Validation of a real-time wireless telemedicine system, using bluetooth protocol and a mobile phone, for remote monitoring patient in medical practice.
This paper validates the integration of a generic real-time wireless telemedicine system utilising Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), BLUETOOTH protocol and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) for cellular network in clinical practice. In the first experiment, the system was tested on 24 pacemaker patients at Aalborg Hospital (Denmark), in order to see if the pacemaker implant would be affected by the system. I the second experiment, the system was tested on 15 non risky arrhythmia heart patients, in order to evaluate and validate the system application in clinical practice, for patient monitoring. Electrocardiograms were selected as the continuously monitored parameter in the present study. The results showed that the system had no negative effects on the pacemaker implants. The experiment results showed, that in a realistic environment for the patients, the system had 96.1 % up-time, 3.2 (kbps) throughput, 10(-3) (packet/s) Packet Error Rate and 10(-3) (packet/s) Packet Lost Rate. During 24 hours test the network did not respond for 57 minutes, from which 83.1 % was in the range of 0-3 minutes, 15.4 % was in the range of 3-5 minutes, and only 0.7 % of the down-time was > or = 5 and < or = 6 minutes. By a subjective evaluation, it was demonstrated that the system is applicable and the patients as well as the healthcare personals were highly confident with the system. Moreover, the patients had high degree of mobility and freedom, employing the system. In conclusion, this generic telemedicine system showed a high reliability, quality and performance, and the design can provide a basic principle for real-time wireless remote monitoring systems used in clinical practice.
Yousef
Jasemian
J
Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark. yj@hst.aau.dk
Lars
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AN
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D040421:Cell Phone; D003199:Computer Systems; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards*