Medical Device Data Alignment: A Follow-Up

Abstract

An article written by this author and published in the AAMI Healthcare Horizons Fall 2012, entitled “Medical Device Interoperability and Data Integration to Clinical Information Systems: Medical Device Data Alignment” discussed the challenges associated with synchronizing and aligning data from medical devices for the purposes of clinical decision making, charting and patient care management. The premise of that article was that “aligning and synchronizing data from disparate medical devices can be an impediment to interoperability with electronic medical record systems.”

In that article the challenges posed by disparate lexicons, operating modes, and data communication mechanisms by various medical devices, particularly those medical devices that support similar functions within the in-patient setting was discussed. This article is a follow-up to that original publication, in which a discussion of activities and progress made since the publication of the original article are highlighted.