Developing manufacturer-independent components for ECG viewing and for data exchange with ECG devices: can the SCP-ECG standard help?

In the context of HYGEIAnet, the regional health-telematics network of Crete, the Center for Medical Informatics and Health Telematics Applications (CMI-HTA) has explored the capabilities of several ECG devices and management systems. The focus was placed on the SCP-ECG (Standard Communications Protocol for computer-assisted Electrocardiography) standard, which defines a uniform format for the processing and storage of digital ECG recordings and specifies a means by which ECG devices and systems may exchange information. The development of a multi-manufacturer ECG viewer took more effort than expected. Although the SCP-ECG guidelines are sound and useful as far as they go, the protocol leaves too many degrees of freedom in a number of areas, so that the development of generic SCP-based software is, in practice, a difficult task. Moreover, the manufacturer's degree of compliance with the SCP standard may be unclear, while there is no recognized body or institution that is able to certify the level of conformance.