RFID for Healthcare
This web site was listed in a Healthcare Design Magazine e-newsletter as an RFID information web site for healthcare facilities. I love the URL – www.rfidhealthcare.com – I'm sure there are lots of folks kicking themselves because they didn't think of this URL themselves. Perhaps www.healthcarerfid.com is available? Sadly, no – it just serves up ads based on search terms.
The recommended site (www.rfidhealthcare.com) isn't so cheesy as to simply serve up ads, but the site is decidedly short on actual content. There are brief descriptions of various location based health care applications. It took me less than 5 minutes to review the entire site. As a marketing vehicle for what appears to be a consulting firm, BlueBean LLC. I wonder just how effective it is.
Welch Allyn OEMs EtCO2 from Oridion
Welch Allyn has joined a list of leading patient monitoring vendors offering Oridion’s miniMedi EtCO2 capnography module (press release). About the only vendor who doesn’t OEM Oridion is GE Healthcare – even some OEM vendors, like Analogic – use Oridion for EtCO2. Since Welch Allyn does not sell high acuity patient monitors (for the ICU and OR) this module may end up in a new monitor targeting outpatient surgery or a replacement for the aging Propaq monitor line. Besides mentioning ventilation patient monitoring (something that’s done outside of critical care areas with increasing frequency), the press release mentions this:
Microstream® makes EtCO2 monitoring feasible with both intubated and non-intubated patients and broadens the applications for capnography beyond the more traditional functions. For example, capnography can alert clinicians to episodes of hypoventilation as well as help them assess ventilation and treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It also provides safety monitoring during procedural sedation, keeping with current American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) standards that recommend CO2 monitoring for all anesthetized patients, whether they are intubated or not.
What impact this agreement will have on Welch Allyn’s own EtCO2 OEM modules is not clear. In OEM circles, Welch Allyn is best known for their temperature and motion tolerant NIBP modules.
Pictured right is Oridion’s EtCO2 OEM module.
UPDATE: Word is that the Oridion EtCO2 module will go in a new generation of Welch Allyn monitors.
Medical Devices and Electromagnetic Interference
The delivery of health care is an inherently mobile activity, with patients moving though the care delivery process and almost all health care workers in constant motion. So it's no wonder that wireless technologies have been adopted with gusto.
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) has been a concern with medical devices since their inception. This EMI can be divided into intentional and unintentional interference. Intentional interference typically comes from radio frequency (RF) radiators like walkie-talkies, wireless phones, WiFi radios, and cell phones that use frequencies and specified power levels that may interfere with the operation of other radios or electronic devices. Unintentional interference is caused by things like paper shredders, bad florescent light ballasts, and noisy electric motors (from blow dryers to elevators).
Any electronic device can be affected by EMI, including medical devices. The wireless features of medical devices (or any other wireless device, for that matter) can also be affected. The larger medical device vendors have dedicated engineers and techs who do EMI testing and troubleshoot interference problems at customer sites.
In an effort to promote best practices regarding the use of mobile wireless communications and computing technologies in health care facilities, standards committees TC 215 and ISO 35.240.80 have created recommendations for
electromagnetic compatibility (management of unintentional
electromagnetic interference) with medical devices. Here's the abstract:
guidance for the deployment, use and management of mobile wireless
communication and computing equipment in healthcare facilities in a way
that promotes effective electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) among the
wireless technology and active medical devices through mitigation of
potential hazards due to electromagnetic interference (EMI). The
recommendations given recognize the different resources, needs,
concerns and environments of healthcare organizations around the world,
and provide detailed management guidelines for healthcare organizations
that desire full deployment of mobile wireless communication and
computing technology throughout their facilities. In addition,
suggestions are included for selective restrictions in cases where
healthcare organizations have decided that comprehensive management
procedures are not feasible, practical or desirable at the present
time. The recommendations herein distinguish between wireless
technology controlled by the facility and used by doctors and staff for
healthcare-specific communication and health informatics transport
versus non-controlled (personal) mobile wireless equipment randomly
brought into the facility by visitors, patients or the healthcare
organization workforce.
You can buy your copy of the standard for a mere 132.00 Swiss Francs here. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (the Brit's equivalent to the FDA) has free recommendations based on the standard here. And you can read a paper on cell phone use in hospitals from last fall here.
