Establishment of a digital electrocardiogram telemonitoring system and remote consultation service.

BACKGROUND

The use of telemonitoring electrocardiogram (ECG) improves the detection rate of various arrhythmias as it offers an extended recording time and does not impose activity restrictions. However, many community hospitals lack the resources to conduct this test due to a lack of cardiac function specialists and antiquated screening equipment.

OBJECTIVE

To establish a digital ECG telemonitoring system and remote consultation service between tertiary hospitals and community medical service stations to improve diagnosis and treatment effectiveness.

METHODS

We used the PI ECG telemonitoring data acquisition system, with a personal digital assistant (PDA) or computer serving as the platform for ECG acquisition, storage, display, printing, and transmission. We introduced this system to standardize the storage and transmission of ECG telemonitoring data, and ensure accurate transmission, reproducibility, and preservation of data.

RESULTS

The implementation of the PI ECG telemonitoring data acquisition system enabled the sharing of remote ambulatory electrocardiography data between Beijing Shijitan Hospital and its affiliated community hospitals. This has resulted in reduced waiting times for patients to receive reports (from 0.3 to 1 hour, to 0.1 or less), shortened consultation times (from 2 hours to 0.1 hour), and improved patient satisfaction with consultations (> 20% of the patients reported they were highly satisfied). The system successfully combined the goals of intelligence, real-time synchronization, and efficiency, revolutionizing ECG telemonitoring diagnosis in the network era.

CONCLUSION

Sharing digital telematics information between tertiary and community hospitals enables a tiered approach to diagnosis and treatment and allows for more efficient, accurate, and convenient remote diagnostics.