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What Would Medical Device Connectivity Mean for Healthcare?

Interoperability has been a hot topic for several years, but, in a perfect world, what would medical device connectivity actually look like? And what's stopping this connectivity from actually becoming a reality?

In a presentation for HIMSS20, Tobias Klotz, system architect for Dragerwerk AG, emphasized that medical device connectivity issues have been felt potently, especially recently given the current pandemic. He specifically mentions that interoperability standards between life-saving devices such as fusion pumps and ventilators have been very slow in their development. And these failing medical device communication standards are responsible for many of the pain points felt in the healthcare sector.

What are Medical Device Communication Standards?

Despite how troublesome medical device interoperability may seem for care providers, standards do exist for cross-machine communications, though they are definitely lacking. Many devices with external computer systems required to share information need to meet ISO/IEEE 11073 device connectivity certification.

The Goals

ISO/IEEE 11073 standards apply to both personal health devices as well as acute care tech ventilators and they outline the necessity of devices to be able to share information between different databases. In an ideal world, these certifications are intended to accomplish three goals.

1.) Promote delivery of real-time data transfer.

2.) Provide ease of use and a “plug and play” interface.

3.) Improve the accurate exchange of data.

The Problems

Unfortunately, devices made by different manufacturers aren’t able to share data 100% accurately since developers don’t account for how well their devices communicate with other vendors’ devices.

Thus, physicians need to turn to antiquated forms of vital tracking like manual note-taking, hindering real-time data transfer. This hardly provides ease of use and “plug-and-play” functionality and even introduces the element of human error into the equation by having staff physically record notes.

Thus, we see how these standards fail across all three of the goals we highlighted earlier once we look at the very realistic environment where several devices from several manufacturers are present and need to share data on a single patient.

Benefits of Medical Device Connectivity

Optimized Care

Right off the bat, an effective medical device connectivity solution would eliminate the need for manual note-taking and vital tracking. By having all of a patient’s information accurately shared across all devices, providers can receive a comprehensive look at a patient’s healthcare journey without needing to meticulously translate inaccurately transferred data.

Beyond that, by standardizing the way medical devices are able to communicate with each other, facilities can also send information on a patient to other facilities outside of their network knowing full well that devices on the recipient’s end can receive and understand the data being shared.

Reduced Burnout

Imagine a patient hooked up to multiple machines, each with their own functions and vitals that are being tracked and each set to ring an alarm when the vital it’s responsible for tracking reaches dangerous levels. It’s easy to see how a set up like this can result in what’s commonly referred to as “Alarm Fatigue”, a phenomenon that occurs in both patients and physicians in which regularly blaring alarms cause increased levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout. Unfortunately, even though nearly 90% of these alarms are considered “false alarms” a caregiver needs to respond to each and every one.

The reason so many false alarms occur is because each machine that’s hooked up to a patient is only the vital it’s been made to track. Due to a lack of device connectivity, each device isn’t receiving information from the others hooked up to a patient that could possibly explain that the vitals being tracked as “dangerous” are actually normal for said patient because of a certain treatment they’re undergoing.

In a world where medical device interoperability is realized, all of these devices could work in tandem, tracking vitals in conjunction with one another and only sending off alarms when it’s truly necessary.

Solutions Are on Their Way

Until larger changes are made, the right policies and hardware in place can go a long way towards improving the internal interoperability of your own facility. For more information on the tech you need to improve your own medical device connectivity, contact an expert from Cybernet today.

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