Noncontact Wireless Technology Performs Vital Signs Monitoring from a Distance

QMed:
TNO, a Dutch research organization, has developed a noncontact wireless technology capable of performing continuous vital signs monitoring of a patient from up to 10 m away. Capable of measuring body motion, heart rate, and respiration, the radar-based technology could be on the market within the next six months to a year, according to Ted Punt, who presented on the technology at the Quantified Self Amsterdam conference.

Ted Punt - Contactless monitoring systems from Quantified Self Amsterdam on Vimeo.

Full text at:

http://www.qmed.com/mpmn/medtechpulse/noncontact-wireless-technology-performs-vital-signs-monitoring-distance

Cellphone monitors vital signs

TGDaily:

A researcher has developed a heart monitoring smartphone app that he says is as accurate as standard medical monitors now in clinical use.

Building on the idea of using a smartphone to measure heart rate, and has added other medical monitoring facilities, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) professor Ki Chon has developed an application that can also measure heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation using the phone’s built-in video camera.

"This gives a patient the ability to carry an accurate physiological monitor anywhere, without additional hardware beyond what’s already included in many consumer mobile phones," he says.

Full text at:

http://www.tgdaily.com/health-features/58914-cellphone-monitors-vital-signs

Health Check While Driving the Car

ScienceDaily:

Safety in traffic depends on a number of factors. One decisive aspect is how fit the driver is. A research team at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), in collaboration with researchers at the BMW Group, managed to develop a sensor system integrated into the steering wheel that can monitor the driver's state of health while driving. The driver can use his time behind the wheel for a minor health check. At the same time the device might be used recognize the onset fainting spells or heart attacks.

Full text at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111103122425.htm

Putting your things on the internet

gizmag:
If you're the kind of person that sometimes finds themselves talking to inanimate objects around the house then it might not be too long before they start talking back - not directly but via an SMS, tweet or email. MIT Media Lab graduates David Carr and John Kestner are looking to hook household objects up to the Web via Twine, a 2.5-inch square (16 cm2) box with internal and/or external sensors that connects to a Wi-Fi network to enable it to send a message when certain user customizable criteria are recognized by the unit's sensors.

While the number of devices connected to the internet has exploded since that time, the majority of household appliances and objects have been slow to make the move online. Despite talk of the emerging "Internet of Things" connecting anything other than a computer, games console, tablet or smartphone to the internet via a home network generally still requires some specialized knowledge.

It is this hurdle that Carr and Kestner are aiming to clear with Twine, which they say will make it easy to connect things to the internet "without a nerd degree" - meaning there's no programming or soldering and wiring expertise required. The Twine module provides Wi-Fi connectivity out of the box and comes with on-board temperature and vibration sensors. Power is supplied either via the unit's mini-USB port or by two AAA batteries, with an email alert being sent when the batteries need replacing.

Full text at:
http://www.gizmag.com/twine-internet-of-things/20583/

IBM Software Aids Research Aimed at Extending Seniors' Independent Living

Yahoo!:

Since June, 2011, University of Alberta researchers in collaboration with Edmonton 's Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital have been using IBM software to study elderly clients who volunteer to stay in a model, self-contained "independent living suite" at the facility. The suite is instrumented with sensors and equipped with smart devices collecting information about their daily activities.

The data will be used to understand how to make better use of healthcare resources, enable remote collaboration among providers, and contribute to early intervention and long-term management of chronic diseases. Researchers will also learn how to prepare older people for independent living, and extend the length of time seniors are able to live in their homes.

"We are using an avatar and the visualization to represent the people in the suite as this is far less intrusive than having a video or live monitoring system on them all the time," says Dr. Lili Liu , a professor of occupational therapy at the University of Alberta , and research affiliate at Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.

This virtual-world view can be monitored in real time, and replayed recordings can be used for simulation training for health-sciences students. Ultimately, researchers hope to understand how the integration of sensor networks with virtual worlds can impact the future of at-home health monitoring and care delivery. 

Full text at:
http://beta.finance.yahoo.com/news/ibm-software-aids-research-aimed-130000669.html

Telehealth: Separating fact from fiction

Health Management Technology: Doctors, delivery systems, health plans and patients across the nation are now using telehealth to improve access to convenient, quality care. Think you know everything about what is really available today?

From this year’s State of the Union address to recent endorsements by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, it is clear that telehealth and online doctor visits are rapidly entering mainstream medical care – and with excellent reason. The ability for patients and healthcare providers to come together through technology – overcoming barriers of geography, mobility and time – can improve access, even as it removes cost from the system. But as with similar innovations in the retail, travel and banking industries several years ago, misconceptions can arise and cause undue concern.

Full text at:
http://www.healthmgttech.com/index.php/online-only-features/online-only-features/telehealth-separating-fact-from-fiction.html

11% of U.S. Adult Cellphone Users Had Health Apps in 2011

iHealthBeat:

About 11% of adult mobile phone users in the U.S. have downloaded an application that helps them track or manage their health, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, MobiHealthNews reports (Dolan, MobiHealthNews, 11/3).

For the survey, researchers polled 2,260 adults between July 25 and Aug. 26 on whether they downloaded apps to a cellphone or tablet computer (Kanaley, Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/3).

Full text at:
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/11/3/survey-11-of-adult-cellphone-users-had-health-apps-in-2011.aspx#ixzz1dDAZIiF4

A smart-phone app for heart-failure patients

MIT (Technology Review):
A smart-phone app under development for heart-failure patients allows them to keep track of the pressure inside their heart as measured by an implanted sensor. That data could help patients adjust their medication to maintain a healthy pressure, much as diabetics do with insulin and blood sugar readings.

Called Pam+ (for "patient advisory module"), the app is being developed by researchers at the University of Southern California in collaboration with medical device maker St. Jude Medical. The researchers hope it will help patients better manage their health and reduce hospitalizations, which are responsible for much of the $40 million in health-care costs linked to heart failure.

In congestive heart failure, pressure builds up in the circulatory system and the heart fails to pump blood adequately to the rest of the body. Fluid pressure changes by the day, and monitoring those fluctuations continuously is essential to treating heart failure effectively. A number of implanted devices are now under development to monitor this pressure, giving patients and doctors real time data.

Full text at:

http://www.readability.com/read?url=http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/38673/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-09-26

Telehealth simulation lab

ComputerWorld: The lab simulates a remote or stay-at-home patient environment with the aim of improving telehealth services

A new research lab that simulates telehealth services for remote and stay-at-home patients has opened at the University of Western Sydney (UWS).

The Telehealth Research and Innovation Lab (THRIL), located at UWS’ Campbelltown campus, has a fully furnished home lounge room equipped with sensors that transmit data about its occupants to researchers in a control room residing next door.

UWS School of Computing and Mathematics, Associate Professor Klaus Veil, said in “real life” the home could be thousands of kilometres from medical staff and still be linked to multiple healthcare providers and specialists.

"Telehealth has the potential to deliver sophisticated healthcare services right in people's homes for a fraction of the cost of hospital or aged care facility stays,” Veil said in a statement.

“For the first time, rural and remote communities could also receive a level of healthcare, including specialist care that is comparable to services offered in large metropolitan areas.”

The new facility will focus on developing new software and hardware for remote sensing and monitoring, patient communication and video image processing; automated systems which assist patients remotely and maintain independence, provide electronic decision support to carers and clinicians; and data acquisition, management and analysis for research.

Full text at:

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/402109/telehealth_simulation_lab_launches_uws/

System enables home care nurses to monitor patients from office

Carrol County Times:

A new technology is allowing Carroll Home Care nurses to monitor their patients without being physically present.

Carroll Home Care nurses are now using the Health Buddy, a home monitoring system that enables patients living in their homes to transmit vital signs and answer health-related questions through a handheld transmitter.

The Carroll Home Care staff began using the system in early September.

"It's allowing us to monitor the patient remotely so that we can keep up with their weight and blood pressure before they get too sick or have to go to the hospital," said Susan Norwood, clinical manager of Carroll Home Care.

Full text at:

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/system-enables-home-care-nurses-to-monitor-patients-from-office/article_ea923f04-e879-11e0-889d-001cc4c002e0.html

Wireless Health Care

IEEE Spectrum:

Imagine a world in which your medicine cabinet notices that you are due for a prescription refill and calls it in. A sensor implanted under your skin detects a fluid buildup in your lungs and alerts your doctor, who decides your heart medication needs an adjustment and contacts the pharmacist to change your dosage. Meanwhile, sensors in your toilet confirm that your body has adjusted well to your other medications but sees indications that you may be a borderline diabetic. Your doctor, given these readings and your family medical history, suggests that you change your diet. Noting that fact, your bathroom scale asks you to punch in a weight-loss goal and starts giving you a regular progress update. Your medical checkup isn't an annual event—it happens every day, simply as you go about your daily life.

If such ambient monitoring and intervention strikes you as a little creepy, think of it this way: It could avert a heart attack, stroke, or other medical crisis. It could keep you out of the hospital and save money for both you and the health care system. Part of the savings would come from radical changes in the management of chronic diseases, which in the United States eats up 75 percent of health care spending, or about US $1.9 trillion each year.

Full text at:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/wireless-health-care

Smartphone detects danger in a heartbeat

CNN:
A new medical invention which harnesses the power of smartphone technology could revolutionize the treatment of heart patients, according to researchers in Switzerland.

The autonomous tool -- developed jointly by the Embedded Systems and Telecommunications Circuits labs at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) -- not only automatically identifies anomalies in heart-rate, but also alerts doctors in seconds helping them treat patients more quickly.

The small, lightweight monitor consists of four non-invasive electrode sensors attached to the skin which are linked to a radio module and computer chip which clips onto a patient's belt.

Data is fed to the user's smartphone where it can be viewed in real time for anything up to 150 hours on a single charge.

Full text at:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/24/tech/mobile/heart-monitor-smartphone-app/

Comparison report on Bed Occupancy Monitors

T-Cubed:
In order to help service providers determine the most appropriate device for their client-base, T-Cubed and their partners have conducted research on over 15 bed occupancy monitoring devices currently on the market, ranging from standard telecare offerings through to stand-alone variants and systems that employ technologies that do not require a sensing element on the bed itself.

Full text at:

http://www.t-cubed.co.uk/news/index.html#30102011