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The escalating cost of hospital healthcare is creating
considerable interest in remote patient management systems
for monitoring patient health at home. Early warning of a
patient’s deteriorating health, especially patients with
chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure or
diabetes, allows timely intervention that can help to
maintain quality of life while avoiding the need for costly
hospitalization.
Interactive TV-based care
The Motiva platform, features simple vital-sign
measurements, such as blood pressure, weight and glucose
level that can easily be performed at home by the patient
and automatically transmitted to a healthcare monitoring
station via a broadband link. Healthcare professionals are
immediately alerted if abnormalities are detected and can
take fast remedial action. A major feature of the Philips
platform, which distinguishes it from other similar home
health monitoring platforms, is the use of a TV based
on-screen display rather than a PC-based interface. Study
has proven broad acceptance of using a TV to get
personalized healthcare information by patients. Patients
found the television interface easy-to-use and it helped
them establish an effective daily routine. Patients can
review their own vital signs on-screen to get an objective,
easy-to-interpret assessment of their state of health. The
doctor and nurses felt the system improved their connection
with patients and made them more aware of the patients’
health status.
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"Through personal charts and
educational videos sent to me on my TV by my nurse,
I learned how to better manage my disease. I weighed
myself, took my own blood pressure, answered daily
health questions, and the Motiva system tracked how
well I was doing. With Motiva, it was easy to learn
how improving my lifestyle could help me stay
healthier. I'm feeling more in control now," Bobby
DiSipio, a patient who participated in the Motiva
study. |
Philips Applied Technologies’ strengths in both the clinical
and consumer areas proved invaluable in translating the
middleware and application software developed for consumer
set top boxes into the clinical environment. One of its
major contributions was the development of the interactive
TV application software, for communicating with the back-end
server and the system integration of several wireless
measurement devices.
Besides the patients themselves, major beneficiaries of such
a system include health organizations and insurance
companies who bear the costs of healthcare. Although
currently aimed at home monitoring of patients with chronic
conditions, other areas where it can prove valuable include
pre- and post-surgery monitoring, mobile health monitoring
and in the well-being and fitness domains.
In 2005, the system was awarded the Medical Design
Excellence Award and named one of the
"Top 5 Disease Management Ideas of 2005". Philips
Applied Technologies was granted a supplier award for its
contribution.
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