TERVA: system for long-term monitoring of wellness at home.
Long-term monitoring of physiological and psychosocial variables in out-hospital conditions would be beneficial for investigating changes in wellness status of an individual or to understand interaction between physiological and behavioral processes. We aimed to design a personal wellness monitoring system (TERVA), which would allow monitoring of wellness-related variables at home for several weeks or even months. The designed TERVA system runs on a laptop computer and interfaces with different measurement devices through a serial interface. Measured variables include beat-to-beat heart rate, motor activity, blood pressure, weight, body temperature, respiration, ballistocardiography, movements, and sleep stages. In addition, self-assessments of daily well-being and activities are stored by keeping a behavioral diary. To test the system, one healthy man used the system for 10 weeks. The system was successfully applied in out-hospital conditions. The success rate of the measurements was 70-91%, depending on the variable under consideration. The pilot study indicated that the recorded data accurately reflected the health status of the subject. The TERVA system provides a method to record and investigate wellness-related data over several weeks, or even months, outside the hospital among subjects capable of using a personal computer. Several applications of the system are discussed.
Korhonen
I
I
VTT Information Technology, Tampere, Finland. ilkka.korhonen@vtt.fi
Iivainen
T
T
Lappalainen
R
R
Tuomisto
T
T
Kööbi
T
T
Pentikäinen
V
V
Tuomisto
M
M
Turjanmaa
V
V
D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D008875:Middle Aged; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D014584:User-Computer Interface