A SIP-based medical event monitoring system

The medical industry is transitioning to Internet-based communication as the field of telemedicine broadens to include medical event monitoring systems. A medical event monitor generates different types of messages and alerts for healthcare providers, institutions and patients. We describe how the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), a signaling protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, presence, event notification and instant messaging, can be used to create a medical event monitoring system. SIP can work on a variety of devices; its adoption as the protocol of choice for third generation wireless networks allows for a robust and scalable environment that can easily extend across institutions. First, we describe the basics of SIP and how it can be used for event notifications. Secondly, we describe the use of medical logic modules (MLMs) in a clinical event monitoring system and we propose a SIP medical event monitoring system that can combine the use of MLMs, such as the Arden Syntax, with SIP event notification. We also propose an alternate method of event notification with the use of XML filters to deliver only relevant notifications. Finally, we discuss the different types of devices and wireless protocols that can be incorporated within the system, creating an integrated architecture.