Standards for medical device communication: X73 PoC-MDC.

When using a number of medical devices from very different manufacturers with different proprietary formats the problem of a lack of interoperability emerges. Connectivity and communications are then limited and the systems and users can not exploit all the possibilities that Information and Communication Technologies offer today. The use and application of standards can be the solution to bring light to this confusion of languages in this Tower of Babel. There are several standards applicable to medical information systems interoperability and, analyzing these different options, the X73 PoC-MDC (ISO11073/IEEE1073) set of standards for Point of Care Medical Device Communication is the best positioned international standard to provide interoperability in these communications.