A multi-functional, portable device with wireless transmission for home monitoring of children with a learning disability

Abstract

A portable monitoring device was developed to assist in the management of children with a learning disability. The device was designed for continuous home monitoring of blood oxygen saturation, heart and respiration rates, and patient activity. It could be worn on a belt, while the patient continued normal activities. Data were stored on a multimedia card and automatically transmitted to a PC at prescribed intervals via a Bluetooth wireless link. From the PC the data were transmitted to a Web server, where the information was made available to the staff involved in the patient's care. Preliminary clinical studies were performed with nine patients (four with Down's syndrome, three with cerebral palsy and two with mental retardation). Patients and families considered the device easy to use and to wear. The monitoring device identified events of possible clinical interest. Although it was designed for monitoring children with a learning disability, it may also be useful with other groups, such as elderly people.

Health Information Technology to Facilitate Communication Involving Health Care Providers, Caregivers, and Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review

“…Similar coordinated communication among multiple health care providers and caregivers was also achieved in a Swedish study in which modes of communication included Internet, email, and SMS [51]. One Italian study featured a portable device for monitoring physiological status and physical activities [53,54]. …”

Web application for display and analysis of clinical data from a home telemonitoring platform

“…Fifteen patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and with respiratory problems are participating to the preliminary trial. However, in the future the system could be extended to several categories of subjects with respiratory problems, such as patients with cystic fibrosis, or brain-injured children [14][15]. Furthermore, thanks to the flexible architecture of the telemonitoring instrument, the system could also be applied to other patients with chronic pathologies other than respiratory ones, such as patients with diabetes or cardiovascular problems: from the hardware point of view, that would in fact require the development of a new measuring or interface board, without affecting the rest of the instrument.…”

Towards New Scopes: Sensor-enhanced Regional Health Information Systems

“…Blood pressure [17][18][19][20] Respiration [17,[20][21][22] Blood oxygenation [18-20, 22, 23] Body temperature [17,18,20] ECG [18][19][20] Heart/pulserate [17,19,22,23] Blood/urine components or nutrition, althoughthe latter is agreed to be of significant importancei nt he careo f elderlyand intensive research is conducted on the subject, e.g.in [34].…”

“…Asthmawas subjecto favideo home telehealth system describedin [21], andtelemedical approaches for diabetesweredescribedin [37,38]. Otherapplication fields were the assessment of postsurgical recovery [39], home carefor head andneck cancer patients [27], telemedical wound careespecially in case of diabetes [40], andm onitoring of children with learning disabilities [22]. Fostering self-help skills of psychiatric patients was the aimo ft he work by Markse ta l. [41].…”