Category: Product Review; compact wireless monitor; short-range wireless body area network support; medical telemetry; Smart Device
In this record we reviewed the Life Scope G3 series wearable Wi-Fi Patient Monitors (also known as NK-HiQ in US market) and related to clarify our understanding.
Life Scope G3 miniaturized ambulatory monitors reflect a traditional mindset stuck in the past
Life Scope G3 series is really just miniaturized version of basic traditional patient monitors made small to be wearable, and operating exclusively in Wi-Fi. It is strange a wearable device made today has no support for WBAN cable-less measurements.
It is a traditional mindset stuck in the past. Life Scope G3 was still designed with the traditional patient monitor in mind, which made the product obsolete the moment it was launched.
Imagine you have a traditional patient monitor for low-acuity care which can only be connected to a Ethernet LAN network via Wi-Fi. Next, reduce the size such that you can wear it on your neck; this is the Life Scope G3! Exactly like a traditional monitor, they operate as miniaturized bedside monitors with alarms and reviews on the small screen. The need for such a monitor is questionable for the export market, given the domestic market in Japan is one that is protectively isolated from outside technology competition.
Indeed, the export market has a lot more expectation for a handheld device today. A Wi-Fi device is more suitable for digital data acquisition with the acquired data being used for value creation, digital transformation innovations which Nihon Kohden is not known for. The key point to ponder is when you shrink a clock, it does not become a small wearable clock but a watch! A traditional watch is also very different from the smart watches of the digital age.
This wearable but traditional Life Scope G3 series Vital Sign Telemeters was possibly hurriedly launched given the outdated FSK-based telemetry system.
Imagine you have a traditional patient monitor for low-acuity care which can only be connected to a Ethernet LAN network via Wi-Fi. Next, reduce the size such that you can wear it on your neck; this is the Life Scope G3! Exactly like a traditional monitor, they operate as miniaturized bedside monitors with alarms and reviews on the small screen. The need for such a monitor is questionable for the export market, given the domestic market in Japan is one that is protectively isolated from outside technology competition.
Indeed, the export market has a lot more expectation for a handheld device today. A Wi-Fi device is more suitable for digital data acquisition with the acquired data being used for value creation, digital transformation innovations which Nihon Kohden is not known for. The key point to ponder is when you shrink a clock, it does not become a small wearable clock but a watch! A traditional watch is also very different from the smart watches of the digital age.
This wearable but traditional Life Scope G3 series Vital Sign Telemeters was possibly hurriedly launched given the outdated FSK-based telemetry system.
The need for continuous real-time waveform display in telemetry
If it is intended to replace a telemetry transmitter, it does not have the specifications. Wi-Fi is not recommended for real-time waveform monitoring due to frequent drop of data packages making up a waveform display and Life Scope G3 is exactly offering that.
The central monitor therefore, is able to achieve continuous waveform capture (seamless archives) only because it can take time to synchronize its archives with that of Life Scope G3 for those data packages dropped in real-time. Both real-time waveform monitoring and continuous archives are equally important for a telemetry system.
The central monitor therefore, is able to achieve continuous waveform capture (seamless archives) only because it can take time to synchronize its archives with that of Life Scope G3 for those data packages dropped in real-time. Both real-time waveform monitoring and continuous archives are equally important for a telemetry system.
For
reliable continuous real-time waveform pickup, telemetry transmitter like ZS-600 SERIES is still preferred type.
The Life Scope G3 can be described as a wearable patient monitor using common WiFi IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless Communication Standard and its signal can be picked up by a WiFi access point for linking to a Gateway Server before joining the patient monitoring network that will lead to a Central Monitor. There are now three models to choose from. As said earlier, such a system is a setup for data analysis but it is not seen to be used this way.
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| The GZ-130P is not a telemetry transceiver but only a WiFi device |
The Life Scope G3 can be described as a wearable patient monitor using common WiFi IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless Communication Standard and its signal can be picked up by a WiFi access point for linking to a Gateway Server before joining the patient monitoring network that will lead to a Central Monitor. There are now three models to choose from. As said earlier, such a system is a setup for data analysis but it is not seen to be used this way.
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| Life Scope G3 is now known to have three models |
Higher speed NIBP measurement is not what needed
The newest GZ-140P has iNIBP measurement capability but speed is not important for ambulatory measurements. The technology is nothing new.
Measurement speed is important for vital sign monitors (i.e. spot monitors) and way back in 2006 Welch Allyn was already known to have introduced their SureBP NIBP TECHNOLOGY to the vital sign portfolio using inflation phase algorithm and claimed the measurement could be completed in 15 seconds. According to reliable sources from Welch Allyn at that time, Colin Corporation based in Komaki, Japan was the pioneer of this technique. Colin Corporation was a business partner supplying single lumen NIBP hardware to Nihon Kohden Corporation for use on older Life Scope 8000 series patient monitors.
Why is the Life Scope G3 still using NIBP pump? The patient should not be made to carry a NIBP pump walking around any more, and the Life Scope G3 must provide an innovative solution to compete with others.
Continuous NIBP measurement should also be looked into.
Measurement speed is important for vital sign monitors (i.e. spot monitors) and way back in 2006 Welch Allyn was already known to have introduced their SureBP NIBP TECHNOLOGY to the vital sign portfolio using inflation phase algorithm and claimed the measurement could be completed in 15 seconds. According to reliable sources from Welch Allyn at that time, Colin Corporation based in Komaki, Japan was the pioneer of this technique. Colin Corporation was a business partner supplying single lumen NIBP hardware to Nihon Kohden Corporation for use on older Life Scope 8000 series patient monitors.
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| SureBP NIBP Technology is not new |
Why is the Life Scope G3 still using NIBP pump? The patient should not be made to carry a NIBP pump walking around any more, and the Life Scope G3 must provide an innovative solution to compete with others.
Continuous NIBP measurement should also be looked into.
The absence of wireless patient sensors
It
is also important that a new wearable monitor today must be able to
deploy cableless patient sensors (for removing cable clutter). The Life
Scope G3 should be part of a WIRELESS BODY AREA NETWORK (WBAN) linking to cableless sensors around the patient body. It should be a gateway device like the Philips MX40 which is both a Telemetry Transceiver and a Gateway for the wireless sensor.
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| Philips MX40 wearable telemetry transceiver and gateway for wireless sensors |
Unfortunately, though the Life Scope G3 series came later than the Philips MX40, it does not have the specification of short-range wireless to link to wireless patient sensors. Is this an oversight or capability limitation?
Concluding,
The need for low-acuity monitoring (surveillance) does not change but
solutions are undergoing great changes brought about by technology and
new ways of thinking. The traditional approach is in the process of
being replaced by disruptive new ways, an example being the wearable ViSi Mobile. This new device offers continuous NIBP monitoring and the patient does not need to carry a NIBP pump walking around. You can see that this is not a conventional telemetry system.
| Example of Disruptive New Product | Competition comment |
|---|---|
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Cost-effective disruptive products like the Sotera ViSi can offer continuous NIBP monitoring without asking the patients to walk around with NIBP pumps |
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| Sensors where a monitor is unnecessary |