Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
USES OF E-HEALTH AND
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
(using the video camera sensors, Global
Positioning System (GPS), and advanced
medical sensors to establish a rate-guaran-
teed connection with the medical centre).
Ambulance, which is moving through the
different cells can initiate calls that can be
treated as “handoff-guaranteed” since the
wireless bandwidth should be reserved in
the next cell to guarantee their on-going
connections.
2.
Handoff-prioritised calls from potentially
emergency patients (such as elderly people or
patients with chronic diseases).
The second
highest priority (the seriously ill patients
may need to perform the direct two-way
communication with the medical centre) to
these calls when they need to handover to
a new cell.
3.
Non-real-time calls from cluster-heads
who collect medical data
from wrist-worn
super sensors of average patients or normal
people. Sensors would “wake up” periodi-
cally or when urgent medical conditions are
detected by the body sensors. The type of
communication is the best-effort for these
services.
The e-Health Innovation Professionals Group in
(Anderssen, 2005) provides some examples of
how e-Health and Assistive Technologies can be
used in the following contexts:
1. Self Care and Prevention (Example: NHS
Direct (www.healthspace.nhs.uk, 2009);
web sites and other electronic media; moni-
toring clinical signs and symptoms; reminder
units);
2. Social and Domiciliary Care;
3. Hospital and Specialist Care.
This is concerned with devices which can be
used at home. It includes self help and services
which can extend independent living. The catego-
ries can be applied to all social care and healthcare
devices and applications. The three terms have
been emphasised:
•
The technologies can be used to
prevent
an
incident from occurring (or to prevent the
worst effects of an incident).
•
The technologies can
respond
to an inci-
dent or to a condition of the patient/client.
Some representative types of medical activities
include off-line and on-line applications (Ver-
gados, 2007; Skiner, Maley & Norman, 2006;
Bobadilla, Gomez & Godino, 2007):
•
Some technologies (such as chair lifts)
provide direct physical
supportive
help
whilst others can be used to summon sup-
port when needed.
1.
Off-line applications
: administrative files
and electronic patient report (EPR) trans-
fer (from medical data exchange between
centres and moving vehicles or medical
centres) clinical routine consults through
accesses to databases, queries to medical
report warehouse, etc.
2.
On-line applications
: multimedia connec-
tions including audio and video exchange,
biomedical signals and vital parameters
(such as ECG signal, blood pressure, oxygen
saturation, etc.) transmission, etc.
Immediate care by paramedics, or other
healthcare professionals in an emergency should
be improved by making available interactive pro-
tocols and decision support systems to wherever
the patient is. These can be designed to incorporate
the collection of physiological measurements
including - as appropriate - ECG, oximetry, spi-
rometry, pulse, temperature, blood pressure and
blood sugar levels. The range will increase as
near patient testing becomes more widespread and
sophisticated. Information collected in this way
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