Connecting Patient Monitoring Devices to EHRs
An electronic health record (EHR) is a computer-readable record of health-related information
on an individual. The compiled data in an EHR can include information about patient
demographics, medical history, family history, immunization records, labotary data, ongoing
health problems, progress notes, medications, vital signs, and radiology reports. Ideally, EHRs
incorporate data from all healthcare facilities a patient uses, making the data easily accessible to
healthcare professionals.
EHRs hold out the promise of improving health care and reducing costs, but for now, many
hospitals are struggling to automate the capture of raw data from the various patient monitoring
devices - such as vital sign monitors, ventilators, and electrocardiagram machines - and pass the
data directly into each patient\'s EHR. This task is made more difficult because different devices
and/or vendors often use different standards for communicating over the network. As a result,
specialized software is required to receive the data and translate it into a form suitable for
updating the EHR. Until communications standards implemented across the healthcare industry,
each new piece of monitoring equipment that outputs a nonstandard signal requires a new
interface with the EHR. So if a promising new vital sign monitoring device is developed, some
hospitals looking to use the device may be required to create a new software middleware layer to
connect the new device to the EHR. Connecting monitoring devices and EHRs is expected to
become a major business growth area over the next decade.
Many software vendors and device manufacturers are moving quickly to capitalize on the
opportunities involved with automating the many clinical-support activities that involve
minotoring devices. THe center for Medical Interoperability has enlisted many of the nation\'s
largest healthcare systems as part of its effort to strongly encourage device vendors to adopt
communications standards that will ease the problems with interoperablity. The FDA is working
to encourage the development of interoperable devices by defining some 25 device standards.
Solving the interoperability problem will require an agreement on standards through the
cooperation of multiple shareholders.
1. What benefits can be achieved through the successful implementation of EHRs? What
additional benefits will be gained by feeding data directly from patient monitoring devices
directly into EHRs?
2. Can you identify any legal, ethical, or social concerns with the use of EHRs? What additional
concerns arise from connecting patient monitoring devices to the IoT?
3. What actions need to be taken by EHR software vendors, patient monitoring device vendors,
government agencies, and hospital administrators to enable patient monitoring devices to be
safely and reliably connected to EHRs?
Solution
Question 1
What benefits can be achieved through the successful implementation of EHRs? Wha.
Connecting Patient Monitoring Devices to EHRsAn electronic health .pdf
1. Connecting Patient Monitoring Devices to EHRs
An electronic health record (EHR) is a computer-readable record of health-related information
on an individual. The compiled data in an EHR can include information about patient
demographics, medical history, family history, immunization records, labotary data, ongoing
health problems, progress notes, medications, vital signs, and radiology reports. Ideally, EHRs
incorporate data from all healthcare facilities a patient uses, making the data easily accessible to
healthcare professionals.
EHRs hold out the promise of improving health care and reducing costs, but for now, many
hospitals are struggling to automate the capture of raw data from the various patient monitoring
devices - such as vital sign monitors, ventilators, and electrocardiagram machines - and pass the
data directly into each patient's EHR. This task is made more difficult because different devices
and/or vendors often use different standards for communicating over the network. As a result,
specialized software is required to receive the data and translate it into a form suitable for
updating the EHR. Until communications standards implemented across the healthcare industry,
each new piece of monitoring equipment that outputs a nonstandard signal requires a new
interface with the EHR. So if a promising new vital sign monitoring device is developed, some
hospitals looking to use the device may be required to create a new software middleware layer to
connect the new device to the EHR. Connecting monitoring devices and EHRs is expected to
become a major business growth area over the next decade.
Many software vendors and device manufacturers are moving quickly to capitalize on the
opportunities involved with automating the many clinical-support activities that involve
minotoring devices. THe center for Medical Interoperability has enlisted many of the nation's
largest healthcare systems as part of its effort to strongly encourage device vendors to adopt
communications standards that will ease the problems with interoperablity. The FDA is working
to encourage the development of interoperable devices by defining some 25 device standards.
Solving the interoperability problem will require an agreement on standards through the
cooperation of multiple shareholders.
1. What benefits can be achieved through the successful implementation of EHRs? What
additional benefits will be gained by feeding data directly from patient monitoring devices
directly into EHRs?
2. Can you identify any legal, ethical, or social concerns with the use of EHRs? What additional
concerns arise from connecting patient monitoring devices to the IoT?
3. What actions need to be taken by EHR software vendors, patient monitoring device vendors,
government agencies, and hospital administrators to enable patient monitoring devices to be
safely and reliably connected to EHRs?
2. Solution
Question 1
What benefits can be achieved through the successful implementation of EHRs? What additional
benefits will be gained by feeding data directly from patient monitoring devices directly into
EHRs?
Answer 1:
The electronic health recording system can benefit by recording patients entire details in one
place like the following:
The benefits of success ful implementation will get the health care provider access to entire
information in one go. The patient need not repeat many tests blood or radiology again. The
response to various treatments in the past will keep a birds eye view of the allergies and the past
medical history. This will improve health care facilities and reduce cost and time for patients.
Can you identify any legal, ethical, or social concerns with the use of EHRs? What additional
concerns arise from connecting patient monitoring devices to the IoT?
1. Legally: The doctor might get access to confidential data of the patient, this data also lies with
the hospital and can be misused. Adequate checks and stops need to be there to avoid misuse and
lawsuits to the health care facilities.
2. Ethically & Socially: Data if released or shared in media or in the local publications can cause
undue embarrassment to the individual. Only fear is compromising on individual data and
confidentiality.
Basically, if ethical and systematically data is collected and monitored and connected to a
common software concerns are only of compromise and public embarrassment.
What actions need to be taken by EHR software vendors, patient monitoring device vendors,
government agencies, and hospital administrators to enable patient monitoring devices to be
safely and reliably connected to EHRs?