Ignacio Peinado

User interaction design for a wearable and IT based heart failure system

In Europe, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) are the leading source of death, causing 45% of all deaths. Besides, Heart Failure, the paradigm of CVD, mainly affects people older than 65. In the current aging society, the European MyHeart Project was created, whose mission is to empower citizens to fight CVD by leading a preventive lifestyle and being able to be diagnosed at an early stage. This paper presents the design of the user interaction of a Heart Failure Management System, based on daily monitoring of Vital Body Signals, with wearable and mobile technologies, for the continuous assessment of this chronic disease. The user interaction in such systems plays a role of major importance, enabling the usage of technical solutions which motivate people to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Cloud4all: Scope, Evolution and Challenges

There are currently important barriers that hinder the access to ICT, especially for the elderly and people with disability. This paper presents the approach adopted by the Cloud4all Consortium to create the technical core of the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII). The GPII aims at producing a real impact on achieving global access to ICT. Already in the second half of the project, the current status of developments and main outcomes are presented together with the key components of the architecture. Cloud4all is compared to other approaches to the same problem, defining the scope of the project and unveiling the upcoming new challenges as a result of the research.

Results of the usability and acceptance evaluation of a cardiac rehabilitation system

Cardiac rehabilitation programs are extremely important during the recovery phase of patients who suffered a Myocardial Infarction (MI). Traditionally, these programs aimed at recovering the cardiovascular functioning by means of tailored exercise programs. However, during the last years, researchers and practitioners have started to consider a multi disciplinary approach for the interventions, where patient education and health behaviors changes play a central role both in rehabilitation and in secondary prevention. Nevertheless, the lack of resources and the need to have health professionals continuously involved in the patient supervision process, does not make possible to extend rehabilitation programs to all potential patients in the health care system. This paper presents the results of the usability and acceptance validation of a personalized home based cardiac rehabilitation system developed under the framework of HeartCycle, a project partially funded by the European Commission.

Self Care System to Assess Cardiovascular Diseases at Home

CUORE is a Heart Failure (HF) Disease Assessment System that uses Information Technologies (IT) and portable monitoring devices, for to assess and to manage the HF progression. The system valuates the cardiac condition integrating patient data from different sources such as blood pressure cuff or questionnaires. Rather than just evaluate the cardiovascular status, the system also aims to motivate patients to have an active role in their health management and to improve their cardiac condition through an active lifestyle. This paper presents the CUORE validation with patients and professionals.

Self care system for heart failure out of hospital patients

CUORE is a Heart Failure (HF) Disease Assessment System that makes use of innovative approaches, based on Information Technologies (IT) and portable monitoring devices, for the continuous assessment of HF progression and cardiovascular risk stratification. The system valuates the cardiac condition integrating patient data from different sources with special emphasis in the information obtained for ECG processing. Rather than just evaluate the cardiovascular status, the system also aims to motivate patients to have an active role in their health management and to improve their cardiac condition by promotion of an active lifestyle. In order to make the system usable the methodology adopted to create the final solution is iterative and it involves users in all stages. This paper presents the conceptualization of CUORE as a solution to self care for heart failure out of hospital patients.

Making Web Pages and Applications Accessible Automatically Using Browser Extensions and Apps

Web accessibility depends on three factors: the semantics of the web contents, the assistive technologies (ATs) and the capabilities of the web browsers (Fernandes, Lopes, & Carrico, 2011). Moreover, the widespread implementation of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) poses new challenges for ensuring the equality of access to dynamic web content. This paper presents the development of a solution that will automatically activate the accessibility features and the available ATs in two web browsers that take more than 50% of web browsers market share, and depending on the expressed needs and preferences of the user. The two extensions presented will take advantage of the infrastructures developed in CLOUD4all and APSIS4all in order to inject CSS and JavaScript in any web pages, as well as activating non-out-of-the-box ATs, and hence guaranteeing access to both static HTML pages and Rich Internet Applications.

Patient interaction in homecare systems to treat cardiovascular diseases in the long term

The rapid aging of the population worldwide will dramatically increase the number of people affected by chronic diseases in the next years. This social situation makes it necessary a paradigm shift from reactive care to preventive care. New technological paradigms, like Ambient Intelligence and Ubiquitous Computing, allow the development of Personal Health Systems (PHS) that guarantee the continuity of care and a better use of health resources. Therefore, patients should become the centre of the health care process, and PHS should be designed to fulfill the patients goals and needs. User-centred methodologies provide a good framework for designing general use applications, but they do not usually take into account factors like the context where the interaction is taking place or the medical, social and business contexts that surround the patient. This paper presents a model for designing users interaction in medical applications. The final goal is to develop highly usable user interfaces and to improve the user experience, aiming to guarantee the patients adherence to the medical protocols and recommendations.

Title: Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems Phase 3 (SIMPHS 3) – Veterans Health Administration (USA) Case Study Report

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is an agency of the United States Department of Veterans’ Affairs (this Department that has the 3rd largest budget among departments of the US administration). The medical assistance program implemented by the VHA is the largest integrated care system in the US (consisting of 150 medical centres and nearly 1,700 facilities comprising community-based outpatient clinics, community living centres, Veterans’ Centres and domiciliary assistance). It provides comprehensive care to almost 9 million veterans every year. The VHA is centrally administered and fully integrated; its services are funded and provided by the federal government. Therefore the VHA works both as a provider and payer, a rather unusual feature in the US health care structure. In fact, VHA is the only truly national health care system in the US, with hospitals or other facilities in every state and major metropolitan area of the country, as well as in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Philippines. The VHA network is divided into 23 Veterans Integrated Service Networks, or VISNs, i.e. regional systems of care working together to better meet local health care needs and provide greater access to care.

Title: Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems Phase 3 (SIMPHS 3) – Renewing Health Carinthia (Austria) Case Study Report

Renewing Health is a European project (February 2010-December 2013), partly funded by the European Union under the ICT Policy Support Programme, part of the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP), with a total budget of €14 million and European co-financing of €7 million. The project aimed to implement health-related ICT services through large-scale real-life test beds for the validation and subsequent evaluation of innovative eHealth services, using a patient-centred approach and a rigorous common assessment methodology. This case study focuses on the Austrian Partner of the project: the Carinthia region and, more precisely, KABEG (Krankenanstalten Betriebsgesellschaft), the hospital management company in the region. In RENEWING HEALTH, KABEG integrated a set of telemonitoring solutions into their existing systems for two target groups - patients suffering from Diabetes Mellitus Type II and patients suffering from COPD – in order to carry out two pilots to test the effects of the resulting system.

Title: Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems Phase 3 (SIMPHS 3) – MOMA and Maccabi Healthcare Services (Israel) Case Study Report

MOMA is a care model based on a multidisciplinary 24/7 advanced technology call centre for treatment of various chronic diseases. It was established in 2012 by Maccabi Healthcare Services in cooperation with the Gertner Institute. Maccabi Healthcare Services is one of the four authorised health funds providing universal healthcare services in Israel. The MOMA initiative was designed as a technological tool to improve the integration of different services such as long-term care, pharmacy, homecare and hospital care, in coordination with the patient’s primary care physician and other community-based resources. MOMA addresses the needs of chronically ill patients, which Maccabi Healthcare Services considered as patients who should receive special care instead of standard care.