Showing papers by "Mirza Mansoor Baig published in 2015"

Mobile healthcare applications: system design review, critical issues and challenges

Abstract: Mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in monitoring and delivery of healthcare interventions. They are often considered as pocket computers, due to their advanced computing features, enhanced preferences and diverse capabilities. Their sophisticated sensors and complex software applications make the mobile healthcare (m-health) based applications more feasible and innovative. In a number of scenarios user-friendliness, convenience and effectiveness of these systems have been acknowledged by both patients as well as healthcare providers. M-health technology employs advanced concepts and techniques from multidisciplinary fields of electrical engineering, computer science, biomedical engineering and medicine which benefit the innovations of these fields towards healthcare systems. This paper deals with two important aspects of current mobile phone based sensor applications in healthcare. Firstly, critical review of advanced applications such as; vital sign monitoring, blood glucose monitoring and in-built camera based smartphone sensor applications. Secondly, investigating challenges and critical issues related to the use of smartphones in healthcare including; reliability, efficiency, mobile phone platform variability, cost effectiveness, energy usage, user interface, quality of medical data, and security and privacy. It was found that the mobile based applications have been widely developed in recent years with fast growing deployment by healthcare professionals and patients. However, despite the advantages of smartphones in patient monitoring, education, and management there are some critical issues and challenges related to security and privacy of data, acceptability, reliability and cost that need to be addressed.

Review of Vital Signs Monitoring Systems – Patient’s Acceptability, Issues and Challenges

Abstract: Vital signs are often considered as critical information to assess initial health condition and underlying health issues. Vital signs can contribute towards early detection, early diagnosis and risk reduction of fatal incidents. Today’s advanced monitoring systems incorporate the balanced combination of clinical and technological aspects to give an innovative healthcare outcome. Vital signs monitoring systems are rapidly becoming the core of today’s healthcare deliveries. The paradigm shifted from traditional and manual recording to computer based electronic records and further to smartphones as versatile and innovative healthcare monitoring systems. In this paper, the vital signs monitoring systems are classified as wearable, wireless and mobile monitoring systems and patient acceptability of some of these systems has been evaluated using 30 participants. Moreover, a comprehensive review of related literature in the context of acceptability, mobility, reliability and efficiency of vital signs monitoring systems in healthcare delivery and handling physiological measurements is presented. The outcome of this study indicates that despite some limitations commented by patients and clinicians, these systems should be more compact and simple to operate and they should be available to healthcare professionals with minimum interruption to normal daily life activities (ADLs).

Tablet-based patient monitoring and decision support systems in hospital care

Abstract: Remote patient monitoring with evidence-based decision support is revolutionizing healthcare. This novel approach could enable both patients and healthcare providers to improve quality of care and reduce costs. Clinicians can also view patients' data within the hospital network on tablet computers as well as other ubiquitous devices. Today, a wide range of applications are available on tablet computers which are increasingly integrating into the healthcare mainstream as clinical decision support systems. Despite the benefits of table-based healthcare applications, there are concerns around the accuracy, security and stability of such applications. In this study, we developed five tablet-based application screens for remote patient monitoring at hospital care settings and identified related issues and challenges. The ultimate aim of this research is to integrate decision support algorithms into the monitoring system in order to improve inpatient care and the effectiveness of such applications.

mHealth Monitoring System for Hospitalised Older Adults – Current Issues and Challenges

Abstract: The mobile healthcare (mHealth) applications are becoming increasingly important in monitoring and delivery of healthcare interventions. They are often considered as pocket computers, due to their advanced computing features and diverse capabilities. Their sophisticated sensors and advanced software applications make mHealth based applications more feasible and innovative. Advanced engineering, communication and information technologies combined with medical and clinical knowledge enable the possibility of remote, wireless, continuous monitoring of physiological parameters. These technologies facilitate the implementation of mHealth based patient monitoring and diagnostic systems virtually anywhere: home, hospital and outdoors (on the move). The proposed mHealth vital sign monitoring system in this chapter is aimed to help clinicians by illustrating the trace of critical physiological parameters, generating early warning/alerts and indicating any significant changes to the data. The system was validated with different set of collected data from 20 hospitalised older adults and achieved an accuracy of 95.83%, sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 93.15%, and predictability of 90.38% in compare with a clinician assessment for tachycardia, hypertension, hypotension, hypoxemia and hypothermia. Another important aspect of this chapter is to investigate challenges and critical issues related to the use of such applications in healthcare including reliability, efficiency, mobile phone platform variability, cost effectiveness, energy usage, user interface, quality of medical data, and security and privacy.

Integrated vital signs monitoring system using ubiquitous devices: Multiple physical signs detection and decision support for hospitalized older adults

Abstract: Vital signs monitoring systems are rapidly becoming the core of today's healthcare deliveries. The paradigm has shifted from traditional and manual recording to computer based electronic records and further to handheld devices as versatile and innovative healthcare monitoring systems. Interpretation of vital signs to early detect multiple physical signs using a multifactorial and holistic approach is presented. A total of 30 patient data have been collected under local and national ethics approvals in New Zealand Hospitals. Ultimately, this system achieved a high level of agreement with clinicians' interpretation when assessing specific physical signs such as bradycardia, tachycardia, hypertension, hypotension, hypoxaemia, fever and hypothermia. The proposed vital signs interpretation system was validated through off-line as well as real-time tests with a high level of agreement between the system and the physician. The system achieved an accuracy of 95.83%, sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 93.15%, and predictability of 90.38% in compare with a clinician assessment for tachycardia, hypertension, hypotension, hypoxaemia and hypothermia.

Advanced decision support system for older adults.

Abstract: Decision support systems are rapidly becoming part of today's healthcare delivery The paradigm has shifted from traditional and manual recording to computer-based electronic records and, further, to handheld devices as versatile and innovative healthcare monitoring systems The current study focuses on interpreting multiple physical signs and early warning for hospitalized older adults so that severe consequences can be minimized Data from a total of 30 patients have been collated in New Zealand Hospitals under local and national ethics approvals The system records blood pressure, heart rate (pulse), oxygen saturation (SpO2), ear temperature and blood glucose levels from hospitalized patients and transfers this information to a web-based software application for remote monitoring and further interpretation Ultimately, this system is aimed to achieve a high level of agreement with clinicians' interpretation when assessing specific physical signs such as bradycardia, tachycardia, hypertension, hypotension, hypoxemia, fever and hypothermia and to generate early warnings

Multiple physical signs detection and decision support system for hospitalized older adults.

Abstract: Health monitoring systems have rapidly evolved during the past two decades and have the potential to change the way healthcare is currently delivered. Smart monitoring systems automate patient monitoring tasks and thereby improve patient workflow management. Moreover, expert systems have the potential to assist clinicians and improve their performance by accurately executing repetitive tasks, to which humans are ill-suited. Clinicians working in hospital wards are responsible for conducting a multitude of tasks which require constant vigilance, and thus the need for a smart decision support system has arisen. In particular, wireless patient monitoring systems are emerging as a low cost, reliable and accurate means of healthcare delivery. Vital signs monitoring systems are rapidly becoming part of today's healthcare delivery. The paradigm has shifted from traditional and manual recording to computer-based electronic records and, further, to handheld devices as versatile and innovative healthcare monitoring systems. The current study focuses on interpreting multiple physical signs and early warning for hospitalized older adults so that severe consequences can be minimized. Data from a total of 30 patients have been collated in New Zealand hospitals under local and national ethics approvals. The system records blood pressure, heart rate (pulse), oxygen saturation (SpO2), ear temperature and blood glucose levels from hospitalized patients and transfers this information to a web-based software application for remote monitoring and further interpretation. Ultimately, this system is aimed to achieve a high level of agreement with clinicians' interpretation when assessing specific physical signs such as bradycardia, tachycardia, hypertension, hypotension, hypoxaemia, fever and hypothermia to generate early warnings. The performance of the vital signs interpretation system was validated through off-line as well as real-time tests with a high level of agreement between the system and physician.

Cuff-less, non-invasive and continuous blood pressure monitoring using indirect methods

Abstract: Cuff-based methods for measuring blood pressure (BP) have shown some limitations particularly when continuous measurement is required. Moreover, the inflation of the cuff is one of the main disturbing factors as expressed among patients. In this study, a promising approach based on changes in pulse transit time (PTT) for continuous, non-invasive and indirect measurement of BP is proposed to overcome the shortcomings of cuff-based methods. The PTT can be measured using plethysmography (PPG) waveform and the QRS peak of electrocardiogram (ECG) signal and indirectly interpreted as systolic BP. Time synchronization of the two sensors plays an important role in improving the accuracy of measurement. Therefore, it is aimed to employ a tablet-based system for collecting the wireless devices' data at a specific time. It is also our objective to include a triggering mechanism option using ambient sensors in order to start the process of data collection. Bluetooth/IEEE 802.15.4 wireless technologies will be used for real-time sensing and time synchronization. We have found that the proposed indirect measurement of BP can provide continuous information of the BP in a more convenient way from the patients' point of view. Moreover, the result of our indirect measurement of BP indicates that there are some short term fluctuations in the BP.