It’s becoming increasingly clear in the healthcare industry that the use of rugged tablets must have similar characteristics as other medical instrumentation used in medical care. In essence, it must be capable of acting with the same safeguards and functionality as any other medical device. Consequently, the features of an efficient and reliable medical grade tablet must be geared to the needs of the healthcare environment where it will be part of the instrument chain providing patient care.
Industrial Android tablets have become a staple in healthcare for things like medication alerts and tracking, Electronic Health Record (EHR) support, blood pressure monitoring, among others. While these uses have an ancillary relationship to patient outcomes, they do not provide direct medical function to healthcare providers or patients as a medical device. That is changing fast due to the evolution of purpose-built tablet designs that adhere to FDA, Medical Device Directive 60601, and ISO 13485 regulations.
For example, tablets that interface directly with medical devices to perform medical treatment procedures are required to be capable of adhering to stringent FDA regulations. Many medical devices now have the ability to connect to, communicate with, and operate other medical devices or systems, particularly treatment devices, which makes these connecting devices medical devices in the eyes of the FDA.
Devices that are already FDA approved or cleared are being updated to add digital features. New types of devices that already have these capabilities are being explored. Today’s devices are designed to work with complex software and provide interface ability with next generation medical devices to provide direct patient diagnosis and treatment.
This includes uses as direct interfaces via software for glucose meters, infusion pumps, and as critical displays of radiological images as just three examples. Adding application-specific capabilities, such as specifically calibrated displays, often customized secure wireless connections, and tethered medical instruments enable a medical grade tablet for safe and reliable medical treatment, such as monitoring and changing critical fluid intake and body functions or guided medical procedures.
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