Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2004
Reviewe-Health and quality of life: the role of the Wearable Motherboard.
It is hard to place a price tag either on human life or on the quality of life. Technology is the key to enhancing the quality of life for everyone in the continuum of life from newborns to senior citizens--whether it is the safe delivery and care of undernourished premature babies, or extending the life of a senior citizen through exploratory treatments and procedures. Technology has the potential to rapidly transform healthcare and the practice of medicine by improving the quality and safety of patient care and increasing the efficiency of healthcare providers. ⋯ Then, the development of the Wearable Motherboard as a "platform" for sensors and monitoring devices that can unobtrusively monitor the health and well-being of individuals (directly and/or remotely) is described. This is followed by a discussion of the applications and impact of this technology in the continuum of life--from preventing SIDS to facilitating independent living for senior citizens. Finally, the future advancements in the area of wearable, yet comfortable, systems that can continue the transformation of healthcare and e-Health to i-Health (for interactive health)--all aimed at enhancing the quality of life for humans--are presented.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2004
ReviewNew concepts and technologies in home care and ambulatory monitoring.
The world is becoming more and more health conscious. Society, health policy and patients' needs are all changing dramatically. The challenges society is currently facing are related to the increase in the aging population, changes in lifestyle, the need for healthcare cost containment and the need for improvement and monitoring of healthcare quality. ⋯ This new healthcare approach has to take into account lifestyle for improving prevention. For the patient to be more and more involved in his/her own therapy, new responsibilities and ethics have to be defined. A "societal health education" has to be provided to physicians and to patients to get all the benefits of this new context.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2004
Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation: the CHICA system.
Clinical guidelines are prevalent but frequently not used. Computer reminder systems can improve adherence to guidelines but have not been widely adopted. ⋯ The result is a system that both delivers "just in time" patient-relevant guidelines to physicians during the clinical encounter and accurately captures structured data from all who interact with the system. The system performs these tasks while remaining sensitive to the workflow constraints of a busy outpatient pediatric practice.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2004
ReviewOptimizing workflow and knowledge in healthcare through innovation.
People's desire is to stay healthy during the entire course of their live. Innovations in medicine in care and technology have always contributed significantly to meet this desire as close as possible. Today, healthcare systems are faced with huge additional challenges. ⋯ But is this debate target-oriented and does it support the struggle for further enhancing the quality of care? The implementation of IT assisted workflow and knowledge supporting tools throughout the entire healthcare process--prevention to cure--leads to care which would be much more focused on people's needs and efficiency. The information gained from monitoring and wearable devices has to be included to these tools for delivering comprehensive patient information to the point of care. Then the puzzle of the different components in healthcare linked by IT will be complete, and the care process could be continuously optimized in an efficient way.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialA new model for home care for COPD.
A new model for home care of COPD patients is investigated, as a part of a coordinated provision model across levels of care. In the Spanish pilot of the e-Vital project, relevant vital signs for COPD are closely monitored and used for early detection of deterioration in the state of the patient and all prompt treatment. This can also reduce the need for in-person check-ups and re-admission to hospital. ⋯ Results so far are encouraging. In the previous phase, a similar set-up without monitoring facilities at the patient's home showed improvements in several clinical indicators (ER visits, SGRQ, Quality of life, LOS and costs) for a home hospitalisation program and in a prevention of exacerbation program. The current set-up aims at increasing such benefits and further extending the target population.