In addition to monitoring ECG and SpO2, the device has built-in algorithms to enhance ECG processing and reduce false alarms – such as pacer detection software and ACE® (Arrhythmia Classification Expert), an arrhythmia analysis tool.

Infinity M300 can run on a hospital’s existing 802.11 b/g network – saving the expense of requiring a separate wireless network for the telemetry system.

Infinity M300 addresses the three major challenges of telemetry monitoring. The first is viewing patient information at the patient’s side. Unlike traditional telemetry devices which have no screen, Infinity M300 has a color display that shows the patient’s ECG for all monitored leads, heart rate, SpO2, and electrode status – enabling the clinical staff to access monitored data and react promptly without having to go to the central monitoring station. The display also shows patient demographics to help confirm the patient’s identification before giving medication, taking blood samples, or performing treatments.

The second telemetry challenge is hearing and responding to alarms. InfinityM300 has built-in alarming and alarm controls, which provide alarm alerts both at the patient’s side and the Infinity CentralStation, Dräger’s central monitoring workstation. The built-in display helps the clinician assess alarms and respond accordingly.

The third challenge of telemetry monitoring is the cost and effort associated with disposable batteries. Infinity M300 has a built-in battery, which can be recharged via a bedside charger while the patient is wearing the device, or at a multi-device charger at the central monitoring station.

Press release: Dräger announces first implementation of new wireless Infinity® M300 patient-worn monitor (.pdf)...

Product page: Infinity® M300

Here's a video example of one of these consultations:

Abstract in Lancet Neurology...

(hat tip: Wired Science)

Download Podcast - Video in Healthcare Then and Now (MP3 - 12:05 min)

More from Cisco on healthcare...

From the press release:

A family of three products are being unveiled, including the Wireless Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor, Wireless Precision Scale, and Wireless Activity Monitor. Utilizing FitLinxx, Inc.'s proprietary wireless technology all of the Wellness Connected products will be linked to provide users a comprehensive picture of their wellness. A complete record of blood pressure, weight, and activity transmits to a user's computer automatically, where custom software saves and charts daily progress. Consumers can also conveniently send data to Actihealth(TM) internet service for enhanced functionality, to access their personal wellness information from anywhere, and to share their progress with family, friends, support groups, and medical professionals

Press release: LifeSource(R) to Unveil New Telehealth Technology at 2008 NACDS Conference

More from the announcement:

This demonstration was accomplished with an ESTELE robot entirely controlled by the robuBOX®.

For the demonstration, ROBOSOFT made the ESTELE robot available to the project partners. Within a month after familiarization with the software development tools for the robot, researchers at PRISME developed and implemented the software for internet communication via satellite between a control station in France and a remote robot carrying an ultrasound probe used to examine a patient onboard a ship sailing the Mediterranean.

"These kinds of projects show the soundness of the generic approach used in the robuBOX", says Vincent Dupourqué, CEO of ROBOSOFT. "The standard tele-ultrasound robot was originally delivered for use in a classic video-conferencing system over the phone lines. Thanks to the robuBOX development toolkit, included with the standard robot, a customer can add his own functionalities, and can also integrate the robot into a larger system". For this project, the PRISME Institute handled adapting the robot software using Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio.

The ESTELE robot is an example of cooperation between research and industry: designed, developed, and patented by a public-sector research laboratory, it was industrialized and marketed under licence by ROBOSOFT. It is controlled by the robuBOX, a "universal robotics engine" adapted for the expanding market for service robots. Several robots equipped with preliminary versions of the robuBOX have already been deployed: Estele, the tele-ultrasound robot used in this project; robuCAB, an autonomous GPS guided vehicle; as well as general-purpose mobile platforms such as the robuLAB10 for domestic help or the robuROC for security and military applications. The robuBOX, which allows customers to build numerous advanced robotics applications, was developed and can be modified using Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio (see http://www.microsoft.com/robotics).

Press release: World's first robotised tele-ultrasound examination via satellite...

YouTube video (in French): ESTELE tele echography robot...

Flashback: ESTELE: Expert System for Tele Echography

Web-based and content-rich, the new Genesis™ DM is the latest generation of the industry’s best-selling monitor. With over 40,000 monitors in service worldwide, we provide the most complete remote biometric and symptom evaluation available.

Genesis DM is seamlessly integrated into the innovative new Honeywell HomMed LifeStream™ telehealth platform, providing web-enabled, on-demand access to disease-specific symptom management (DSSM), customizable by diagnosis and symptoms.

This telehealth device measures heart rate, blood pressure, and weight, and provides customizable subjective disease-related queries for a more complete picture of an individual’s health. Automated set up and automatic patient engagement with a friendly voice and easy-to-use interface guide the patient at every step.

Product page: Honeywell HomMed Genesis™ DM remote patient care monitor...

This is a cross-post with Scienceroll....

Using Bluetooth, wi-fi and cellular networks, a phone needs no modification itself. Capable of 50x magnification today, the devices could provide twice that. A smaller prototype features its own light source.

"This could be useful even at home," suggests Fletcher [Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Berkeley --ed.], "where, for example, early warnings of a change in the shape of a mole could be sent to your clinician on a regular basis to monitor."

In addition, cancer patients could conduct their own blood cell counts that today require larger microscopes and particle counters.

Dr. Lam, Pediatric Oncologist at UCSF, is one of the grad students working on CellScope. He adds, "By no means do we think this is going to replace those large particle counters. It's just a good adjunct for the patient to have at home."

More, with video, from ABC...

Project page: Telemicroscopy for Disease Diagnosis...

Unlike most other haptic interfaces that rely on motors and mechanical linkages to provide some sense of touch or force feedback, the device developed by Ralph Hollis, research professor in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, uses magnetic levitation and a single moving part to give users a highly realistic experience. Users can perceive textures, feel hard contacts and notice even slight changes in position while using an interface that responds rapidly to movements.

"We believe this device provides the most realistic sense of touch of any haptic interface in the world today," said Hollis, whose research group built a working version of the device in 1997. With the help of a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant, however, he and his colleagues have improved its performance, enhanced its ergonomics and lowered its cost. The grant also enabled them to build 10 copies, six of which are being distributed to haptic researchers across the U.S. and Canada.

"We have gone from the prototype to a much more advanced system that other researchers can use," Hollis said. Putting the instrument in the hands of other researchers is critical in a young, developing field such as haptic technology, he emphasized. Though haptic interfaces have uses in engineering design, entertainment, assembly, remote operation of robots, and in medical and dental training, their full potential has yet to be explored. That's particularly the case for magnetic levitation haptic interfaces because so few have been available for use by researchers, he added.

"This is an affordable device that's also practical," said Hollis, who has started a spinoff company to build additional devices. "Now other people can have this technology, and this represents technology transfer in the very real sense..."

The system eliminates the bulky links, cables and general mechanical complexity of other haptic devices on the market today in favor of a single lightweight moving part that floats on magnetic fields.

At the heart of the maglev haptic interface is a bowl-shaped device called a flotor that is embedded with six coils of wire. Electric current flowing through the coils interacts with powerful permanent magnets underneath, causing the flotor to levitate. A control handle is attached to the flotor.

A user moves the handle much like a computer mouse, but in three dimensions with six degrees of freedom - up/down, side to side, back/forth, yaw, pitch and roll. Optical sensors measure the position and orientation of the flotor, and this information is used to control the position and orientation of a virtual object on the computer display. As this virtual object encounters other virtual surfaces and objects, corresponding signals are transmitted to the flotor's electrical coils, resulting in haptic feedback to the user.

Full story: Magnetic Levitation Gives Computer Users Sense of Touch...

Magnetic Levitation Haptic Consortium...

From the press statement:

Slated for deployment at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, the goal is to provide nurses with a mobile, clinician-centric workflow that incorporates the Motion C5 mobile clinical assistant from Intel into vital sign collection using Centricity Enterprise in-patient electronic medical record (EMR) software and GE Healthcare’s DINAMAP® patient monitoring devices...

The solution replaces the use of Computer on Wheels (COWs) to access Centricity Enterprise electronic medical records (EMR) and is made possible by the creation of a new cable system and Java applet that allows vital sign collection on GE DINAMAP monitors to flow directly into Centricity Enterprise. GE engineers also designed a new user interface optimized for navigation and data input using the Motion C5 pen and stylus capabilities.

Using Mobile Computing’s formal clinician usability study methodology, UCSF piloted the mobile, clinician-centric workflow to fully utilize the potential of Centricity Enterprise EMR to help improve patient care. Initial benefits of the pilot have included enhanced patient interaction, reduced documentation delay and greater portability by the use of required clinical logins.

Press release: Nurses at UCSF now use Intel Corporation's Motion C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant to Electronically Collect Patient Vital Signs and Enter Directly into Centricity Enterprise EMR...

Product page: DINAMAP...

Flashbacks: Motion C5: Mobile Clinical Assistant ; Hands-on with Motion Computing's C5 medical Tablet PC; Mobile Clinical Assistant Platform from Intel

The press release explains:

GE Healthcare announced...that Memorial Hospital North is the first healthcare institution to deploy ApexPro® FH, a spread-spectrum frequency hopping telemetry system, on its CARESCAPE™ Enterprise Access™ in-building wireless platform. The solution provides the hospital with a single, integrated, wireless platform that enables critical patient data to be securely coordinated, managed and distributed without the communications failures, interference or interruptions associated with un-integrated systems...

CARESCAPE Enterprise Access furthers the hospital’s commitment to innovation by providing a secure, comprehensive platform for wireless voice and data communications. Using CARESCAPE Enterprise Access, clinicians can access critical patient information and communicate more effectively which supports better patient care. Powered by MobileAccess and its Wire-it-Once™ infrastructure, CARESCAPE Enterprise Access enables the hospital to quickly adapt to emerging wireless requirements and expansions without disrupting operations or interrupting services.

Memorial Hospital North deployed CARESCAPE Enterprise Access to provide reliable performance for telemetry, cellular phone service, public safety communications, and radio frequency identification (RFID). Recently, Memorial Hospital North added ApexPro FH without disrupting operations or interrupting services. GE’s medical telemetry system provides Memorial North with a large-capacity (up to 640 patients) wireless patient monitoring system with significant protection from signal interference and dropout. The system uses a bi-directional, frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum infrastructure, allowing it to “hop around” the frequency spectrum to help prevent interference. By helping to protect life-critical patient data transmissions from interference, dropout and downtime, the solution supports optimal patient care by helping to support better caregiver communication and productivity.

Product page: ApexPro Telemetry System...