title: Enhancing health care delivery through ambient intelligence applications.
abstract: This paper presents the implementation of a smart environment that employs Ambient Intelligence technologies in order to augment a typical hospital room with smart features that assist both patients and medical staff. In this environment various wireless and wired sensor technologies have been integrated, allowing the patient to control the environment and interact with the hospital facilities, while a clinically oriented interface allows for vital sign monitoring. The developed applications are presented both from a patient's and a doctor's perspective, offering different services depending on the user's role. The results of the evaluation process illustrate the need for such a service, leading to important conclusions about the usefulness and crucial role of AmI in health care.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computer Science of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, N Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, GR-70013 Heraklion, Crete, Greece. sokart@ics.forth.gr
authors.forename: Sokratis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kartakis
authors.forename: Vangelis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sakkalis
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tourlakis
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zacharioudakis
authors.forename: Constantine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stephanidis
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008503:Medical Staff; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Ambient Intelligence (AmI); e-health; health care; smart hospital; smart patient rooms; user interface development