Originally Published MPMN January/February 2008

BREAKTHROUGHS

Interconnects Enhance Flexibility of Monitoring Systems

Daniel Grace

With hospitals endeavoring to cut costs, prevent overcrowding, and increase patient comfort by shortening hospital stays, remote patient monitoring has become increasingly prevalent. A major challenge to outpatient monitoring, however, is that a great deal of existing equipment is specifically designed for use in hospitals, or requires experts to configure and maintain.

Tekdata Interconnect has introduced a new set of interconnects that could alleviate some of the difficulties with remote patient monitoring. The company says the interconnects will offer unprecedented flexibility for medical monitoring applications, such as blood monitors or portable EEG systems. The programmable interconnects are based around a two-pin block, and can be configured into a system with up to 48 channels.

“Imagine an ambulatory patient who is homebound and has to be hooked up to a blood monitoring system with multiple channels,” says Roy Blake, field sales manager from Tekdata.
“A standard, nonmodular system used in hospitals might incorporate cables that are too long and could easily cause the patient to trip, thereby making the system a poor solution for home use.”

Designed for easy configuration, the interconnects allow lower-level staff and patients to quickly reconfigure and adjust monitoring systems while in the ward or outside the confines of the hospital. The interconnects accept a wide variety of sensors, electrodes, and syringes, and incorporate plastics with suitable sealings and overmoldings for repeated sterilization and hospital autocleaning.

Complex monitoring systems also stand to benefit from the interconnects. Brain activity monitors must be capable of conducting signals with extremely low amplitudes, which is accomplished by using low-loss microphone cable and special electrodes. “[The interconnects] are well suited to ensure accuracy and signal fidelity when serving as connectors between microphone cable and the gold-plated, cast-silver electrodes commonly used for brain monitoring,” says Blake.

Beyond interconnect components, the company also offers cable harnesses, electronic components, and fiber-optic products, as well as prototyping, manufacturing, and assembly services.

Tekdata Interconnect , Stoke-On-Trent, UK
www.tekdata-interconnect.com

Copyright ©2008 Medical Product Manufacturing News