Sensing physiological information for individual patients
Factors such as ageing population, rising health costs and the increasing incidence of long-term chronic disease are generating healthcare challenges of an unprecedented scale. These issues are driving a trend towards increasing levels of care in the home, with early discharge from hospitals, or 'ageing in place' initiatives, in which the elderly are encouraged to maintain independent living for as long as possible.
As part of the program of ambulatory monitoring of stroke and elderly patients, a Smart-State initiative of the Queensland Government, the e-Health Research Centre conducted clinical trials to establish the relative efficacy of personal and ambulatory devices to detect movement and precursors, particularly in aged patients, that may indicate a likely fall, with the aim of providing intervention to prevent the actual fall.
In addition to movement monitoring, the e-Health Research Centre evaluated systems capable of continuously monitoring and recording patient vital signs information, such as heart rate. While the trials were primarily focused on patients in clinical settings, it is anticipated that similar approaches could be extended to the home environment.
Dr Mohan Karunanithi & Dr Wilbur Chan
during trials at the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane
