Digitizing the ECG Workflow - A State-of-the-Art Analysis

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Cardiology
• Health IT

Background:

• Electrocardiograms (ECG) are crucial for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases, a leading cause of global mortality.
• Current hospital practices for managing ECG data are diverse and often lack standardization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe typical digitized workflows, IT systems, and data formats for ECG in hospitals.
• To analyze current ECG data management practices in German-speaking hospitals.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted with four German-speaking hospitals regarding their ECG data management.
• A generic model for ECG data management was developed based on survey findings.

Main Results:

• Hospitals surveyed do not currently use DICOM as an exchange format for ECG data.
• Implementation of IHE profiles, such as REWF for ECG, is also absent.
• Lack of essential IT infrastructure, including Master Patient Index and electronic archives, limits standardized data management.

Conclusions:

• Improving ECG data management at various levels can reduce errors and enhance patient safety.
• Storing raw ECG data offers potential for advanced diagnostics through big data and machine learning applications.