3 What is SCP

SCP-ECG is a standard that specifies the interchange format and a messaging procedure for ECG cart-to-host communication and for retrieval of SCP-ECG records from the host (to the ECG cart). The basis for the SCP Standard was developed during a European AIM R&D project in 1989-1991. During this project an inventory of existing ECG compression methods was made and a new approach for quality assured ECG signal compression was developed.

During design of the interchange format basic results from an early American development - the so called "Universal Veterans Administration Protocol" were considered; one of the co-workers in the CEN Project Team that finally edited the SCP Standard document came from a large American company and made many valuable contributions. In 1993 the "SCP Standard Communication Protocol" was approved by CEN as a pre-Standard ENV 1064.

This standard was then implemented by a couple of European and American manufacturers. Practical experience during implementation and in the field confirmed its usability for telemetric applications as well as for data volume effective storage and retrieval (demonstrated in the OEDIPE project). However, the originally desired high flexibility with (too) many manufacturer specific implementation options and a few ambiguities within the text resulted in insufficient interoperability between devices of different manufacturers. As a consequence, this document was reviewed by an AAMI committee (now with participants from Europe) and the revised version was then balloted positively and became in 2000 the AAMI Standard EC71.

Meanwhile communication technology has changed significantly, while larger memory capacities are available today. In some applications data compression and transmission of the relatively large ECG raw data records are less critical. So, for compatibility with the increasing use of HL7/XML messaging in electronically supported health care applications an object-oriented approach with application of a standardized nomenclature appears to have become a further solution. Nevertheless, for many real time applications in telemedicine the SCP interchange format, with its high potential for flexible and - if properly implemented - still interoperable data records, remains one of the best solutions, because so much consensus on necessary accompanying ECG information has been documented.

To completely redesign a new format would be an unacceptable waste of time. On the other hand, an adaptation of the messaging and communication specification appears, in view of the many new technological developments for data "transport" (infrared, blue tooth, E-mail, etc.), to be a very meaningful approach.