inSERT -- An NFC-based Self Reporting Questionnaire for Patients with Impaired Fine Motor Skills

Abstract

Self-reporting patient data are valuable feedback for medical treatment and care process, as well as for clinical trial studies and support of medical treatment. However, traditional paper-based medical patient longitudinal surveys or questionnaires for health and well-being status information are time-and cost-consuming, and may suffer from low patient compliance. Consequently, an NFC-based electronic data capture prototype called inSERT has been designed that allows quick and easy self-reporting for patients. inSERT allows patient monitoring enabling, electronic acquisition of well-being data right from the patient's home and real time representation of patient data, enabling direct medical intervention by physicians. The functional requirements for the inSERT system were determined through an extensive, user-centric elicitation process. We chose Near Field Communication (NFC) as a technology, for which the interaction paradigm is quick to learn and is intuitive, without prior knowledge being necessary; it is almost as simple as to fill out a paper-based questionnaire.Particularly for the target group (elderly people and people with impaired fine motor skills) -those who are not familiar with the use of mobile phones or computers -it makes NFC a very promising field compared to the control with touch based displays or computer mouse. The prototype is currently evaluated in a field test. The technical feasibility, implementation details, limitations and future research approaches are discussed in this paper.

Electronic data capture in healthcare—NFC as easy way for self-reported health status information

“…Background information on the problem was obtained through a review of relevant literature, case studies, interviews, questionnaires, observations and document analyses [41]. Based on the findings from the analyses and our design goals, we developed a design concept and a low fidelity prototype which was then evaluated in focus groups as well as in workshops [28]. We then developed a fully functional proofof-concept prototype which was tested in a long-term field study in a German hospital.…”

Issues in NFC as a form of contactless communication: A comprehensive survey

“…[22] provide a process to monitor heart-failure patients using NFC technology. Hndreas et.al designed a system by which patients with impaired fine motor skills can input data by their own easily [23]. In [24] the authors modeled a system that takes data from wireless sensors from the patient's body and transmits the data to any android smart phone using NFC technology.…”

NFC-Based User Interface for Smart Environments

“…On the contrary, researches show that the tapping capability declines later than other motor skills [6]. Previous works, such as the relevant papers by Prinz et al [7] and Isomursu et al [8], already showed the feasibility of NFCbased interaction for elderly or patients affected by impaired fine motor skills, despite the inherent complexity related to a huge variability in needs, requirements, and available residual capabilities. The design proposed for the Smart Panel described in the following sections makes it possible to implement it in different shapes, formats, and materials, thus giving the possibility to select the most suitable options according to older users' needs.…”