From a technical viewpoint, Vocera Alarm Management (VAM) is a platform that delivers EKGs and other related information to clinician smartphones.
The system primarily consists of software on a server and dedicated client software on handheld devices. The figure below shows the general system architecture.
In a modern hospital setting, multiple EKG machines/patient monitors archive EKGs into hospital-wide EKG archival systems. These systems are capable of exporting EKG data through XML or other proprietary formats. EKG machines also have the ability to send EKG data directly to a third party server (such as VAM's server). These systems communicate through the hospital's Ethernet network using industry standard TCP/IP protocols.
The VAM server receives EKG data files. Data in these files may include not just the EKG traces, but also analysis results from the EKG machines and/or the EKG Archival server and diagnosis and risk metrics. The VAM server, based on the data contained, can notify one or more clinicians about the availability of the data.
The VAM server also provides rules functionality for assigning specific beds/patients to specific devices, clinician shift management, and traceability and escalation to notifications and data that run through the system.
For some devices (such as those from Apple running iOS), the push process may be through a third party server such as the Apple Push Notification server and not directly from the VAM server.
