Instrumentation group tackles home health care
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has created a new home health care committee called Medical Devices and Systems in Home Care Applications to tackle home health care issues, which complements the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) initiative.
Potential projects include contributing to the upcoming standard IEC 60601-1-11, which focuses on homecare applications of medical equipment.
"The standard will raise the bar for health care devices specifically intended to be used in the home environment in terms of safety of construction and installation, electromagnetic isolation, and safety when in use," says committee co-chair Denny Treu, vice president of research for NxStage Medical, a Lawrence, MA-based manufacturer of the only FDA-cleared home dialysis system marketed today. "I think a major focus of the committee's work will be in the area of human factors and risk management."
Home health care is also the focus of the latest edition of AAMI's Horizons series. Home Healthcare Horizons will be mailed to all AAMI members with the July/August issue of Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology (BI&T).