Platform for wearable health devices launched

“Irish developer Realtime Technologies has launched a new hardware research platform called Shimmer, designed for wearable health sensing in both connected and wireless environments.
Shimmer stands for Sensing Health with Intelligence, Modularity, Mobility, and Experimental Reusability, and uses Intel technology to help find new ways to monitor vital signs from devices worn by patients.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 30 July 2008

Telemedicine and eHealth, TOC, June 2008

Mobile Health Clinics and Telemedicine
“Think of mobile health clinic and what comes to mind? Depending on where you live, it might mean Tommy the Tooth van dispensing free brushes and toothpaste to the community. Maybe a loved one received a mammogram in their small town or received diabetes education. The Lions Club may have sponsored a mobile vision clinic where senior citizens were screened for glaucoma. Perhaps migrant farm workers lined up for
hours to get free medical care while working in the fields. Whether you live in the city or the country, chances are some type of mobile health clinic has visited your community sporting colorful graphics on the outside and various medical/dental services on the inside.”
Article
Kevin D. Blanchet,Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 407-412.

Acceptance of Telemonitoring to Enhance Medication Compliance in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure
Sixty-two congestive heart failure patients participated in a controlled, longitudinal study at two ambulatory medical centers in Hamburg, Germany. Two groups, a control (no telemedicine intervention) and the study group (telemedicine) were evaluated for medication intake. A medication box, networked to the patient’s electronic health record, was used for the telemedicine group. The main objective was to evaluate noncompliance of medication intake. The research showed that the system was effective. However, nearly 50% felt it was not necessary to continue the reporting after the study.
Article
Silke Schmidt, Sarah Sheikzadeh, Britta Beil, Monica Patten, Jürgen Stettin, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 426-433.

Clinical Management and Patient Outcomes Among Children and Adolescents Receiving Telemedicine Consultations for Obesity
A retrospective review of patient medical records was conducted of children and adolescents who received pediatric weight management consultations using telemedicine. Ninety-nine patient files were reviewed. Analysis indicated that weight management using telemedicine can result in modification in patient care plans and outcomes.
Article
Ulfat Shaikh, Stacey L. Cole, James P. Marcin, Thomas S. Nesbitt, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 434-440.

Optometric Referrals to Retina Specialists: Evaluation and Triage via Teleophthalmology
A teleophthalmology program linked Canadian optometrists to retina specialists for 171 patients and 190 consultations. In this carefully described study, 21/25 patients who required treatment condensed their visit to the specialist to a single day by having diagnostics done by telemedicine. Office visits to the specialist were reduced by 48%.
Article
Chris Hanson, Matthew T.S. Tennant, Chris J. Rudnisky, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 441-445.

The Value of Provider-to-Provider Telehealth
The Center for Information Technology examined the value of providers with the patient and a distance site using three models of telehealth: store-and-forward, real-time video, and hybrid systems. A detailed literature review was conducted to elucidate where value had been reported. The data was evaluated by a computer simulation, which calculated the national value of provider-to-provider telehealth. Overall, the potential benefits of telehealth far outweigh the implementation costs, especially in emergency departments.
Article
Eric Pan, Caitlin Cusack, Julie Hook, Adam Vincent, David C. Kaelber, David W. Bates, Blackford Middleton, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 446-453.

A Wireless Medical Information Query System Based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)
Wireless data management and data access for telemedicine extend far beyond the realities of short text messaging limits. This report offers a query system based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) that can work at 100 bit/sec with the advantage to limited system consumption, terminal support, and expense.
Article
Zhelong Wang, Hong Gu, Dewei Zhao, Weiming Wang, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 454-460.

Acceptability of Telepsychiatry in American Indians
The acceptability of conducting psychiatric assessments with rural American Indian veterans by real-time videoconferencing versus in person visits was evaluated. Fifty-three North Plains American Indian veterans from the Vietnam Era participated in this study. A videoconferencing link between the University of Colorado at Denver Health Science Center and the rural community was established. Participants were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) for psychiatric assessments using this videoconferencing link. This assessment tool was administered face-to-face by telehealth in different ways and by different interviewers. Telepsychiatry was well received and was comparable to in-person interactions.
Article
Jay H. Shore, Elizabeth Brooks, Daniel Savin, Heather Orton, Jim Grigsby, Spero M. Manson, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 461-466.

An Experience of Health Technology Assessment in New Models of Care for Subjects with Parkinson’s Disease by Means of a New Wearable Device
This report characterizes a system combining gastrocnemius expansion measurement unit (GEMU), a step-counting device, with a telemedicine application for patients with Parkinsonism. GEMU by telemedicine correlated strongly with motion decrement in a robust and reliable system, which enjoyed high user acceptance.
Article
Daniele Giansanti, Giovanni Maccioni, Sandra Morelli, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 467-472.

Development of a Multidisciplinary Osteoporosis Telehealth Program
This report from Toronto details a comprehensive women’s bone health program with referrals from 20 family doctors. The patients engaged in an average 2-hour consultation with very positive perceptions. Increased access to care was the principle outcome.
Article
Leigh Dickson, Cathy Cameron, Gillian Hawker, Azeena Ratansi, Ina Radziunas, Vinita Bansod, Susan Jaglal, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 473-478.

Uncompressed Video Image Transmission of Laparoscopic or Endoscopic Surgery for Telemedicine
A robust, high-speed telecommunications link was established between Shanghai, China and Fukuoka, Japan for videoconferencing. This system was utilized to support real-time interactions during laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures. Images, transmitted via a digital video transfer system (DVTS), were evaluated by participating physicians who completed a mini-questionnaire. A number of hospitals across the region participated, including Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Thirty-eight physicians completed the questionnaire. The majority (73.8%) indicated the images were very good. This tool has been viewed as an efficient and useful tool for the medical community in this region.
Article
Ke-Jian Huang, Zheng-Jun Qiu, Chun-Yu Fu, Shuji Shimizu, Koji Okamura, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 479-485.

Using e-Health to Enable Culturally Appropriate Mental Healthcare in Rural Areas,br /> Relevant research issues in providing culturally appropriate e-mental health care were reviewed with intent to determine where research efforts could be expanded or prioritized. A workshop was held in California to address the provision of mental health care in rural areas due to a variety of barriers, including language, culture, and poverty. A set of recommendations for expanding and prioritizing research efforts was developed in both science and policy.
Article
Peter Yellowlees, Shayna Marks, Don Hilty, Jay H. Shore, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 486-492.

ICMCC Event Preview 2

The Monday afternoon has 2 sessions, each having 2 parallel tracks.

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VitalJacket: Heart Monitoring Shirt

“In an attempt to make heart monitoring less visible and bulky for individuals requiring continuous monitoring of their heart, BioDevices, SA, has a unique solution. The company has developed a T-shirt which continuously monitors heart rate and ECG waves. This is an ideal solution for elderly patients and has a lot of potential for fitness applications as well.”
Article
MedGadget, 25 April 2008

Continuous Mobile Services for Healthcare: the Case of HealthWear Project

Abstract:
Contemporary advances in information, communication and human-computer interaction technologies prompt the redesign of healthcare provision. A number of disease management strategies, especially those targeting chronic conditions, are to benefit from the application of wearable computing facilities and mobile data access. Programmes supporting home hospitalisation, early discharge or prevention of exacerbations are notable examples. Most of these new approaches to health-care provision imply a revision of current practices and procedures and require systematic collaboration across different levels of care and professionals. This paper reports on the technical and operational characteristics of a service, enabling remote and ubiquitous monitoring of chronic patients based on physiological proxies like heart rate, oxygen saturation, temperature and breathing rate. Measurements are facilitated by the use of smart textiles so that daily activities of the monitored individuals are less perturbed. The service is designed taking into account three different clinical cases: rehabilitation of cardiac patients following an acute event, early discharge of chronic respiratory patients and promotion of physical activity in ambulatory stable cardio-respiratory patients. In the first part of the paper we elaborate on technical aspects of the service namely, technologies used and system architecture. Then we give an account of the service in terms of stakeholders, provisioning, operations and revenue generation.

Christos Malliopoulos^a, Alexis Milsis^b, Theodoros Vavouras^c, Rita Paradiso^d, Albert Alonso^e, Domenico Cianflone^f
a COSMOTE Mobile Telecommunications Greece
^b Sotiria Hospital
^c Atkosoft SA
^d Milior Sp.A,
^e Hospital Clinic de Barcelona
^f Universita San Raffaele

To be presented at the ICMCC Event 2008.

The State of Technology in Aging Services

“This issue brief, based on the two-part report entitled State of Technology in Aging Services published by the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST), offers a vision for long-term care that includes using integrated information technology systems to support and enhance the health, safety and social connectedness of older people living in their own homes. The authors of the report identify several barriers to achieving this vision, but are confident that a combination of new knowledge, linked to effective collaboration among a variety of stakeholders, can overcome these obstacles to widespread technology adoption, so that older people will receive the support they need to lead healthy and independent lives.”

Report Summary

Full Report

Majd Alwan, Devon Wiley, Jeremy Nobel for Center for Aging Services Technology (CAST), March 2007

EU project to pilot smart fabrics for health

“A cluster of EU research projects, collectively known as the SFIT Group are piloting garments which can measure a wearer’s body temperature or trace their heart activity.
The European Commission scheme, known as Biotex, is focused on supporting the development of smart textiles. Miniaturised biosensors in a textile patch can analyse body fluids, such as sweat, and provide an accurate assessment of the wearer’s health.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 2 April 2008

Active Ageing: Independence through Technology Assisted Health Optimisation

Abstract:
The potential doubling in the percentage of the elderly within the populations of Europe and beyond over the next decades has focused informatics research on the development Assistive Technologies and Smart Homes. However its concentration on creating a supportive home environment also has the potential for makings its users over dependent on its facilities and as a result trapped within it.
This paper outlines an approach that extends the smart homes concept out into the wider community to create a smart environment that not only maintains contact with all their home-based services, but also expands these to include other facilities needed to assist them whilst on the move.
This involves the convergence of physiological monitoring, communications and computing with leading-edge textile technologies, which uses a multi-layered, multi-functional clothing system as a mobile and extended variant of a smart home IP hub. In addition to variable functionality capabilities of the clothing layers in terms of thermal, shock-absorbent and other characteristics, wireless IP connectivity is provided between layers with external links typically being WiFi enabled. Health optimisation is provided by on-going lifestyle guidance/action feedback based on auto-diagnostic analysis.

B.R.M. MANNING^a, J. McCANN^b, S. BENTON^c, J. BOUGOURD^d
a University of Westminster, School of Informatics
^b University of Wales, Newport, Smart Wearables Research Group
^c University of Westminster, Business Psychology Centre
^d University of the Arts, London

To be published in “Medical and Care Compunetics 5″, IOSPress, 2008.
To be presented at the ICMCC Event 2008.

Development of a Wearable Surveillance System Using Gait Analysis

“An aging society is a reality in developed countries. An aging population requires more healthcare workers and facilities. To reduce this social problem, it is worthwhile to develop a wearable computer for elders or patients to watch over them. In this study, we developed a wearable computer, in which accelerometers were installed to detect variations of posture, falls, and gait disability. The advantages of this system include a designated database server in each patient’s home, scalability and flexibility to adapt to patient’s needs, and full patient access to their own information. As a first step, we adopted this system for healthy young volunteers with or without impediments to validate the system. The results show that this system can successfully detect variations in posture and falls. We also succeeded in real-time automatic gait analysis by using the Hampering Index. The present study gives useful knowledge for the development of a wearable computer to support the care of elders or other patients.”
Abstract
Toshihiko Yoshida, Fumio Mizuno, Tomoaki Hayasaka, Kenichi Tsubota, Yousuke Imai, Takuji Ishikawa, Takami Yamaguchi. Telemedicine and e-Health. 2007, 13(6): 703-714. doi:10.1089/tmj.2007.0015

Tennessee technology developer gives patient safety a boost with RFID

“Aionex Inc. announced today it would use RFID readers to improve safety in its Patient Response Platform, software that communicates and documents patient information in hospitals.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 3 October 2007

A wearable mobihealth care system supporting real-time diagnosis and alarm

“This paper describes a wearable mobihealth care system aiming at providing long-term continuous monitoring of vital signs for high-risk cardiovascular patients. We use a portable patient unit (PPU) and a wearable shirt (WS) to monitor electrocardiogram (ECG), respiration (acquired with respiratory inductive plethysmography, RIP), and activity. Owing to integrating fabric sensors and electrodes endowed with electro-physical properties into the WS, long-term continuous monitoring can be realized without making patients feel uncomfortable and restricting their mobility. The PPU analyzes physiological signals in real time and determines whether the patient is in danger or needs external help. The PPU will alert the patient and an emergency call will be automatically established with a medical service center (MSC) when life-threatening arrhythmias or falls are detected. With advanced gpsOne technology, the patient can be located and rescued immediately whether he/she is indoors or outdoors in case of emergency.”
Abstract
J. W. Zheng, Z. B. Zhang, T. H. Wu, Y. Zhang, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, Volume 45, Number 9 / September, 2007, 877-885