Peter Leijdekkers

Smart Homecare System for Health Tele-monitoring

An increasing aged population worldwide puts our medical capabilities to the test. Research and commercial groups are investigating novel ways to care for the aged and chronically ill both in their own homes and in care facilities. This paper describes a prototype we have developed for remote healthcare monitoring. This personalized smart homecare system uses smart phones, wireless sensors, Web servers and IP Webcams. To illustrate the functionality of the prototype we describe a series of typical tele-health monitoring scenarios.

Personal Heart Monitoring and Rehabilitation System using Smart Phones

This paper discusses a personalized heart monitoring system using smart phones and wireless (bio) sensors. Based on several scenarios we present the functionality of a prototype we have built. The application is capable of monitoring the health of high risk cardiac patients. The smart phone application analyses in real-time sensor and environmental data and can automatically alert the ambulance and pre assigned caregivers when a heart patient is in danger. It also transmits sensor data to a healthcare centre for remote monitoring by a nurse or cardiologist. The system can be personalized and rehabilitation programs can monitor the progress of a patient. Rehabilitation programs can be used to give advice (e.g. exercise more) or to reassure the patient.

A Self-Test to Detect a Heart Attack Using a Mobile Phone and Wearable Sensors

This paper describes a heart attack self-test application for a mobile phone that allows potential victims, without the intervention of a medical specialist, to quickly assess whether they are having a heart attack. Heart attacks can occur anytime and anywhere. Using pervasive technology such as a mobile phone and a small wearable ECG sensor it is possible to collect the users symptoms and to detect the onset of a heart attack by analysing the ECG recordings. If the application assesses that the user is at risk, it will urge the user to call the emergency services immediately. If the user has a cardiac arrest the application will automatically determine the current location of the user and alert the ambulance services and others to the persons location.

Personal Heart Monitoring System Using Smart Phones To Detect Life Threatening Arrhythmias

This paper discusses a personalized heart monitoring system using smart phones and wireless (bio) sensors. We combine ubiquitous computing with mobile health technology to monitor the wellbeing of high risk cardiac patients. The smart phone analyses in real-time the ECG data and determines whether the person needs external help. We focus on two life threatening arrhythmias: ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT). The smart phone can automatically alert the ambulance and pre assigned caregivers when a VF/VT arrhythmia is detected. The system can be personalized to the needs and requirements of the patient. It can be used to give advice (e.g. exercise more) or to reassure the patient when the bio-sensors and environmental data are within predefined ranges

A mobile rehabilitation application for the remote monitoring of cardiac patients after a heart attack or a coronary bypass surgery

This paper describes a personalised rehabilitation application using a smart phone (PDA) and wireless (bio) sensors. It instructs and motivates patients to follow their exercise programme and keeps track of their progress. It also monitors the relevant biosignals and provides immediate feedback to the patient. Sensors transmit data to the mobile phone where it is analysed locally and the data can also be instantaneously transmitted to a healthcare centre for remote monitoring by a health professional. The rehabilitation application is personalised for each cardiac patient and provides tailored advice (e.g. exercise more, slow down). A trial with a rehabilitation centre is in progress in which we investigate whether the personalised rehabilitation application improves the success of the rehabilitation programme in terms of patient compliance with recommended life style changes (such as increase physical activity or lose weight) and whether use of the system brings peace of mind to cardiac patients.

Trial Results of a Novel Cardiac Rhythm Management System Using Smart Phones and Wireless ECG Sensors

This paper discusses the trial results of a personalised Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) system using a smart phone (PDA) and a wireless ECG sensor. The system is used in a trial to record and diagnose abnormal cardiac arrhythmias. This novel approach uses standard mobile phones, off-the-shelf ECG sensors and personalised feedback to the patient when compared to a conventional clinical Holter and event monitor systems. The preliminary results are discussed of an ongoing trial conducted with the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney Australia. The results indicate the viability of the system for commercial purposes.

Bringing Health and Fitness Data Together for Connected Health Care: Mobile Apps as Enablers of Interoperability

Background A transformation is underway regarding how we deal with our health. Mobile devices make it possible to have continuous access to personal health information. Wearable devices, such as Fitbit and Apple’s smartwatch, can collect data continuously and provide insights into our health and fitness. However, lack of interoperability and the presence of data silos prevent users and health professionals from getting an integrated view of health and fitness data. To provide better health outcomes, a complete picture is needed which combines informal health and fitness data collected by the user together with official health records collected by health professionals. Mobile apps are well positioned to play an important role in the aggregation since they can tap into these official and informal health and data silos. Objective The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that a mobile app can be used to aggregate health and fitness data and can enable interoperability. It discusses various technical interoperability challenges encountered while integrating data into one place. Methods For 8 years, we have worked with third-party partners, including wearable device manufacturers, electronic health record providers, and app developers, to connect an Android app to their (wearable) devices, back-end servers, and systems. Results The result of this research is a health and fitness app called myFitnessCompanion, which enables users to aggregate their data in one place. Over 6000 users use the app worldwide to aggregate their health and fitness data. It demonstrates that mobile apps can be used to enable interoperability. Challenges encountered in the research process included the different wireless protocols and standards used to communicate with wireless devices, the diversity of security and authorization protocols used to be able to exchange data with servers, and lack of standards usage, such as Health Level Seven, for medical information exchange. Conclusions By limiting the negative effects of health data silos, mobile apps can offer a better holistic view of health and fitness data. Data can then be analyzed to offer better and more personalized advice and care.

CaptureMyEmotion: A mobile app to improve emotion learning for autistic children using sensors

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is estimated to affect one in eighty-eight children and many mobile apps are available from Google Play or Apple store to help these children and their carer. Our research into apps for autistic children identified that none of the apps use the full potential offered by mobile technology and sensors to overcome one of autistic childrens main difficulty: the identification and expression of emotions. This paper describes a mobile app called CaptureMyEmotion that enables autistic children to take photos, videos or sounds, and at the same time senses their arousal level using a wireless sensor. It also allows the child to comment on their emotion at the time of capture. The app has the potential to help autistic children improve their emotions learning based on their own pictures, videos or sounds. It gives the carer a means to discuss the identification and expression of emotions.

SocialCycle what can a mobile app do to encourage cycling

Traffic congestion presents significant environmental, social and economic costs. Encouraging people to cycle and use other forms of alternate transportation is one important aspect of addressing these problems. However, many city councils face significant difficulties in educating citizens and encouraging them to form new habits around these alternate forms of transport. Mobile devices present a great opportunity to effect such positive behavior change. In this paper we discuss the results of a survey aimed at understanding how mobile devices can be used to encourage cycling and/or improve the cycling experience. We use the results of the survey to design and develop a mobile app called SocialCycle, which purpose is to encourage users to start cycling and to increase the number of trips that existing riders take by bicycle.

User adoption of mobile apps for chronic disease management: a case study based on myfitnesscompanion®

Health and Fitness apps for smart phones and tablets are changing the way we look after our health. This paper analyses the usage of such an app called myFitnessCompanion for chronic disease management. The analysis is based on data collected from 5000+ users over a period of 7 months. Highlights of the study show that blood glucose, weight and blood pressure are the main physiological data being monitored. Americans and Germans are the front-runners in adopting mobile health apps and are willing to pay for it. Most users choose to enter data manually instead of using automated wireless Bluetooth sensors. Users prefer to store the collected data on the phone rather than exporting it to Personal Health Record Systems.