means. The medical information server is adapted to:

- send data causing the at least one user terminal to display a first window comprising a first text box and a list of at least one medical word after at least one character has been inputted in the first text box;

- send data causing the at least one user terminal to display a second window compris- ing a first set of medical information related to one of the at least one medical word and a second text box, in which a second set of medical information related to the one of the at least one medical word may be inserted; and store the second set of medical information in. the medical information server. The at least one medical word in the list may be retrieved from the at least one medical information database.

The at least one user terminal may comprise transceiver means and at least one antenna for communication with the medical information server through at least one wireless communications network. Hereby is achieved that a portable user terminal may be used for retrieving and storing medical information and therefore ensure that desired medical information may be retrieved anytime and at any place covered by the at least one wireless communications network. By using a portable user terminal for annotations instead of note books and separate sheets, the administration of the notes.becomes easier and the gown worn by e.g. physicians becomes less heavy. Furthermore, a user of the portable user terminal is able to spend less time ensuring himself/herself that every item, such as note books, carried in the gown are still there and not lost; thus being able to spend more time for more useful tasks.

The medical information system may comprise a medical information delivery terminal connectable to _.the medical information server, which is adapted to send data that causes the medical information delivery terminal to display a graphical user interface, which allows a user of the medical information delivery terminal to create and send a. medical information message to the at least one user terminal via the medical information server. Hereby an additional and useful way of getting information is achieved. A medical information supplier may through the medical information terminal and the medical information server push medical information to the user terminals. Thus the users of the user terminals are able to receive medical information through the user terminals without actively searching for it.

The medical information server may comprise a logging database for storing log data related to actions performed by the at least one user terminal. Hereby monitoring of the users' handling behaviour is achieved and can be used for developing the ways of sending medical information to the users in the future. Furthermore, the invention relates to a medical information server adapted to send medical information to at least one user terminal and receive medical information from the at least one user terminal via at least one communications network. The medical information server comprises at least one medical information database and is adapted to:

- send data causing the at least one user terminal to display a first window comprising a first text box and a list of at least one medical word after at least one character has been inserted in the first text box; - send data causing the at least one user terminal to display a second window comprising a first set of medical information related to one of the at least one medical word and a second text box, in which a second set of medical information related to the one of the at least one medical word may be inserted; and . store the second set of medical information in the medical information server.

The at least one medical word in the list may comprise a hypertext link for enabling the medical information server to send the data that causes the at least one user terminal to display the second window.

The second window may comprise a hypertext link for enabling the medical information server to send the data that causes the at least one user terminal to display a third window with a third set of medical information related to the one of the at least one medical word.

The medical information server may comprise a medical annotation database in which the second set of medical information is stored. Hereby is achieved that medical notes or other medical information stored by the users are stored in a separate database.

In one embodiment, the medical annotation database is adapted to store text based files being at least a part of the second set of medical information. Hereby is achieved that e.g. txt-files and doc-files may be saved in the medical annotation database through e.g. the second text box.

The medical annotation database may also be adapted to store audio files, image files and/or video files, where the audio files, image files and/or video files are at least a part of the second set of medical information. Hereby is achieved that e.g. wav-file, mp3-, jpg-, gif-, tiff- and mpeg-x files may be stored in the medical annotation database through e.g.' the second text box. Thus an enhanced way of conveniently storing other kinds of annotations or medical information than plain text at the same place as the text based notes.

The medical information server may comprise a communication means adapting the medical information server to communicate with a second medical information server. Hereby is achieved that the user of the user terminals may retrieve medical information from the medical information server, where the medical information originates from another medical information server. Hence, all medical information databases used ■ may not be installed in the medical information server, but may be installed in different nodes in one or several communications networks.

The medical information server may comprise at least two medical information databases from which the at least one medical word in the list is retrieved. Hereby is achieved that a user of the user terminal may retrieve medical information from more than one medical information source (i.e. database) at the same time; thus making a search for desired medical information faster.

DRAWING SUMMARY

The objects, effects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, as well as other embodiments, when read together with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a system according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of server according to the invention; Fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a user terminal according to the invention; Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a medical information delivery terminal according to the invention;

Fig. 5 is a flow chart for retrieving information according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 schematically shows a first graphical user interface according to the invention; Fig. 7schematically shows a second graphical user interface; and Fig. 8 schematically shows a third graphical user interface^".

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the invention covers various modifications and alternative constructions, preferred embodiments of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and will hereinafter be described in detail. However it is to be understood that the specific description and drawings are not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed. On the contrary, it is intended that the scope of the claimed invention include all modi- fications and alternative constructions thereof falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims to the full range of their equivalents.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a medical information system according to the invention. A first communications network 1 in the form of a LAN (lo- cal-area network), e.g. a hospital Intranet, is through a first firewall 2 connected to a second communications network 3 in the form of the Internet. The LAN comprises a medical information server 4 (MIS), which is connectable to a plurality of user terminals in the form of stationary units, such as stationary PC:s and workstations, and/or portable units such as PD A s and laptops. Although Fig. I only shows one stationary user terminal 5 and a single portable user terminal 6 in the form of a PDA belonging to the LAN, it must be understood that the LAN may comprise any combination of stationary units and portable units where at least some of the units are able to communicate with each other. A first base station 7 comprised in the LAN may illustrate a plurality of base stations comprised in the LAN. Any kind of known wireless communica- tion standard for LAN'.s may be used, such as HomeRF, Bluetooth, HIPERLAN, IrDA and the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 family including 802.11b.

Related to the invention is at least one medical information delivery terminal 8 (MTDT), for instance a desktop, for a supplier of medicine related information , such as a pharmaceutical company or an authority related to medicine, where the MTDT 8 here is connected to the Internet via a second firewall 9. One or several MTDTs may of course also be positioned in the first communications network 1. A second, external medical information server 10 (EMIS) is also connected to the Internet, suitably through a third firewall (not shown). An illustrated second portable user terminal 11 in the form of a second PDA may communicate with the MIS 4 through a third communications network 12, the Internet and the LAN. The third communications network 12 is preferably a mobile telecommunications network connected to the Internet through a gateway 13. The mobile telecommunications network may support one of the known mobile telecommunications systems, such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) as well as associated data speed enhancements to these mobile communications systems. Such enhancements may be e.g. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution). The shown PDA:s may thus be adapted for a direct wireless connection to both a mobile telecommunications network and a wireless LAN network. Furthermore, the PDA:s may support communication services, such as SMS (Short Message Service), i-Mode and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). Although not shown in Fig. 1, any kind of known combination of networks used for communication between a server and a user terminal may be used. A PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) may for example also be Used.

The heart of the medical information system is the MIS 4, which now will be described in conjunction with Fig. 2. As is schematically illustrated, the MIS 4 comprises a first port 14 for sending data from the MIS 4 and receiving data from the user terminals, 5, 6 and 11 respectively, the MIDT 8 and the EMIS 10. A first CPU 15 (Central Processing Unit) is connected to the first port 14 and a first storing means 16 through a first set of buses 17. The first storing means 16 may be a hard drive and comprises a web server software 18; a first operating system 19, such as UNIX, Windows NT, Windows 2000, VMS (Virtual Memory System), OS/390 and LINUX; at least one medical information database 20; a logging database 21, a medical information supplier database 22, a client database 23, and a medical annotation database 24, a DBMS 25(database management system) for the at least one medical information database 20, a first communication means 26 in the form of a first middleware for linking the EMS 10 to the web server software 18, i.e. a first database access system; and a second communication means 27 in the form of a second middleware for linking the DBMS 25 to the web server software 18, i.e. a second database access system.

Medical information databases 20 comprised in the MIS 4 may comprise information about anything related to medicine, e.g. medical terms; medical codes and abbreviations, such as drug codes and diagnosis codes; drugs; substances used in drugs; pharmaceutical companies; diseases; medical procedures; side-effects; medical devices, conditions, and names of different parts of the human body.

The web server software 18 may be based on any known conventional web server software and comprises an authentication and authorisation engine for authentication and authorisation of clients or advertisers. Although the first middleware here is illus- trated as a separate computer program, it may also be an integrated part of the web server software. Examples of middleware/integrated parts of the web server, are servlets, i.e. Java applets that runs within a Web server environment, CGI scripts, ASPs (Active Server Pages) and plug-ins written in C and C++. An applet is a computer program designed to be executed from within another application and not directly from an operating system. A plug-in is a software module which adds a specific feature to a computer program. The web server software 18 also comprises files for generating GUIs (Graphical User Interface) for users of the user terminals 5, 6, 11 and the medical information delivery terminals 8. Furthermore, the web server software 18 comprises at least one program module for supporting at least one security protocol for transmission of confidential data between the MIS 4 and the user/medical information delivery terminals or the EM3S 10. For data transmission over the Internet, the security protocols SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), TLS (Transport Layer Security) and Secure-HTTP may be used.

Fig 3 shows a block diagram of an example of one of the user terminals in the form of a PDA adapted for communication with the MIS 4. The user terminal comprises at least one antenna, the number of antennas depending on the communications systems used. In Fig. 3, the user terminal is illustrated with two antennas; a first antenna 28 for a mobile telecommunications system and a second antenna 29 for communication ac- cording to a WLAN standard, e.g. IEEE 802.1 lb. The first and the second antenna, 28 and 29, are connected to a transceiver means 30, which comprises units for sending and receiving data. The transceiver means also comprises units for coding the data to be sent and decoding received data. The user terminals also comprises a displaying means 31, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a second CPU 32, a communica- tion device 33 for infrared communication, a second port 34 for wired communication, and a readable/writable memory means 35 such as a hard disk or a flash memory. The transceiver means 30, the displaying means 31, the memory means 35 and the second port 34 are connected to the second CPU via a second set of buses 36 in the user terminal. The memory means 35 comprises a second operating system 37 and a first pres- entation means 38,^' which is a computer program designed for the users of the user terminals, i.e. a presentation application for displaying a part of received data in the displaying means 31. The presentation means may be a browser, i.e. a computer program for locating and displaying web pages. Corresponding to the MIS 4, the browser must support at least one protocol for secure transmission of data between the user/medical information delivery terminals, 5, 6, 8 and 11 respectively, and the MIS 4. The memory means 35 may also comprise a first set of templates 39, i.e. pre-designed data files formatted for common purposes, to be displayed together with data sent from the MIS 4. By storing the templates 39 in the user terminal, less data has to be sent to it and this saves bandwidth in the used communications networks, which often is the cru- cial part for the data transfer speed between a server and a user terminal. Hence a faster displaying of data is enabled.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of the MTDT 8, which like typical stationary personal computers or workstations comprises a third port 40 adapted for connecting the MTDT 8 to a communications network, a fourth port 41 for communication with a second displaying means (not shown) and a second storing means 42 which all are connected to a third CPU 43 through a third set of buses 44. The second storing means 42 comprises a third operating system 45, a second presentation means 46, which may be a second browser supporting the security protocols mentioned above. A second set of templates 47 adapted for a medical information supplier, may also be stored in order to enable faster communication between the MIS 4 and the MTDT 8.

Having described the specific parts of the system according to the invention, the advantages and functions of the medical information system will now be described in conjunction with Fig. 5-9. Fig. 5 illustrates the main steps S 1-S9 for retrieving medical information and storing the user's own notes related to the medical information.

In step SI, communication is initiated between the user terminal and the MIS 4. When information on a medical word is desired, the user initiate the communication by re- questing a displaying of a first window 48 in the displaying means 31 through the first presentation means 38.

The authentication and authorisation is done in step S2 by e.g. comparing identification data sent from the user terminal with data stored in the client database 23. When the sent data is valid, the first window 48 is displayed in the displaying means 31.

The first window 48 is shown in Fig. 6 and in this example comprises a first text box 49, i.e. an on-screen frame into which the user may type characters, i.e. symbols that typically requires one byte of storage, corresponding to the desired medical word. In step S3, the user type the desired medical word or at least a part of a medical word. A frame 50 within the first window 48 lists all the medical words that correspond to typed characters in the first text box 49. In one embodiment, each individual, typed character may be sent to the MS 4 immediately after it is typed. In another embodi- ment, a set of characters is sent to the MS 4 after the whole desired word or part of a word, e.g. a truncated word, has been typed and the user initiate the transmission by e.g. clicking on a search-button (not shown) displayed in the first window 48.

In step S4, the DBMS 25 for the at least one medical information database 20 receives the transmitted characters. Corresponding medical words are looked up in the at least one medical information database 20 and are sent to the user terminal.

In step S5, the corresponding medical words are displayed in the frame 50 as a list of medical words. In Fig. 6 three corresponding medical words are displayed in the frame 50, where the displayed corresponding medical words comprises hypertext links and therefore are underlined. The corresponding medical words may of course not be underlined although they comprise hypertext links. In the first embodiment, a list of medical words are displayed in the frame as soon as a character has been typed in the first list box. If for instance the letter is typed, all the medical words in the at least one medical information database 20 that begin with a are displayed in the frame 50 as soon as possible. The frame 50 may be scrollable in order to include all the corresponding medical words. If the user types in an after the 'c', all medical words in the at least one medical information database 20 that begin with 'ce' are shown as soon as possible in a list in the frame 50. In other words, the list of corresponding words normally gets shorter for each typed character. This function in the first embodiment is advantageous when, for example, a user is not completely sure about the spelling of a medical word.

In step S6 the user chooses one of the displayed medical words in the frame 50. This may be done by, e.g. clicking on the chosen medical word with a pointing device when the displaying means 31 is a touch screen. 'Medical word 1 ' is chosen in this example. The frame 50 may also comprise icons 51 associated with each displayed medical word, where the icons show the medical information databases 20 in the MS 4 or the EMS 10 that comprise medical information related to- the displayed medical words re- spectively.

By choosing one of the displayed medical words in the frame 50, the first presentation means 38 displays a second window 52 with more information related to the chosen medical word; here information related to 'Medical word 1 '. This is done in step S7. A schematic example of the second window 52 is illustrated by Fig. 7 and comprises the name of the medical word, i.e. 'Medical word 1'; medical information 53 related to 'Medical word 1'; a first button 54, a second text box 55 and further hypertext links to information related to the 'Medical word 1'. In the case where the medical word is a drug, the second window 52 may comprise a second button 56, which function will be described below. Using the example where the 'Medical word T is a drug, the displayed medical information may comprise information regarding dosage form, dosages, prices, components, names of the companies that produce the drug, related side- effects, interactions, indications, general warnings, overdose, antidotes, special precautions during pregnancy and lactation, short description of the drug, synonymous drugs, related medical code and classifications etc. All or some of the exemplary in- formation may alternatively be represented by a medical word comprising a hypertext link to further information, which is stored either in one of the medical information databases 20 in the MS 4 or in the EMS 10. Such databases may be e.g. medical lexicons, chemical formula registers and drug registers.

The second text box 55 is used for the user's own notes or other medical information, which e.g. is typed in the second text box 55 and in one embodiment immediately is stored in the medical annotation database 24 in the MS 4. Hence the text in the second text box 55 comprising notes regarding 'Medical word 1 ' is readable and editable every time the second window 52 for the 'Medical word 1 ' is displayed later on. The second text box 55 is scrollable in order to support an 'unlimited' number of characters if desired. The editing of the content of the second text box 55 is done in step S8.

In the optional step S9, one of the hypertext links in the second window 52 is clicked and the MS 4 sends requested information retrieved from at least one of the medical information databases 20 in the MS 4 and the EMS 10 to the user terminal, which displays a third window 57 by means of the first presentation means 38 or any other presentation means installed in the user terminal. The third window 57 is schematically illustrated in Fig. 8 and in this example comprises the 'Medical word 1 ' as headline and further information and/or hypertext links related to the 'Medical ord 1 '.

By clicking the first button 54, a fourth window (not shown) may be opened in order to provide a suitable GUI for helping the user to store files related to the 'Medical word 1 ' in the medical annotation database. Such files may be text files, image files, audio files and video files . These stored files may in one embodiment be retrieved from the MIS 4 by clicking on a file-icon (not shown) representing the stored file, said icon being displayed in the second window 52 when a file associated with the 'Medical word 1 ' has been stored in the medical annotation database 24. In a more specific embodiment, file-icons may be dragged and dropped and displayed in the second text box 55. Moreover, hypertext links may also be inserted in the second text box 55. By clicking the second button 56, a fifth window (not shown) will be displayed by the first presentation means38, another presentation means or an application installed in the user terminal. A template for the fifth window may also be comprised in the user terminal for speeding up the displaying of the fifth window, which comprises a prescription where several editable fields may be pre-written corresponding to predetermined information on the user and the drug (i.e. 'Medical word 1 ').

The communication between the MS 4 and the MDT 8 will now be described. In step ^" Al the information supplier initiate communication between the MDT 8 and the MS 4 by starting the second presentation means 46 and e.g. typing the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to the MS 4.

Next, the authentication and authorisation is done, e.g. by comparing data sent from the MDT 8 to the MS 4 with data stored in the medical information supplier database 22. After the medical information supplier has been granted to log on to the medical information system, a sixth window (not shown) is displayed in the second displaying means. The sixth window provides a GUI for communication with the MS 4. Through this GUI, the medical information supplier is able to create and send a medical related message regarding e.g. new drugs, new medical regulations, invitations, working schedules and reminders. This message is sent to the user terminals via the MS 4 immediately after creation or at a desired predetermined time or occasion. Fig. 9 schematically shows an example of such a message in the form of a seventh window 58 sent to the user terminals from the MDT 8 via the MIS 4. The seventh window may comprise an area 59 where text and pictures are displayed. Also, a third, fourth arid fifth button, 60, 61 and 62 respectively, are displayed in the seventh window, where more information about the subject of the message is retrieved by clicking the third button 60, the medical information is saved in the user terminal by pushing the fourth button 61 and the seventh window is deleted by pushing the fifth button 62. The sev- enth window may automatically be displayed by the user terminals as soon as it is re- ceived or later upon request from the user or the medical information supplier. Messages other than readable ones may also be sent from the MDT 8 to the user terminals. It may also be possible for a medical information supplier to send messages only to some of the clients/user terminals, e.g. sending messages only to physicians, by letting some of the client data, such as profession, stored in the client database 23 be accessible or selectable before sending messages to a selected subgroup.

Some or every action performed by the users when using the terminal may be monitored by the MS 4 and registered in the logging database 21. The medical information supplier is able to request statistics of the users' handling behaviour from the logging database 21. Examples are the frequency of requesting more miormation by pushing the third button 60 and the time it takes before a user clicks on the fifth button 62. This statistics may be used for making better and more interesting messages in the future. The statistics may, for instance, be displayed in an eighth window in the MDT 8 or sent to the MDT 8 as an e-mail through an e-mail server (not shown).

Although not described above, it is to be understood that the user terminals may be used for other purposes in addition to what is described above. Examples of additional features enabled by conventional user terminals and/or services known in the art are paging, sending e-mails, playing computer games, telecommunication with other user terminals, file transfer between terminals, browsing the Internet for medical information other than what is stored in the MS 4 or the EMS 1 and using the user terminal as a dictaphone. In one embodiment all or some of these features may be used only after authentication and authorisation of the user by the MIS 4.

Claims

1. A method for retrieving and storing medical information, comprising the steps of: inputting at least one character in a first text box (49) in a first window (48) displayed by a user terminal (5, 6, 11); displaying in the user terminal (5, 6, 11) a list of at least one medical word in response to the inputting of the at least one character; choosing to retrieve a first set of medical information on one of the at least one medical word; displaying in the user terminal (5, , 11), as a response to the choosing to retrieve the first set of medical information, a second window (52) associated with the one of the at least one medical word, the second window (52) comprising a second text box (55) and the first set of medical information; inputting a second set of medical information in the second text box (55); and storing the second set of medical information in a medical information server (4) connected to the user terminal through at least one communications network (1, 3, 12).

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the displaying of the list of the at least one medical word is done in the first window (48).

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, comprising the step of retrieving the at least one medical word comprised in the list from at least one medical information database (20) in the medical information server (4).

4. A method according to claim 3, comprising the step of retrieving the first set of medical information from the at least one medical information database (20).

5. A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the step of choosing to retrieve the first set of medical information is done by clicking on the one of the at least one medical word in the first window, the one of the at least one medical word comprising a hypertext link initiating the displaying of the second window (52).

6. A method according to anyone of the preceding claims comprising the step of: displaying at least one icon (51) in the first window, the at least one icon (51) being associated with one of the at least one medical word and one of the at least one medical information database (20).

7. A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, comprising the step of dis- playing the second set of medical information in the second text box (55 ) after the storing of the second set of medical information.

8. A method according to claim 7, comprising the step of displaying the second set of medical information in the second window (52) when the second window (52) is dis- played later on.

9. A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, comprising the steps of: choosing to retrieve a third set of medical information on the one of the at least one medical word by clicking on a hypertext link comprised in the second window (52), displaying in the user terminal (5, 6, 11) a third window (57) associated with the one of the at least one medical word, the third window (57) comprising the third set of medical information.

10. A medical information system comprising a medical information server (4) and at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11), where the medical information server (4) and the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) are adapted to communicate with each other over at least one communications network (1, 3, 12) and the medical information server (4) comprises at least one medical information database (20) and the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) comprises a displaying means (31), characterised in that the medical information server (4) is adapted to:

- send data causing the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) to display a first window (48) comprising a first text box (49) and a list of at least one medical word after at least one character has been inputted in the first text box (49);

- send data causing the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) to display a second window (52) comprising a first set of medical information related to one of the at least one medical word and a second text box (55), in which a second set of medical information related to the one of the at least one medical word may be inserted; and store the second set of medical information in the medical information server (4).

10

11. A medical information system according to claim 10, where the at least one medical word in the list is retrieved from the at least one medical information database (20).

12. A medical information system according to anyone of claims 10-11, wherein the at 15 least one user terminal (5, , 11) comprises transceiver means (30) and at least one antenna (28, 29) for communication with the medical information server (4) through at least one wireless communications network.

13. A medical information system according to claim 12, wherein the transceiver

'20 means (30) and the at least one antenna (28, 29) adapt the at least one user terminal(5, 6, 11) to communicate with the medical information server (4) via both a wireless local-area network and a mobile telecommunications network.

14. A medical information system according to anyone of claims 10-13, comprising a 25 medical information delivery terminal (8) connectable to the medical information server (4), which is adapted to send data that causes the medical information delivery terminal (8) to display a graphical user interface, which allows a user of the medical information delivery terminal (8) to create and send a medical information message to the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) via the medical information server (4). 30

15. A medical information system according to anyone of claims 10-14, wherein the medical information server (4) comprises a logging database (21) for storing log data related to actions performed by the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11).

16. A medical information server (4) adapted to send medical information to at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) and receive medical information from the at least one user terminal via at least one communications network (1, 3, 12), comprising at least one medical information database (20) and characterised in that ^" the medical information server (4) is adapted to:

- send data causing the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 11) to display a first window (48) comprising a first text box (49) and a list of at least one medical word after at least one character has been inserted in the first text box (49);

17. A medical information server (4) according to claim 16, where the at least one medical word in the list comprises a hypertext link for enabling the medical information server (4) to send the data that causes the at least-one user terminal(5, 6, 11) to display the second window (52).

18. A medical information server (4) according to claim 16 or 17, where the second window (52) comprises a hypertext link for enabling the medical information server (4) to send the data that causes the at least one user terminal (5, 6, 1 1) to display a third window (57) with a third set of medical information related to the one of the at least one medical word.

19. A medical information server (4) according to anyone of claims 16-18, wherein the medical information server (4) comprises a medical annotation database (24) in which the second set of medical information is stored.

20. A medical information server (4) according to claim 19, wherein the medical annotation database (24) is adapted to store text based files being at least a part of the second set of medical information.

21. A medical information server (4) according to claim 20, wherein the medical an- ^" notation database (24) also is adapted to store audio files, image files and/or video files, where the audio files, image files and/or video files are at least a part of the second set of medical information.

22. A medical information server (4) according to anyone of claims 16-22, comprising a communication means (26) adapting the medical information server (4) to communicate with a second medical information server (10).

23. A medical information server (4) according to anyone of claims 16-23. comprising at least two medical information databases (20) from which the at least one medical word in the list is retrieved..