Telephone-based system brings healthcare to the home
A UK company has developed a home healthcare solution that allows
patients to send data to medical practitioners over an ordinary telephone
line.
The CareCompanion, developed by Home Telehealth (HTL) of Cardiff is a
modular monitoring and assessment system designed specifically for home
use. It can be plugged into an ordinary telephone line and, when the
healthcare or socialcare professional requests particular data, the latter
can be delivered directly to a secure, web-based server.
The unit has a touchscreen with large text for visually impaired users
and can also emit voice messages for the hard of hearing. A patient’s
vital signs are measured and then transmitted to the base unit by a range
of wireless (infrared/RF) medical devices. A videotelephone can also be
used for face-to-face contact between the patient and healthcare
professional.
The web-based software uses trend graphs to represent the patient’s
vital signs, allowing those analysing the display to see a gradual decline
or improvement in a patient’s health and possibly detect the need to
change the patient’s medication.
The CareCompanion boasts a flexible, open-system architecture allowing
the care provider to customise each system to meet the specific needs of a
particular patient.
According to HTL Managing Director Peter Range, the benefits for both
healthcare professionals and patients are many. He says: “Improved
productivity, the ability to address bed blocking and hospital
waitinglists, improvement of patient throughput and the ability to monitor
a patient’s health, well-being and/or long-term illness on a daily basis,
without the patient having to leave the home setting, are just some of the
benefits available.”
Additionally the CareCompanion system can potentially deliver a more
accurate dataset than a face-to-face consultation, because measurements
are taken in a non-threatening, home environment that eliminates the
‘white coat effect’. The latter is said to distort the accuracy of
measurements by up to 20%.
HTL believe the system is of potential use to all nurses, doctors,
occupational therapists and carers, as well as private sector independent
caring organisations and charities, insurance companies and individuals
caring for those with long-term health conditions, including physical and
mental illnesses.
www.hometelehealthltd.co.uk
Source: bjhc&im July 2005
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