Standardizing Computer Interfacing to Medical Devices

The first medical devices with the means to pass data to a computer appeared in the 1970's. Of course in those days there weren't many computers to actually connect to the devices, but this rapidly changed with the advent of the PC. However despite the increased availability of computers there was still limited use in connecting a computer to a medical device as there weren't many applications to send the data too. It had still become essential for medical devices to provide a means to connect a computer though. If a medical device didn't have a computer interface it would appear less sophisticated, and the interface became a required component even though only a minority of researchers wished to use it. Most hospitals today are still using paper charting and record storage rather than using computers. However, today the computer revolution in hospitals is well and truly under way, and in the last few years a desire to include medical device data in patient records, computer charting, and computer aided diagnosis has arisen. So, after all these years of medical devices having computer interfaces, there is now a real demand (plus the clinical system vendors working quickly to supply the infrastructure to cater for that demand) surely it's just a matter of plugging them in and using the data. However, even though the interfaces have existed for many decades it has not meant that they exist in a mature, usable form. In fact the lack of desire to use them has meant the opposite case. Every medical device computer interface is different - they require different connectors, different cables, and each requires software to be developed to acquire the data. Occasionally the manufacturers supply software (or can provide it on demand), but the software is usually a demonstration on how to develop your own software, and more typically the manufacturer only supplies a document (a protocol) describing the interface. Consequently there exists a vast chasm between what is wanted from medical devices, and what a user can currently achieve. Almost fifteen years ago there was already awareness of this problem, and work began on a standard to make all devices communicate in a common manner. Initially called the Medical Interface Bus (MIB), it became IEEE 1073 (and now also ISO 11073), and is still an ongoing project. IEEE 1073 is massively comprehensive, but can be broken down into three areas;