Homecare: a telemedical application

The advent of telecommunication and information technologies and the miniaturisation of technologies have enabled the evolution of telemonitoring systems. Early systems for hospitals and clinics, which usually required the patients to be wired to desktop devices, have evolved into homecare that requires devices to be lighter and simpler to use. In addition to miniaturisation and extended autonomy, further requirements for the telemonitoring system include local intelligence (that is, the system can take decisions without referring to external advice) and no moving parts to allow the patient to move freely during measurement periods. Body and local communication networks can prolong the connection of the homecare patient with a monitoring centre through the public networks. Additional medical functions and processing have been added to homecare equipment for telemedicine and patient discomfort is decreasing because of miniaturisation, autonomy and increased versatility of new systems. The applications have evolved rapidly from manually triggered alarms and single physiological parameter monitors to autonomous telemedical monitoring tailored to complete needs. This will eventually make telemedicine beneficial to patients, doctors and society.