The Importance of State and Context in Safe Interoperable Medical Systems

This Article is Featured in the Special Issue NIH-IEEE POCT 2015

This paper describes why “device state” and “patient context” information are necessary components of device models for safe interoperability. This paper includes a discussion of the importance of describing the roles of devices with respect to interactions (including human user workflows involving devices, and device to device communication) within a system, particularly those intended for use at the point-of-care, and how this role information is communicated. In addition, it describes the importance of clinical scenarios in creating device models for interoperable devices.