Pacemaker University Project

Good Day Pacemaker club members
I am a Product Design student at University and for my current project I am designing a communication device, and I have chosen to make something for people that have had a pacemaker or internal defibrillator fitted. A little background info, I have a family member that has a Defib fitted so I have been able to find out quite a lot of information from them about living with one. What I have taken an interest in to is how Doctors are able to collect information from them when the person goes in for a checkup. I would really appreciate if anyone would be able to tell me if they know how the doctor is able to connect/receive the data from the device. I know my family member used to have a machine that had a scanner that they would place over the device and it would allow them to send information to the hospital through their home telephone line. My current idea revolves around having a watch that will be paired to a smartphone or connected to wifi that has a receiver built in that will receive the data from the persons pacemaker and will then be automatically send the data to the hospital.
I would be really great full if I could have some opinions or suggestions from some of Pacemaker Club community to help me develop my idea.

Thanks! :)

3 Comments

Not necessary

by rewired - 2016-01-13 06:01:30

to carry ANOTHER object.
I am guessing that you are 25 and younger, and i congratulate you on wanting to design something to help people you think have a need. But i doubt we need this. 1. information is useless unless someone is interpreting it. What alarms will the transmissions trigger and where? Unless we are hooked to a system which is actually reading the info, it is just a toy. 2. We KNOW when something is wrong, and we respond by going to an expert. Do you wear a monitor to catch every breathe just in case you inhaled a virus? Distance monitors are handy if we know that someone IS monitoring it, and if we are still in an analytical phase. But these systms already exist, and work. A friend has a medtronic recorder implanted - no probs, plenty of info. 3. i set off alarms in stores, get woozy on a bus if everyone is on the phone, and now sit with my left shoulder to the window in a plane, to avoid my seat passenger's phone, tablet and computer (no more tickets to you, UNITED, i do NOT like your wified planes). Many people on this forum have questions re: fitbits and cardic monitors for exercising. And enough seem to have problems. I cannot carry my phone in a left pocket. The emmissions are -from a friend in a gov. dept which investigates these things for national security trace reasons - are up to FOUR times the allowed levels when sending and receiving. I am not in the market for yet another thing with signals. 4. i leave the house for five minutes and i carry my pacemaker id card, five hours and i add my medication, five days and i bring my medical file. I already have enough in my handbag.
If you really want to invent something to help someone, i have an idea for you. My granddaughter was born with a cleft lip and palate. It was very hard work to keep her alive, with enough nutrition in her body for her to grow enough for the first of her ops. We bought special bottle and teat combinations for her feeds, because she could not suck. They cost thirty dollars a pop, and the silicone deteriorated quickly so we had to buy a LOT of them. We are lucky - goooood medical insurance, plenty of spare cash in the family, family members with lots of spare time. We are not a normal family, normal families struggle to pay for this type of very basic aid. Invent a cheaper bottle to save childrens' lives, and the world WILL beat a path to your door. Good luck!

Not sure what you want

by Theknotguy - 2016-01-13 12:01:46

You say you worked with a family member, then say you're not sure how the doctor retrieves information from the pacemaker. That's basic information so I'm not sure how you missed that talking with your relative.

Having a watch paired to a smartphone may sound like a great idea but we usually don't need information on a minute by minute basis. The only time someone would need information like that is when they have a problem. Question then becomes what is a "problem" that needs to be flagged? Then, in turn, needs to be transmitted to a smartphone.

Next question is if I want to go through the hassle of hooking up devices so a problem that may never happen can be flagged. Most of the time I'll end up in the hospital and they'll use a pacemaker reader to retrieve the information. Believe me when I say you'll know when something is wrong - no need for a smart phone to tell me. Then there may also be problems of false positives. i.e. a reported problem that isn't. Trips to the er to get checked out get real expensive very quickly.

In addition, transmission by the pacemaker is normally off. It runs down the battery. It's no fun having your chest cut open. Killing the battery and needing to have the pacemaker replaced more frequently isn't a fun idea. I don't think health insurance companies are going to go along with that idea either. Got an extra $15,000 or more you don't need?

I don't want my pacemaker broadcasting all over the place for just anyone to pick up. It's my information and none of their business.

In my opinion, you need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a useful idea.

Already been developed.

by wxman - 2016-01-13 12:01:53

It generally happens every night at 2AM for my Biotronik. It's called Biotronik Home Monitoring. It sends the information directly to the doctor, and if necessary can alert you if you need to call the doctor if he can't get in touch with you.

As Theknotguy mentioned, one will usually know quickly if there is a major problem with the heart or pacemaker. So, continuous monitoring is not necessary. WiFi is a bad Idea, because every time you crossed into a hot spot, how would you prevent your data from being sent over an unsecured line.

Google is your friend... The pacemaker communicator for Biotronik pacemakers can be read about at the following site:

https://www.biotronik.com/wps/wcm/connect/en_biomonitor/biotronik/home/patients/about_BIOTRONIK_Home_Monitoring

You know you're wired when...

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