Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
possibility for action related to behavior management by giving relevant education information and
checking adherence to treatment programs (medication or exercise).
If a real emergency happens, it will be detected by the application automatically: it informs the
emergency service of all the relevant medical data and the exact location of the patient because one of the
environmental sensors is of course a GPS sensor. Knowing that this will be done when necessary also
increases the self-confidence of the patients.
The application also communicates with the person' s network of medical professionals who are involved
in current treatment plans and link the person to diagnostic and treatment services. All care providers and
their supporting facilities like radiology, laboratories and pharmacies use electronic health-record
systems that are connected to a secure health-information-exchange network which enables easy access
to the relevant data using a role- and task-based access-control system that is in line with the consent
rules controlled by the patient. In this way, they all have constant access to up-to-date patient
information, which is of course important in emergencies.
Obviously, the application is not a one-size-fits-all system but one that will adapt
itself to the needs of the person during his or her life and related to their conditions
using their personal health profile. In a person's life, the application could start as a
coach for health-conscious people who want to avoid becoming ill: it will help them to
follow a healthy lifestyle. It could then develop into a disease-management application
for a chronically ill person who needs extensive monitoring, guidance and help to
maintain medication compliance.
2.1.2.
Biorobotics for neuro-rehabilitation
Looking at the effects of different intensities of physical-therapy treatment, a
significant improvement in activities of daily living as a result of higher intensities of
treatment has been reported. Unfortunately, when traditional therapy is provided in a
hospital or rehabilitation centre, the patient is usually seen for one-hour sessions once
or twice a day. For this reason, the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of the
rehabilitation by exploiting the potentialities of robot-mediated therapies is becoming
more and more popular around the world. In this case, the physiotherapist must
programme and control a mechatronic device able to replicate (and when possible
improve) the traditional therapeutic strategies, possibly enabling a quantitative,
intensive and repeatable “dosage” of the therapy and a quantitative evaluation of the
outcome for each patient. Some of these systems, with proper monitoring the progress
and forwarding this to the physiotherapist who can give feedback, might be used in a
home situation.
In the recent past, several robotic and mechatronic systems have therefore been
developed to achieve this important goal. In particular, two different types of devices
can be defined:
Operational machines.
In the case of operational machines, the contact between the
patient and the machine is only at the end-effector, through a purposive mechanical
interface (e.g. pedal or handle). The movements can be programmed in the robot-
operational space and the patient is expected to exploit his or her own synergies at a
joint level to follow a trajectory in operational space. This means that these machines
can be used in case of patients with moderate disabilities (when the patients feature a
sufficient level of natural motor synergies).
Operational Machine for upper/lower limbs A.A.Rehabilitation
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compliant physical interaction at the end-effector;
neuromotor/biomechanical monitoring;
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