Spacelabs Healthcare, a global leader in patient monitoring and long-time champion of open architecture and connectivity solutions, is partnering with other companies to support common interface standards for hospital systems. Spacelabs Healthcare will participate in the IHE® (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) Interoperability Showcase at the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Conference in Orlando, February 24-28, 2008. The Showcase features clinical scenarios demonstrating how the use of IHE standards enables vital information to pass seamlessly among care providers across the continuum of care.
The IHE Patient Care Device Domain (PCD) showcase displays the interoperability of the Intesys Clinical Suite (ICS) and the Spacelabs monitoring system, which enable healthcare professionals to access vital signs information. The scenario provides timely, lifesaving treatment for a pregnant patient experiencing cardiac issues as she moves from emergency admission to surgery to intensive care. The standard defined by the PCD group and demonstrated by Spacelabs sends valuable vital signs data from the Spacelabs system directly to clinical information systems of four different manufacturers. The same vital information is being sent, received and processed by all four systems.
Spacelabs Healthcare also participated in the recent IHE “Connectathon” in Chicago, testing and validating interoperability of the ICS HL7 Interface with other clinical information systems. Spacelabs verified profiles in the PCD for HL7 interfaces, including both vital signs data sent to clinical information systems as well as admission, discharge and transfer information (ADT) coming in to Spacelabs patient monitors.
“Interoperability of medical devices requires more than standards,” said Richard Roa, D.Sc., Chief Technology Officer for Patient Monitoring and Connectivity at Spacelabs Healthcare. “It requires device vendors working together to agree upon how standards should be implemented, providing the streamlined access to patient data needed by healthcare providers and payers. IHE is leading the way. Spacelabs is proud to support these efforts to give hospitals and healthcare professionals more time to care.”
Spacelabs Healthcare and other companies are responding to hospitals’ increasing recognition of the value of IHE as the driver of standards adoption, enabling systems to send and receive data seamlessly. Spacelabs Healthcare connectivity solutions, including the ICS HL7 interfaces, ADT and Vital Signs, ensure the accessibility and availability of data throughout the hospital system wherever and whenever needed at any time during the care cycle. Having all data stored in one record and accessible, whether at the point of care or remotely, makes workflow more efficient, saves documentation time, eliminates errors in transcription and allows for clinical backup. Spacelabs servers are generally located in the hospital data center and monitors are on the hospital “backbone,” saving significant infrastructure costs.
“IHE is the direction of the future,” said Roa, “and Spacelabs Healthcare is pleased to advance this important goal.”
About Spacelabs Healthcare Inc.
Spacelabs Healthcare, Inc. (www.spacelabshealthcare.com) is an international developer, manufacturer and distributor of medical equipment and services including solutions for patient monitoring and connectivity, anesthesia delivery and ventilation, diagnostic cardiology and supplies and accessories selling to hospitals, clinics and physician offices. Additionally, the company provides centralized cardiac safety and diagnostic services (QT Studies, ECG, Holter, ABP, and Event Monitoring) to biopharmaceutical companies undertaking clinical trials.
The company has established brand names in both medical devices and medical services such as "Spacelabs," "Blease" and “Del Mar Reynolds.” It employs approximately 1,100 personnel in its offices located in the United States, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Finland, India and Singapore.