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Research institutes from Finland and Singapore develop remote healthcare services
04.12.2007
New technology offers a considerable savings potential for healthcare
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and A*STAR Agency for Science, Technology and Research from Singapore have developed remote healthcare services that allow patients to be treated globally independent of time and location and irrespective of the solutions provided by hardware and data system suppliers. In Finland, the first trial services for treating cardiac patients and patients suffering from chronic illnesses have been promising. Concurrently, A*STAR kick-started its trial in Singapore on the monitoring of sleep pattern of senior patients and gathered results for deeper analysis by physicians.
For VTT, the new remote healthcare service has been tested during the autumn
for treating cardiac patients in Finland. In addition to VTT and Emtele Oy,
Comptel Oyj and the Cardiology Centre of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District have
participated in the trials. Emtele Oy provides a new business concept for data
management services.
The IT service is based on a
standards-compliant data traffic and management platform, to which the health
monitoring and measuring instruments of different manufacturers can be
connected in an interoperable manner. The Internet-based service platform GHMP
(Global Health Monitoring Platform) enables remote healthcare services
provided across organisational boundaries, time zones and country borders. All
the parties in the value chain are required in implementing the service: the
measuring instrument supplier, service operator, the supplier of data
processing applications and the consultant physician service.
The
trial, carried out in the area of operation of the Tampere Cardiology Centre,
also has the involvement of the local Health Centre and Emergency Outpatient
Clinic; they can send the patient’s EKG graph and a consultation request to
the on-duty cardiologist at the Cardiology Centre. The consultant cardiologist
is informed about the consultation request by e-mail, allowing him/her to
analyse the EKG graph at his/her workstation.
Attached to
the request, the cardiologist receives the patients background details to
assist in drawing up the consultant’s report. Combining these with the EKG
findings, the consultant makes the initial diagnosis and a recommendation for
the patient’s treatment. The consultation request and reply are entered on
electronic forms that can be attached to the electronic patient record. In
the remote service trial, the consultation request is conveyed to the expert
via the PIR document service developed by VTT. The EKG graph is analysed in
the digital EKG archive of the Laboratory Centre of the Pirkanmaa Hospital
District. The consultation form has not been integrated in the electronic
patient record as yet.
In Finland, the initial experience of
the tested consultation services is positive. During the very first weeks of
the trial, cases of arrhythmia were diagnosed, medication amended and
high-risk patients were identified following consultations.
It
is likely that remote care will allow limited healthcare resources to be
allocated more systematically. Experience gained in other countries from
remote consultations by cardiologists is encouraging.
Besides
acute cardiac monitoring, the GHMP system can be utilised in other healthcare
areas as well. This is intended to be demonstrated in the use-case scenario
studied by A*STAR, where the objective is to monitor the sleep activity
pattern of elderly patients in order to assess patients’ quality of sleep. It
has been established that sleep is closely related to physical wellbeing, and
disturbed sleep patterns have been shown to be linked to medical conditions
such as stress and cardiovascular diseases.
In this trial, a
patient would wear an accelerometer sensor for extensive periods each day.
Activity data is transmitted continuously using a Bluetooth interface to a
3G-enabled phone which is placed in the proximity of the patient’s location.
The mobile phone connects to the internet and to the server located within
A*STAR using 3G or GPRS connectivity.
A*STAR has developed
intelligent algorithms on smart phones which are capable of capturing activity
signals received from the wearable sensors. This information can be accessed
anytime, anywhere via a password protected web portal. During the trial, the
collection of information is carried out at the server residing in A*STAR. The
server will eventually be replaced with the GHMP system, with the
physiological signals relayed over the internet. This realises the objective
the project sets out to achieve, which is, enabling remote healthcare services
to transcend across geographical borders and time zones.
It
is hoped that the pilot trial carried out by A*STAR in Singapore will provide
a substantial pool of results for deeper analysis of the relationship between
disturbed sleep patterns and certain medical conditions.
VTT
and A*STAR will continue to explore new potential areas for collaboration in
eHealth, such as text mining of medical annotation and mining of genetic
information, eHealth services, cardiac and video monitoring systems for home
care or mobile care systems, leveraging on the foundation established to bring
R&D co-operation to the next level.
Remote monitoring
systems combined with a well-functioning healthcare organisation will improve
the quality of life of patients in need of regular monitoring by a doctor,
because treatment does not always require a stay in the hospital. Some
patients suffering from chronic illnesses can be treated at home, without
having to occupy hospital beds. The contribution and expertise of healthcare
personnel can be focused on those really in need of help.
IT
solutions will help with the increasing need for services in healthcare.
People are seeking more individual treatments and better service. At the same
time, the ageing population and chronic illnesses considerably increase the
number of treatment sessions and healthcare expenditure.
About
the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
A*STAR
is Singapore's lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and
talent for a vibrant knowledge-based Singapore. A*STAR actively nurtures
public sector research and development in Biomedical Sciences, Physical
Sciences and Engineering, with a particular focus on fields essential to
Singapore's manufacturing industry and new growth industries. It oversees 14
research institutes, 7 research consortiums and supports extramural research
with the universities, hospital research centres and other local and
international partners.
Six Research Institutes under
A*STAR’s Science and Engineering cluster will be relocating in early 2008 to
Fusionopolis, Singapore's physical sciences and engineering hub of the future.
These public research institutes will be co-located with the private sector
R&D labs and will complement capabilities and collaborations with ongoing
biomedical research in Biopolis. Fusionopolis will feature state-of-the-art
facilities and technology test-bedding infrastructure built with the aim of
fostering innovation, experimentation and collaboration between public sector
research institutes and private sector labs.
For more
information, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg