Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Millions of Canadians will be connected to an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine during their lifetime. What's interesting is that whether found in a doctor's office, an ambulance, an emergency room or an outpatient setting, today's clinical grade ECG ""resting"" systems still share one common attribute - they are clumsy and bulky. *Providing care ""closer to home"", and ""care in the community"" are the new mantra of health service delivery. The sad reality is that the design of one today's most useful diagnostic tools - the ECG - is ill equipped to support either care in the home or care in the community. Even commercially available PC-based solutions designed to reduce the heft of dedicated ECG systems still require bulky wiring harnesses, proprietary protocols, and careful power management. Equally problematic is that many systems still rely on lengthy paper printouts that, while easy for ""reading"", present barriers for digital data management.*Given advances in microcontroller architectures and the pervasiveness of powerful mobile platforms, never has the time been better for a wholesale rethink of the ECG data gathering process. In partnership with a major Canadian diagnostic laboratory, this project will prototype and test a next generation clinical grade mobile ECG data collection device - one expressly designed for use ""closer to home."" Levering pervasive mobile technologies for signal acquisition analysis and transport, and micro-architectures for harness design, this next generation ECG will allow reliable data collection in settings that were either inaccessible or impractical using traditional technologies.*The market for ECG devices is significant with some estimates suggesting a global market of over $5 billion. All analysts agree that with an aging population, the market will grow. Our industry partner is at the forefront of that growth, and confirms significant efficiency and effectiveness benefits will accrue from the use of an mECG device. Our industry partner commits to not only facilitating field development, but to also move the product into commercial use.*The main outcomes of project are expected to improve patient satisfaction, increase quality of care, reduce turn-around times and cost to healthcare, and improve patient outcomes. The innovative mobile tion the ability to serve more patients who are not currently able to get appropriate diagnosis and treatments due to the fixes ECGs machines and hence fixed ECG services. This solution will provide the required mobility so the provisioning of services is moving to where the need is.