Development of a tele-healthcare system based on the HL7 standard

A prototype tele-healthcare system based on the HL7 standard includes an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system and an HL7 interface. The ECG monitoring system can acquire ECG signals using Bluetooth, and display them in real time. The HL7 interface converts the measured data to the HL7 message format for interoperability. The proposed system is extensible, and can easily be integrated with other mobile devices via Bluetooth. Test results and performance evaluation show that the system is able to provide a tele-monitoring service, irrespective of patients' locations, and suggest that it can make a significant contribution to a hospital information system.