title: A cloud-based mobile system to improve respiratory therapy services at home.
abstract: Chronic respiratory diseases are one of the most prevalent health problems in the world. Treatment for these kind of afflictions often take place at home, where the continuous care of a medical specialist is frequently beyond the economical means of the patient, therefore having to rely on informal caregivers (family, friends, etc.). Unfortunately, these treatments require a deep involvement on their part, which results in a heavy burden on the caregivers' routine and usually end up deteriorating their quality of life. In recent years, mHealth and eHealth applications have gained a wide interest in academia due to new capabilities enabled by the latest advancements in mobile technologies and wireless communication infrastructure. These innovations have resulted in several applications that have successfully managed to improve automatic patient monitoring and treatment and to bridge the distance between patients, caregivers and medical specialists. We therefore seek to move this trend forward by now pushing these capabilities into the field of respiratory therapies in order to assist patients with chronic respiratory diseases with their treatment, and to improve both their own and their caregivers' quality of life. This paper presents a cloud-based mobile system to support and improve homecare for respiratory diseases. The platform described uses vital signs monitoring as a way of sharing data between hospitals, caregivers and patients. Using an iterative research approach and the user's direct feedback, we show how mobile technologies can improve a respiratory therapy and a family's quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: narisso@uc.cl.
authors.forename: Nicolas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Risso
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neyem
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Jose I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Benedetto
authors.affiliation: Nursing School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Marie J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Carrillo
authors.affiliation: Nursing School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Angélica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farías
authors.affiliation: Nursing School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Macarena J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gajardo
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, DUOC, Pontificia UniversCatólica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4917, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Loyola
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers; D000067917:Cloud Computing; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D012138:Respiratory Therapy; D017216:Telemedicine
keywords: Cloud workspaces; Cloud-based mobile system; Design guidelines; Homecare; Respiratory diseases