Design of an Advanced Telemedicine System for Remote Supervision

The health care systems of industrialized countries around the globe are challenged with several problems caused by the development of the demographic structures. The progress in telematics methods offers new possibilities to deal with this situation. This paper presents a generic and extendable telematics infrastructure offering flexible and mobile telemedicine for patients. More and more sensors and medical actuators are available as commercial “off-the-shelf” (COTS) devices including personal area communication technologies. The presented system integrates these devices into a distributed network to provide medical care at remote locations. The system is designed to support mobile patients in their daily life and to provide real-time access and remote control in critical situations. Therefore, the combination of different communication types is introduced to meet all requirements. As part of the telemedical system, a Tele-Service-Center with an automated data analysis is integrated into the infrastructure to support the treatment of the patients. Altogether, this system offers the opportunity for improving the medical treatment of the patient while simultaneously reducing the costs. The presented system was implemented and tested in a case study with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. All stakeholders of the system were involved in the tests and provided a very positive feedback. Their feedback and suggestions regarding usability or technical functions are already implemented and tested.