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Page 1 of 7 3G Health Monitoring in Europe
Project's Fundamentals
Patients enjoy full mobility and more quality of life whilst undergoing health monitoring. Furthermore quality in health care goes up at reduced costs. All this should be realized by a newly designed solution for mobile patient monitoring -- the MobiHealth system. Since the end of July 2003 field trials have started in connection with the MobiHealth system developed in the MobiHealth project funded by the European Community. First of all these trials are intended to prove the technical feasibility.
The trials are run in the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Spain.
Already at the Medica international and medical conference and exhibition in Dusseldorf in 2002, the first live demo of the Body Area Network (BAN) -- the core element of the solution for mobile patient monitoring -- was demonstrated. Since the end of July the EC project MobiHealth has started the field trial phase with the BAN. The trials are being conducted in the areas of acute trauma care, chronic and high-risk patient monitoring and monitoring of patients in home-care settings. Each trial lasts around three months.
mHealthSens - Mobile Health Care and Monitoring System
mHealthSens
is a mobile health care and monitoring system that provides easy and
simple monitoring and logging of various health parameters regardless
of users' location and activity. Based on a flexible platform, the
mSens, that encapsulate services of the modern wireless and mobile
technologies, the mHealthSens supports a continuous monitoring of
designated health parameters, their storage in a central repository and
a prompt notification of the responsible health care personnel in
urgent cases.
Users and benefits:
• Chronic patients can
perform periodical health checks without having to make a visit to a
hospital or GP which significantly reduces time and cost of such health
checks;
• Elderly people that require continuous health monitoring
and care and are living on their own at the same time. Both medical
personnel and family members can be caretakers. In urgent cases, the
system notifies all relevant contacts. The system helps users to live
an independent life and gives them a peace of mind at the same time;
•
Professional athletes that want to monitor the main health parameters
during the training process in order to improve the overall fitness and
skill level;
• Hospitals and health clinics that can provide
higher quality health care services and improve users experience and
satisfaction by offering mobile health care monitoring and health
checks;
• Doctors and medical personnel can check health status of
their patients from their mobile phones and thus provide an increased
level of support and service
The architecture of a mHealthSens
system is similar to one shown in figure below. Sensors are connected
to a Sensor Controller which acquires the data and sends it to the
mobile phone using Bluetooth. This data is then forwarded to the remote
health care database via WLAN, GPRS or UMTS and accross internet. From
the database, the doctor can access this information using his mobile
phone or PC.
First of all these trials are intended to prove the technical feasibility of this system. The trials are evaluated in terms of accuracy and validity of measurements, usability of the GPRS and UMTS networks, business and market potentials and also social and ethical effects; the opportunity for medical evaluation is limited due to the short duration of the trials and the low number of participants. Rainer Herzog, project manager of the MobiHealth project, is sure that the newly designed solution for mobile patient monitoring is not only technically feasible, but also offers benefits for all parties involved: "Patients of our target groups will be given more mobility and thus be able to lead a more normal life again. Doctors will be supported in diagnosing and choosing the appropriate medical treatment and medical services in the case of home-based health care. Also, sickness-funds and health insurance will realize the potential of cost savings in health care by applying a mobile patient monitoring solution."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 August 2007 )
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