Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX November/December 2005

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

"The IEEE standards for communication between medical devices are not sufficient," according to C. Peter Waegemann, an internationally known expert on medical records. "They do not provide enough detail and do not work with enough applications," he says.

Waegemann, the CEO of the Medical Records Institute (Boston) and chair of the Mobile Healthcare Alliance (MoHCA; Washington, DC), is also greatly concerned about a specific issue: electromagnetic interference (EMI). "Medical device manufacturers need to pay great attention to EMI," says Waegemann. "They should be concerned with providing shielding for electronic devices to ensure that they are not susceptible to electromagnetic interference from each other."

Clearly, if a wireless computer and an electronic infusion pump, for example, were to interfere with each other's signals, disastrous results might ensue. So manufacturers of medical communications and clinical devices must heed an additional important standard, says Waegemann. "This one is called EMC, or electromagnetic compatibility—the ability of electromagnetic devices to operate without affecting each other's performance."

Waegemann says that devices should not only be efficient and safe, but more intelligently helpful. "Systems should help integrate data into a decision-support system. They should not only make the data accessible, but they should be able to flag what's critical."

He also believes that healthcare providers urgently need other features, too. "Devices should allow voice input much more than they do; this would be a huge help to physicians," he says. And since portable devices will be used increasingly, another factor also comes into play. "Considerations of security—checking identity with fingerprints or voice—must be built in more often, and more effectively," Waegemann says.

Copyright ©2005 MX