Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
share of the health-care market: in general, to have a business model that
allows a return on investment (in a broad sense) and acquiring a reputa-
tion for good service delivery. Some cooperation with health-care profes-
sionals will be necessary because of their role in defining the indications
of good service. However, there are uncertainties with regard to whether
the applications of BAN should be embedded into clinical practice (and per-
haps insurance provision). Our investigation and interviews with the medi-
cal professionals in the Netherlands suggest that the use of mobile health
applications should be well thought out, and medical professionals have to
be included in the service provision to meet requirements with regard to
efficiency, patient safety, and quality. They further articulated that the evalu-
ation of functioning of technologies in the health-care setting does not only
relate to technical characteristics of devices; much more fundamental in the
medical professionals' view is whether these applications contribute to the
quality of care provided to the patients and its impact on the welfare and
health state of the patients. Therefore, the medical professionals we have
interviewed called for a more critical consideration and raised the question
of whether the various envisioned applications of BAN that enable lifestyle
monitoring fit into the general health and welfare policy. For this question to
be answered, effort is needed to make such measurement devices evidence
based from a clinical standpoint, and connections to those different strate-
gies have to be developed for coaching and guidance of individuals from
their health-care professionals. Health-care professionals argue that this is
important because if such applications are openly available via the consumer
markets, people would be using such applications without a prior under-
standing of the usefulness of the resulting data.
12.3.3.3 Context of Use of BAN Applications and Responsibilities
As mentioned before, the context in which applications of BAN will be used
will also have impact on the implementation in the health-care setting. One
productive distinction can be made between patients that require short-term
monitoring, or long-term monitoring from remote locations (outside the hos-
pital). Early discharge from the hospital is expected to enhance the efficiency
of health care and improve quality because patients are allowed to recover
at their own living environment where they feel more comfortable. In this
context, our interviewees at the hospital have mentioned that in case short-
term monitoring of the patient is required, the hospital often provides the
necessary equipment. Information provision to the patient is then key to
ensuring that the patient is well instructed and has the skills that are nec-
essary for handling the equipment. Further articulation of their tasks and
responsibilities is important. It is also essential that roles and responsibili-
ties are well articulated in protocols. It is also envisioned that a monitoring
center either in the hospital or an independent one to which the care process
of the hospital is connected has to be capable of dealing with data collection
