US20180261321A1 - Systems and methods for managing and distributing user profiles for surgical systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A medical system is presented, where the system includes a medical profile directory configured to maintain a set of medical system profiles, a medial profile manager configured to update and maintain medical system profiles within the medical profile directory, and a server configured to interface with the medical profile manager to facilitate medical system profile maintenance. The server is configured to transmit information from at least one medical system profile to a surgical system, thereby enabling the surgical system to employ a current operational parameter within the medical system profile desired by a user.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The invention relates to systems and methods for medical care, and more particularly to systems and methods for managing and distributing user profiles within surgical systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• Surgical systems often require the configuration of a large and complex set of parameters and settings, typically specific settings requested or frequently employed by individuals such as surgeons. One medical system employing individual settings is a phacoemulsification system for ophthalmic surgery, used to remove the lens of an eye damaged by cataract.FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a phacoemulsification system known in the art. Thesystem100 may include acontrol unit102 and ahandpiece104 operably coupled together. As shown inFIG. 2, thehandpiece104 may include aneedle106 for insertion into an eye E and a vibratingunit108 configured to ultrasonically vibrate theneedle106. The vibratingunit108, which may include, e.g., a piezoelectric crystal, vibrates theneedle106 according to one or more parameters, such as frequency, pulse width, shape, size, duty cycle, amplitude, and so on.
• It is common for each surgeon to use his or her own customized set(s) of parameters particular to the system, and it is not uncommon for surgeons to conduct surgical procedures at different locations. However, with current surgical systems, setting up a surgeon's customized set of parameters in every system the surgeon works with can be difficult, costly, and cumbersome. Accordingly, improved systems and methods for managing and distributing the surgeon's customized settings in multiple medical devices or systems such as phacoemulsification systems are desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• The invention is generally directed to systems and methods for medical care, and more particularly to systems and methods for managing and distributing user profiles for surgical systems.
• According to one aspect of the present design, there is provided a medical system comprising a medical profile directory configured to maintain a set of medical system profiles, a medical profile manager configured to update and maintain medical system profiles within the medical profile directory, and a server configured to interface with the medical profile manager to facilitate medical system profile maintenance. The server is configured to transmit information from at least one medical system profile to a surgical system, thereby enabling the surgical system to employ a current operational parameter within the medical system profile desired by a user.
• According to a second aspect of the present design, there is provided a method for providing medical system operating parameters to surgical systems. The method comprises collecting medical system operating parameters for at least one authorized user within at least one medical system profile, enabling the one medical system profile to be altered by at least one authorized user, and propagating the one medical system profile to at least one surgical system pursuant to predetermined propagation parameters.
• Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• In order to better appreciate how the above-recited and other advantages and objects of the inventions are obtained, a more particular description of the embodiments briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views. However, like parts do not always have like reference numerals. Moreover, all illustrations are intended to convey concepts, where relative sizes, shapes and other detailed attributes may be illustrated schematically rather than literally or precisely.
• FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a phacoemulsification system known in the art;
• FIG. 2 illustrates a handpiece for a phacoemulsficiation system known in the art;
• FIG. 3 is a medical system in accordance with the teachings provided herein;
• FIG. 4 is a diagram of a medical system in accordance with the teachings provided herein;
• FIG. 5 illustrates data transmission via a video server; and
• FIG. 6 shows a wireless transmission aspect of the current design.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
• The following description and the drawings illustrate specific embodiments sufficiently to enable those skilled in the art to practice the system and method described. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, process and other changes. Examples merely typify possible variations. Individual components and functions are generally optional unless explicitly required, and the sequence of operations may vary. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in or substituted for those of others.
• While the present design may be used in various environments and applications, it will be discussed herein with a particular emphasis on a medical or hospital environment, where a surgeon or health care practitioner performs. For example, one embodiment of the present design is a phacoemulsification surgical system that comprises an independent graphical user interface (GUI) host module, an instrument host module, and a GUI device.
• It is to be understood that any type of system having a large number of configuration parameter values to be set and centrally maintained may benefit from the design presented herein, and such a design is not limited to a phacoemulsification system or even a medical system. The present design may be implemented in, for example, systems including but not limited to phacoemulsification-vitrectomy systems, corneal correction systems, such as femtosecond and excimer laser systems, vitrectomy systems, dental systems, heart-lung surgical devices, industrial applications, communication network systems, access control systems, fire control/guidance devices, and aerospace applications.
• The present design apparatus and method may employ various interface mechanisms to alter the database contents of the surgical instrument, such as via a GUI device, or other subsystem; it will be discussed herein with a particular emphasis on saving, recalling, and altering parameter values stored in the instruments database via a graphical user interface. The user interface device may include but is not limited to a touch screen monitor, mouse, keypad, foot pedal switch, and/or a computer monitor. The present design is intended to provide a basic user access or interface mechanism for viewing, altering, and managing a large number of configuration parameter values stored in a central database file system that affect the behavior of one or more remote surgical instruments.
• Thephacoemulsification system100 typically includes amicroprocessor computer110 operably connected to and controlling various other elements of the system. In a number of embodiments, thesystem100 may include avariable speed pump112, such as a peristaltic and/or venturi pump, providing a vacuum source. The system may also include a pulsedultrasonic power source114 that provides control outputs to apump speed controller116 and an ultrasonicpower level controller118. Avacuum sensor120 provides an input to thecomputer110 representing the vacuum level on the output side of thepump112. Venting may be provided by a vent122. Thesystem100 may also include aphase detector124 for providing an input to thecomputer100 that represents a phase shift between a sine wave representation of the voltage applied to thehandpiece104 and the resultant current into thehandpiece104. The functional representation of thesystem100 also includes asystem bus126 to enable the various elements to be operably in communication with each other.
• In operation, thecontrol unit102 supplies ultrasonic power to thephacoemulsification handpiece104. Anirrigation fluid source128 provides irrigation fluid to thehandpiece104. The irrigation fluid and an ultrasonic pulse are applied by thehandpiece104 to a patient's eye E, which are indicated by arrows F and P, respectively. Aspiration of the eye E is achieved by means of thepump112, which is indicated by arrow A. Thehandpiece104 may include aswitch130 for enabling a surgeon to select an amplitude of electrical pulses to thehandpiece104 via thecomputer110, thepower level controller118, and theultrasonic power source114. The operation of thesystem100 in general may be in accordance with the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,948, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
• As shown above, there are many parameters of thesystem100 that can be set by the surgeon associated with the various functions described above, e.g., type of ultrasonic power level (such as continuous, pulsed, t-phaco, or combinations thereof), max rate of aspiration, max rate of irrigation, and other parameters and modes of operation, such as those disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/401,529 entitled “Application of a system parameter as a method and mechanism for controlling eye chamber stability,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. These parameters can be controllable by various interfaces, such as computer user interfaces and/or foot pedals/switches. An example computer user interface forsystem100 is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/030,443 entitled “Phacoemulsification System Utilizing Graphical User Interfaces for Adjusting Pulse Parameters,” and an example foot pedal/switch control is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,901 entitled “Digital Electronic Foot Control for Medical Apparatus and the Like” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,624 entitled “Footpedal Control with User Selectable Operational Ranges.” All three of these references are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety into the present application.
• FIG. 2 illustrates the general components ofhandpiece104 and its interaction witheye E. Handpiece104 includes vibratingunit108 and switch130, which typically enables the surgeon to switch between vibrating states, such as going from a “chop” state to a “sculpt” state, wherein the ultrasonic energy from thehandpiece104 varies.Needle106 vibrates and contacts eye E pursuant to vibrations received from vibratingunit108.
• The present design enables the surgeon to enter his or her desired settings for the medical device, a phacoemulsification system in this embodiment. A series of settings can be employed by a surgeon, such as a max pulse amplitude, pulse shape, footpedal settings, max aspiration rate, max irrigation rate, and other settings desired by the surgeon, such as those described above. In the past, the surgeon might have to manually enter the setting or have the settings input for her before commencing surgery, a time consuming and costly procedure. The present design maintains a surgeon's desired settings at a central location and allows those settings to be distributed or used on multiple phaco or medical machines. In this manner, a change by the surgeon can pass to the central location and propagate through the system or network and be available on other similar machines. Furthermore, these settings can be easily shared by other surgeons at remote locations.
• FIG. 3 illustrates acentral server system1000 for managing and distributing surgeon user settings for asurgical system1300, such as aphacoemulsification system100 or a corneal correction system such as an excimer and/or femtosecond laser (not shown). Thesurgical system1300 includes a set of parameters for configuration, e.g., in the case of aphacoemulsification system100, such as those described above. These parameters can be stored as a surgeon's customizeable profile in a data file. The data files for the various surgeons can be stored in a central surgeon account database ordirectory1160 within thecentral server system1000. A typical profile may include settable parameters and that individual's desired settings, if provided, or a set or at least one default setting. For example, if a surgeon does not wish to employ a specific aspiration setting but has specific power setting requirements, a default aspiration parameter or set of parameters may be provided in her profile. The profile may be in any desired form, including but not limited to a database file, text file, or other electronic file or electronic information repository known in the art. In this description, the information pertinent to the medical device in question and associated with the surgeon or individual will be called a profile, but it is to be specifically understood that the term profile refers to any general collection of information pertinent to execution of the functionality described herein and generally associated with an individual.
• Thecentral server1000 may support various modules or functions which may link various computing devices or electronic devices, including but not limited toemail1190,chat1150,video cast1130,message boards1110, and surgeon web pages orblogs1195. Multiple components or servers or devices or software may be employed to effectuate the functionality provided incentral server system1000.
• Surgeon account orprofile manager1170 may interact withweb server1180 and central surgeon account database ordirectory1160 to manage multiple surgeon profiles. In general, three pertinent functions may be performed by Surgeon account orprofile manager1170 and central surgeon account database or directory1160: receiving or initially obtaining a profile, altering a profile, and propagating a profile. Regarding initially obtaining a profile, if surgeon X's profile has not been provided, it may be received atweb server1180, either from a surgeon'sPC1200 or from asurgical system1300 viabroadcast server1140. The profile for surgeon X may be received and surgeon account orprofile manager1170 may provide surgeon X's profile to central surgeon account database ordirectory1160 for the express purpose of maintaining the profile. Altering or updating a profile may be accomplished by the surgeon or other person acting through the surgeon'sPC1200 orsurgical system1300 to update a particular entry in the file or even the entire profile. Note that while the PCs here are labeledsurgeon PCs1200, they may in fact be any authorized data entry device, including a wireless device, wired device, PC, phone, PDA, or any other device enabling a user to receive and edit his or her profile once authorized. If the surgeon wishes to change his profile, he may request his profile, which may be available locally or may be obtained via web server orserver1180 and surgeon account or profile manager ormedical profile manager1170 from surgeon account database ordirectory1160, also known as a medical profile directory. The surgeon may then alter his profile at his client device or PC, for example changing his desired pulse amplitude settings, and save his profile. Changes to the profile may be provided toweb server1180 and subsequently to surgeon account orprofile manager1170 which updates the profile in surgeon account database ordirectory1160. The surgeon can make changes to his profile at a client device or at asurgical system1300. The result is an updated profile for the particular surgeon or user maintained in surgeon account database ordirectory1160.
• The surgeon may also elect to share or publish his/her profile to other surgeons to enable discussion, collaboration, and optimization of profiles. With this collaboration, a surgeon can adopt a profile from another surgeon, such as a key opinion leader, and simply update his/hersurgical system1300 accordingly.
• A new or updated profile can be distributed to all systems in the field. Two general ways of updating profiles may be employed—either when updates are made, propagating throughout the system, or periodic propagation such as sending the profiles out at low usage times for the network. A combination of these may be provided. The propagation of updates when received can provide ready access to updated information, but monitoring profile changes and propagating at irregular times can be costly in terms of processing and network traffic. Periodic updating can control processing and network traffic costs, but can result in old profiles being maintained onsurgical systems1300.
• Propagation through the system may be initiated from the central server system or from outside thecentral server system1000, such as by an administrator or administrator device issuing a “propogate” type of command to thecentral server system1000. Such a command may be generated by surgeon account orprofile manager1170 or within surgeon account database ordirectory1160 itself. Once a propagate type command is issued, or the time for propagation passes via a counter counting down or similar method, the surgeon account orprofile manager1170 may retrieve any or all of the profiles in surgeon account database ordirectory1160 and direct them toweb server1180 for propagation to desired devices, including but not limited tosurgical systems1300. If desired, a certain propagation map can be generated, such as propagate all profiles to all devices, includingsurgeon PCs1300, once per week, and to surgical systems once per day, and for surgeons residing or practicing in country X or state X or hospital system X, propagate profiles to surgical systems in country X or state X or hospital system X every two hours. Other predetermined arrangements for propagating can be provided. During propagation,web server1180 may receive profiles and provide the profiles to broadcastserver1140, which broadcasts the profiles tosurgical system1300.
• Propagation may occur for all profiles, certain selected or predetermined profiles, profiles that have been updated since the last propagation, or in some other desired manner. Propagation may take place wirelessly or over a wired transmission system or combination of both.Broadcast server1130 may transmit information and receive information over the air or wirelessly.
• An alternative updating method is for the user to log onto asurgical system1300 and to either request a profile update or have thesurgical system1300 automatically request an updated profile fromcentral server system1000. In this arrangement,surgical system1300 may maintain a set of profiles locally or may not maintain any profiles locally. If no profiles are maintained locally, the surgical system must obtain profiles fromcentral server system1000 whenever appropriate, such as when a surgeon logs into or uses the system. Alternately, for example, in a situation where four surgeons are expected to use one specificsurgical system1300 at a particular site, thesurgical system1300 may obtain the current profiles for those four surgeons fromcentral server system1000 viaweb server1180, surgeon account orprofile manager1170, and surgeon account database ordirectory1160. The surgical system may obtain one or more profiles in this manner at any appropriate time, may obtain each user's profile at a given time, or a combination of both. In this manner, specific profiles may be obtained when desired.
• Regarding specific component functionality, the components illustrated inFIG. 3 may be combined or may be split among various devices while still performing the functionality desired. For example, the surgeon account orprofile manager1170 may be combined with the surgeon account database ordirectory1160 on a single device, such as an ASIC or semiconductor having memory, andweb server1180 may comprise more than one device, which generally includes computing hardware, such as those from IBM, Hewlett Packard, or Dell, and access management, network and database software known in the art, such as those from Microsoft, Oracle, Siebel, SAP, and others. In general, the surgeon account orprofile manager1170 is a device or software that exhibits the functionality of maintaining profiles, typically indexed such that they can be updated and efficiently passed to other devices in the system when desired, such as a software database residing in memory. Surgeon account database ordirectory1160 is a device or software that exhibits the functionality of seeking profiles from surgeon account orprofile manager1170 when requested, receiving requests or commands fromweb server1180 and/orbroadcast server1140 and providing information and/or profiles to those devices or elements, and performing other functions, including but not limited to reporting that particular profiles are unavailable if an errant request is received, assigning tags or indexes to profiles, and so forth.
• Web server1180 is typically a device that receives data from and transmits data to client devices, such as the surgeon'sPCs1200 shown inFIG. 3. Other client devices or intermediate devices, such as wireless devices or routers or nodes may be employed. Further, while not specifically shown inFIG. 3,web server1180 may transmit information tosurgical systems1300 if desired. In essence,web server1180 controls all information transmitted from and received bycentral server system1100, including propagation requests, profile requests, and so forth, and directs the information to and from the appropriate component or components. One skilled in the art would be able to employ a typical web server device and configure the device to perform the functionality described herein.Web server1180 may interface with or be formed withbroadcast server1140, which again is either hardware or software having the functionality of interfacing with thesurgical systems1300 deployed in the field. Broadcast server may therefore receive information from or transmit information toweb server1180 and/or surgeon account orprofile manager1170 for the purpose of receiving profiles or profile updates or providing profiles or profile updates tosurgical systems1300.
• Many operating rooms do not have computer networking capability. In other words, the rooms do not have physical network connections to enable surgical systems to be networked with other computing devices outside of the room; however, adding such networking equipment may be undesirable, because it could require cables and other hardware that could impede the mobility of the surgical systems (which are often on wheels to give the surgeon the flexibility to move systems around for optimum spacing). One approach is to use a wireless network, i.e., a network that allows these computing systems to communicate with each other and remote systems wirelessly, e.g., a wireless LAN or personal area network (PAN). An implementation of a wireless network is to include a wireless network component in each system (e.g., a wireless network card, network adapter, or PAN compatible device, such as a Bluetooth, IrDA, UWB, or the like compatible device) configured to communicate with a local or nearby wireless router, e.g., an 802.11 router known in the art, such as those from Linksys or D-Link, which is communicatively coupled to remote system, e.g., through the Internet. Another implementation involves having a wireless network component in each system configured to communicate with a global wireless network, such as a cellular network, e.g., Verizon, or a Datacast network, e.g., from Ambient Devices.
• In addition to surgical profiles, thecentral server system1100 can also be utilized to propagate diagnostics data for a particular patient to a particularsurgical system1300. Turning toFIG. 4, one ormore diagnostics systems1350 can be operatively in communication with thecentral server system1100. Thediagnostics systems1350 can obtain relevant diagnostics data for a particular patient and upload the data to thecentral server system1100. The data can be associated with a particular surgeon's profile in theprofile directory1160, which could include a directory of patients and their respective patient data. Such data can then be broadcasted/downloaded to the appropriate surgical system(s)1300. This can be particularly useful in the case where thesurgical system1300 is a corneal correction system, such as an excimer laser system. Thediagnostics system1350 could be a wavefront aberrometer known in the art, such as COAS™ from Wavefront Sciences, Inc., that obtains wavefront measurements from a patient that is used by the corneal correction system for making the proper corneal corrections in a patient's eye.
• Thediagnostics system1350 can include networking and/or wireless networking capabilities described above to upload the information to acentral server system1100 to be associated with the proper surgeon and/orsurgical system1300 and ultimately downloaded to the appropriatesurgical system1300. Patient and surgeon data can likewise be downloaded to theappropriate diagnostics system1350 from thecentral server system1100 which can be used to review and confirm accuracy of data and to also prompt for missing data.
• FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of propagation or transmission of data fromcentral server system1100 tosurgical system1300 using avideo server1400. As implied by the devices shown inFIG. 5, the information to and from thesurgical system1300 andcentral server system1100 may be carried over various devices or intermediate nodes, including but not limited to avideo server1400. Typical functionality of thevideo server1400 is to provide video from thesurgical system1300 to thecentral server system1100, such as video of a phacoemulsification procedure for archiving or analysis purposes. Video can also be provided from thecentral server system1100 tosurgical system1300 viavideo server1400, such as training videos or previously recorded videos of the patient undergoing a procedure.
• FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative aspect of the design including thesurgical system1300 interfacing withwireless storage device1500 for the purpose of storing information received wirelessly and/or to be transmitted wirelessly.
• In operation, the surgeon may set up her profile from any internet enabled device via the internet, or alter her profile via the internet using a web browser or other software configured for this purpose. The surgeon then simply needs to identify herself to asurgical system1300 such as a phacoemulsification or corneal correction machine, and the machine can obtain her desired surgical parameters fromcentral server system1100. Downloading of the profile may occur wirelessly, such as by wireless transmission fromcentral system server1100 tosurgical system1300. All surgeon parameters are stored in thecentral server system1100. Using the email, chat, web pages, and other communicative functionality of central server system.1100, a surgeon can publish or broadcast his profile to other surgeons or users when desired by sending a request to thecentral server system1100 and surgeon account database ordirectory1160 via surgeon account orprofile manager1170 to do so. With appropriate authorization, other surgeons or users could download a profile or multiple profiles to client devices and/orsurgical systems1300. The surgeon can also identify patients to be operated on and thus have the surgeon'ssurgical system1300 download and receive patient data and diagnostics information from adiagnostics system1350 if available.
• One alternate embodiment of the current design is the use of an authentication system, such as a badge reader and badge or keycard style system. Whenever an authorized user or surgeon having a key card or badge presents that key card or badge to an appropriate reader associated with asurgical system1300, the surgeon may be afforded the opportunity to download his profile or parameters or appropriate patient data to thesurgical system1300, or such downloading may occur automatically when the individual presents the appropriate credentials. A password or other credential authentication scheme may be employed at thesurgical system1300 or at another appropriate location in the system.
• A further aspect of the present system is the ability to provide usage statistics, maintenance parameters, and other pertinent information from asurgical system1300 tocentral server system1100. Thesurgical system1300, such as a phacoemulsification machine, can wirelessly transmit data back tocentral server systems1100 regarding the number of times or number amount of time thesurgical system1300 has been used, the number of disposable units used, such as phacoemulsification packs, whether enough usage has occurred to require maintenance, and whether any detected problems exist. A system that provides usage statistics and maintenance parameters is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,458, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
• In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the reader is to understand that the specific ordering and combination of process actions described herein is merely illustrative, and the invention may appropriately be performed using different or additional process actions, or a different combination or ordering of process actions. For example, this invention is particularly suited for applications involving medical systems, but can be used beyond medical systems in general. As a further example, each feature of one embodiment can be mixed and matched with other features shown in other embodiments. Additionally and obviously, features may be added or subtracted as desired. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims (21)

1-32. (canceled)

33. A system comprising:

at least one computing device comprising a plurality of surgeon desired medical device operational settings configurable by a surgeon; and

a central server system comprising:

a medical profile directory configured to receive and maintain one or more surgeon profiles that each define the plurality of surgeon desired medical device operational settings for a particular surgeon to be downloaded to the at least one computing device;

a medical profile manager configured to update one or more surgeon profiles within the medical profile directory; and

a server configured to interface with the medical profile manager to facilitate surgeon profile maintenance;

wherein the server is configured to direct profile maintenance actions to at least one surgeon profile.

34. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the central server system is configured to provide at least one surgeon profile to at least one surgical system.

35. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the central server system acts to propagate medical system profiles to at least one surgical system.

36. The system ofclaim 33, further comprising a credential authentication system associated with one surgical system wherein a user is authenticated and upon authentication profile information is provided from the central server to the one surgical system.

37. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the central server system is configured to:

establish a surgeon profile in the medical profile directory;

alter a surgeon profile in the medical profile directory; and

propagate surgeon profiles to at least one surgical system.

38. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the central server system further comprises a broadcast server configured to broadcast profile information to the at least one surgical system.

39. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the central server system further comprises communications modules enabling a user to obtain at least one authorized profile from the medical profile directory and provide the authorized profile to a further user.

40. The system ofclaim 34, wherein communication between the central server system and the at least one surgical system is wireless.

41. The system ofclaim 33, wherein one computing device comprises a personal computer operable by medical personnel.

42. The system ofclaim 34, wherein each medical system profile comprises user desired operational parameters used in operating at least one surgical system.

43. A medical system comprising:

a computing device comprising a plurality of surgeon profiles, each surgeon profile comprising desired medical device operational settings configurable by a surgeon; and

a remote server arrangement comprising:

a medical profile directory configured to receive and maintain the plurality of surgeon profiles;

a medical profile manager configured to update the plurality of surgeon profiles; and

a server configured to interface with the medical profile manager to facilitate surgeon profile maintenance;

wherein the server is configured to transmit the at least one surgeon profile to a surgical system, thereby enabling the surgical system to employ desired medical device operational settings in operating the surgical system.

44. The medical system ofclaim 43, wherein the server is further configured to interface with at least one client device to enable the medical profile manager to direct profile maintenance actions to at least one surgeon profile in the medical profile directory.

45. The medical system ofclaim 43, wherein one surgeon profile comprises at least one medical system operational parameter associated with the user usable to operate the surgical system in a desired manner.

46. The medical system ofclaim 43, wherein the medical profile directory, medical profile manager, and server collectively act to propagate multiple medical system profiles to an array of surgical systems.

47. The medical system ofclaim 43, further comprising a credential authentication system associated with the surgical system, wherein a user is authenticated and upon authentication at least one surgeon profile is provided from the medical profile directory to the surgical system.

48. The medical system ofclaim 43, wherein the medical system is configured to:

establish a surgeon profile in the medical profile directory;

alter a surgeon profile in the medical profile directory; and

propagate at least one surgeon profile to the surgical system.

49. The medical system ofclaim 43, further comprising a broadcast server configured to operate with the medical profile directory, medical profile manager, and server to broadcast profile information to the surgical system.

50. The medical system ofclaim 43, further comprising communications modules enabling a user to obtain one surgeon profile from the medical profile directory using a client device and provide the one surgeon profile to a further user.

51. The medical system ofclaim 43, wherein communication between the remote server arrangement and the computing device is wireless.

52. The medical system ofclaim 44, wherein the computing device comprises a personal computer operable by medical personnel.

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