Session P7D.1

Vital Framework Interface for a Flexible Persistence of Medical Data Information

M Struck*, S Pramatarov, C Weigand

Fraunhofer Institute of Integrated Circuits
Erlangen, Germany

Wireless communication between sensors acquiring patient vital signs has become irreplaceable in the clinical workflow in the past few years. Essential requirements to integrate medical devices of different manufacturers into a hospital information system are standardized data representation and well-defined communication protocols. The purpose of the CEN ENV13734/35 standard for Vital Signs Information Representation (VITAL) is to define an object oriented model of medical devices and vital parameters. The implementation of the standard results in a VITAL library, which is embedded into a generic framework. It defines interfaces for the integration of different medical devices, additional communication protocols, graphical user interfaces to visualize vital signs and signal processing units. All these modules can be implemented and integrated into the framework as plug-ins. At the current state-of-the-art, there is no interface for the persistence of medical parameters represented by VITAL objects.
In order to guarantee readability of vital signs in the future, standardized storing methods are indispensable. That is why we created a new user interface that allows the flexible real-time persistence of medical data information. The design of the interface assures a minimum of information loss when having a system crash. Concentrating on the choice of specific file formats, there are additionally requirements such as the degree of deployment of the file formats in the clinical routine and the quality of the tools for visualization of medical data information. In order to give a conclusion about the suitability of different formats, the following data file formats have been evaluated: EDF/EDF+, FEF and SCIPHOX. All file standards can be implemented respectively generated using an ASN.1 compiler and integrated into the framework.
Due to the fact that FEF is the most universal format, which is completely consistent to the VITAL standard, the persistence of medical data with the File Exchange Format is an adequate solution within the VITAL framework. Unfortunately, the FEF standard was first published after lots of "isolated applications" have already been introduced into the clinical workflow.

(Abstract Control Number: 199)