Re: mobilECG support
On Sat, Oct 12, 2013 at 07:23:10PM +0200, Peter Isza wrote:
> I've been working on this project for 8 months now:
> http://igg.me/at/mobilecg. I would like to make it work out of the box with
> as many operating systems as possible.
>
> The device is a USB HID device, it doesn't require any special drivers or
> kernel settings. The software itself is not open source, but the API will
> be open.
There is an extreme legal trap in this unless "proper"
certification is really achieved:
In many cardiologically risky, out-patient circumstances,
which is what you tout the device to help with, an ECG
doesn't really help all that much in making the right
clinical decision. Based on ECG readings entire groups
of, say, acute myocardial infarctions will be missed,
regardless of whether a certified or non-certified,
accurate or non-accurate device is used.
Patients will sue, because the doctor initially
mis-interpreted the situation, and they will win,
because the ECG device wasn't a certified medical
device, regardless of the fact that a certified
device would not have shown anything either.
I am not speaking in favour of certification. I am
cautioning as to over-estimating the usefulness
of pre-hospital/pre-medical-practice use of ECG
devices.
Even WITH a full-blown, certified, day-to-day use
proven device at my disposal its use in the
decision of whether to admit a patient for
critical care is rather limited. In all others
cases (not requiring critical care, that is) there
is sufficient time to reach a point of care.
Now, all this applies to the developed world.
Creating a reliable, accurate - and affordable - device
for use in places where points of care can't easily
be reached seems like a worthwhile cause. Especially
if coupled with the ability to transfer readings
remotely (by mobile phone).
Karsten
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