Knowledge and informatics within home medicine (KIM) : the role of a 'Home Health Hub'

In this paper, we will discuss the proposal of an in-home medical monitoring and patient advisory services, the Knowledge and Informatics within home Medicine (KIM) project. The KIM project proposes to research remote patient monitoring through the use of medical sensors linked via the internet to medical clinics with the ultimate goal being the provision of a comprehensive patient care and advisory service. The concept of the 'Home Health Hub', an advanced residential internet gateway, is central to the success of the KIM project and will provide the bridge between patient and technology allowing the level of integration, patient interactivity and potential for automated diagnosis proposed by this project. This paper begins with a discussion of the target domain of chronic care and the associated medical monitoring requirements. Next, the role of the 'Home Health Hub' and current capabilities of set top boxes are examined and the current state of wireless communication technology and existing standards for information exchange within the medical domain are investigated and evaluated. The report concludes by evaluating the viability of such a project and suggests future recommendations.