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Hacking Health in Hamilton Ontario - Let's hear that pitch!

What compelled me to register for a weekend Health Hackathon? Anyway, I could soon be up to my ears in it. A pubmed search on Health Hack...

Showing posts with label health informatics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health informatics. Show all posts

Friday, October 25, 2019

Axe the fax

From the Globe and Mail December 2018 Health reporter Andre Picard:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-british-are-axing-the-fax-will-canada-follow-suit/

It’s not often that a seemingly mundane ministerial announcement reduces one to jealous tears, but this one fits the bill.

On Sunday, Matt Hancock, the British health and social care secretary, banned the purchase of facsimile machines by the National Health Service effective Jan. 1, 2019. He also ordered that faxes be phased out completely in hospitals and physicians’ offices by April, 2020.

Oh, but how Canada – a country even more in the poisonous grip of the fax than Britain – could use this common sense initiative.

“We don’t underestimate the enormity of the challenge to remove all our machines in such a short time, but we cannot afford to continue living in the dark ages,” Mr. Hancock said in the release.

Amen.

In July, the Royal College of Surgeons released a report that revealed the NHS, the country’s publicly-funded national healthcare system, had more than 8,000 fax machines in service. A group of hospitals in Newcastle Upon Tyne had a mind-boggling 603 facsimile machines in use.

To cap it all off, the NHS had the dubious distinction of being the largest purchaser of fax machines in the world.

Richard Kerr, chair of the committee that prepared the report called the situation “farcical” and called on government to invest in 21st century technology.
The government actually listened.

In addition to the fax ban, there are two other important aspects of Sunday’s announcement. Come 2020, communication will be by secure e-mail or apps and, just as importantly, all communication technologies will have to meet a standard that ensure that they can talk to each other across organizational boundaries. 

There will also be some additional money for hospitals and physicians to replace their fax machines – £200-million (about $340-million) – in addition to what the NHS is already spending on IT. 

But we do know that the fax machine is still ubiquitous. A 2017 survey found that two-thirds of Canadian physicians use the fax as their primary means of communication with other health care professionals, such as doctors, pharmacists, and hospitals.

So why do we continue to use technology that is almost universally acknowledged to be absurdly outdated?

Some claim that the fax is more secure than alternatives like e-mail. Our privacy rules also consider the fax the safest form of communication. That’s simply not true, especially with readily available encryption. The continued use of fax machines is bad for privacy and bad for patient safety.

A principal reason the fax endures is habit. Change is always slow in the ultra-conservative health system, especially when it costs money.

But the single biggest impediment to banning the fax is that the computer systems and electronic health records that we have are rarely able to communicate with each other. Interoperability has not been a priority and that has left us beholden to largely paper-based technology.

Many will look at what is going on in Britain with envy. But, in true Canadian fashion, we will find countless excuses for not doing the same.

Expect to hear that, because Britain has a centralized national health-care system, ministerial directives are a lot easier to issue and implement. There is some truth to that; Canada’s 14 ministers of health can barely agree on the time of day, so an initiative to ban fax machines may be a stretch.

But we shouldn’t forget that Britain’s “axe the fax” campaign was a grassroots initiative. The College of Surgeons gave the initial push by providing data that generated a lot of media coverage and made it easy for government to act.
There were also hospitals that showed impressive initiative. For example, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust committed to eliminating its 340 fax machines within three months, sending a message to others that it was doable.
There is no doubt that fax machines can be eliminated, and they must be, sooner rather than later. The only question is who is going to show leadership? What health care organization, hospital, or politician is going to make axing the fax their legacy and drag Canada out of the dark ages?

Friday, September 1, 2017

NIH’s All of Us Research Issues Initial Research Protocol

NIH’s All of Us Research Issues Initial Research Protocol

August 8, 2017
by Heather Landi
The National Institute of Health’s All of Us Research Program, previously called the Precision Medicine Initiative, released its initial research protocol, or research plan.
The All of Us Research Program’s 61-page protocol includes information on consent forms, the ethical issues associated with the project and explanations for how participants will be able to provide secure access to their electronic health records (EHRs).

The goal of the All of Us Research Program is to gather health-related information from one million or more diverse participants to detect association between genetic and environmental exposures and a wide variety of health outcomes.

The NIH states that longitudinal tracking of health outcomes through EHRs is an important component of the program. Through a consenting process, participants will be asked to authorize linkage of their EHR information. EHR data may be sent directly by the participant’s health care providers to the DRC or sent by the participant to the program through Sync for Science.

Access to EHR data will be repeated regularly throughout the life of the program. The initial data types to be included are demographics, visits, diagnoses, procedures, medications, laboratory tests, and vital signs, but may be expanded to all parts of the EHR, including health care provider notes. The feed may include mental health data, HIV status, substance abuse and alcohol data, and genomic information stored in the EHR

Participants may need to complete and sign a separate informed consent module to authorize access to their complete EHRs.

“We will create an informatics infrastructure to clean and standardize data from disparate EHR systems across the United States; this broadly applicable system will be a key contribution of the All of Us Research Program to health informatics research efforts nationwide. For participants enrolled by their health care provider organization, the site will extract data from the participant’s EHR, format it according to the DRC’s data model (based on the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership [OMOP] Common Data Model version 5, and transfer it to the DRC using secure protocols,” NIH stated in a press release.
And, the NIH states that although obtaining EHR data from direct volunteers presents unique challenges, early pilot studies have demonstrated feasibility of such an approach. “For example, the Sync for Science (S4S) project launched by NIH and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is creating a technology that aims to make it easy and safe for people to securely share their EHR data for research. S4S has been adopted by the All of Us Research Program and initially will be enabled in a small pilot for DV participants at S4S-enabled direct volunteer sites,” the NIH states.

All of Us Research Program direct volunteer participants who have enrolled at one of these pilot sites will be able to sign into their healthcare provider’s patient portal using the S4S workflow and authorize sharing their EHR data with the program. Their health care provider’s system will provide a secure application program interface (API), which is used by the research program, rather than the provider sending out data, and transmitted to the Us of All Research program.

And, NIH notes that this is just the first version of its protocol. In future versions, NIH intends to include plans to pilot test wearable devices for real-time data collection.
Get the latest information on EHR and attend other valuable sessions at this two-day Summit providing healthcare leaders with educational content, insightful debate and dialogue on the future of healthcare and technology.

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Thursday, August 17, 2017

Boost Your eHealth Knowledge. Advance Your Career. Early Bird Deadline for HI Bootcamp Booster Shot Course in 2 Weeks.





National Institutes of Health Informatics

It is eHealth Design & Architecture Week!

"Too many men slip out of the habit of studious reading, and yet that is essential"
— William Osler
Stay in the habit. Continue your learning With NIHI


HI Bootcamp Booster Shot Early Bird Deadline Only 2 Weeks Away
 
HI Bootcamp Booster Shot
September 19 & 26; October 3, 10, & 17, 2017 | 12:00-3:00 PM ET
15 - 20  CPE Hours


Canada’s iconic HI Bootcamp is back! Be the first to take the new HI Bootcamp Booster Shot. Learn from the best…Professor Dominic Covvey, one of Canada’s top HI experts, and Dr. Tom Rosenal, one of Canada’s foremost authorities in clinical Informatics. Learn the new essential competencies and capabilities for today’s informatics professionals:

- Analytics and Big Data. 
- The Internet of Things (IoT).
- Artificial intelligence.
- The Cloud. 
- Precision/Personalized Medicine. 
- Consumer Informatics.
- Devices, Sensors, Sensor Networks and data produced.
- Personal Attitudes and implications in our workforce. 
- Biomedical Engineering and Health Informatics.
- Complexity in health care and quantization of Health Informatics
- And many others.

 Registration & More Information

Best Practices in HIT Implementation
Although health technology implementations have come a long way in the last decade, the risk of partial success and having a 'zombie' project is still high. Given the extensive investments made in health technologies and the high hopes for their effectiveness for health provider productivity and patient safety, best practices in health technology implementation are still topical. Learn about best practices in HIT implementation from a systematic review of the literature with high quality statistical analysis of the findings. The published paper has received over 4000 reads on ResearchGate, a social media site for researchers. Come learn what everyone is so excited about.
Canada's Chronic Disease Surveillance Network: Architecture & Next Steps
Canada's chronic disease surveillance network (www.cpcssn.ca) recently reached 1000 physicians and 1 million de-identified patients in its database. CPCSSN is revolutionizing primary care by making research easier and faster and by making it easier to apply quality improvement to patient populations. How did we get here? What makes CPCSSN sustainable? What are the impacts of primary care research? Where do we need to go next?
Creating the Next Generation mHealth App: A reference Architecture
mHealth apps in smartphone app stores are languishing; downloaded and abandoned because they don't solve people's problems. What is the ideal design for an mhealth app? What's working? What's not working? Why? This presentation addresses these questions and proposes a new paradigm for patient mhealth apps that could potentially solve the log-jam.
Learning from Amazon: Building the Next Generation EMR Form
What if electronic medical record (EMR) systems were designed like the World Wide Web? What if we could improve user experience rapidly because we could see how users were using the software? What if we could make actionable information available at the point of care instantly using Big Data techniques? What if we could quickly test whether new ideas will work and make them available into all EMRs immediately?
Lowering Costs in Health Care: Architecting Health Care for Diabetes Prevention
What if we could predict who would get diabetes, long before they actually got it? What if we could provide high risk patients with training, support and counselling to prevent diabetes? What if we provided diabetes prevention services to elderly patients who already have other diseases?
What Diabetes Prevention Apps Should Have and Why
mHealth apps are not being used. Over 45,000 mhealth apps are languishing in mobile app stores. We evaluated over 200 diabetes mobile apps found in the Apple and Google app stores against a Reference Architecture for high quality mobile apps. Surprisingly, we identified a niche where apps do work well and are popular with patients in this space. However, the vast majority of patients with diabetes are not served by these niche apps.

Email Philip Grove at pgrove@nihi.ca for assistance

National Institutes of Health Informatics
Website:
www.nihi.ca
Contact Us: info@nihi.ca

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Hacking Health in Hamilton Ontario - Let's hear that pitch!

What compelled me to register for a weekend Health Hackathon? Anyway, I could soon be up to my ears in it.

A pubmed search on Health Hackathons...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28250965 came up with a research article that shows that Hacking Health does have very useful benefits. I am intrigue and would even like to do my own research on this.

I attended a pitch workshop and learned that intellectual property on ideas is not what it appears to be. From that perspective, and in the interests of ehealth promotion:

1. Medical School ePortfolio - So you want be a Doctor eh? [app, educational]
Problem:
Getting into medical school is like a lottery. Or is it? How can students best prepare so they don't become disappointed or feel like they are gambling getting in, or getting in and realizing it is not their ideal career choice?

Solution:
This app will be for students who want to be physicians. Maybe it could even be aimed at three levels; elementary, high school, and university. It would allow students to track their interest in a career in medicine from early days. Students are also getting into medical school after high school these days at Queens University. It could have tests and quizzes, links to schools, CV prep, volunteer opportunity suggestions, how to apply, what's involved in the actual application process at very schools. The book "So you want to be Doctor eh?" by Anne Berdl is an excellent resource to model this on. Also, many universities have learning portfolios and that is also a model. Possible mentor relationships or chats or talks with professionals in the field. By tests and quizzes, it could also have an educational role to survey student empathy, compassion training, aptitude, in addition to preparation for MCAT and other formal tests.

2.Smart Forms Builder for Healthcare [ app, software]
Problem:
Hospitals were faced with a crisis in screening patients and visitors for SARS at Ontario hospitals in 2003. The paper system they had was bogging down entry to the hospital. A LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) online screening system was eventually created to streamline the process. Healthcare administrators and even IT need to develop online forms quickly without programming skills as well as have access to useful data.

Solution:
There are smartform software systems like Google docs and commercial ones like Jotform, but they are not private and secure for personal health information. As well, smart forms need to be smart enough so people without programming experience can quickly develop an application. These kind of systems are evolving, but they just need something more akin to artificial intelligence to make them really smart and inexpensive to setup. API, mobile and REST applications would also be good integration components.

3. eHealth enabled browser [ browser, app, big data]
Problem:
Personal Health Records come in many different types, tethered, stand alone, and integrated. The  people who benefit most are those who need to monitor and access a lot of medical records and visits. However, tracking health, IOT, and fitness device data can be integrated into Personal Health Records to create an overall digital health snapshot. Not everyone likes to login to a portal and track their health data.

Solution:
The idea here is to integrate Watson IBM analytics, or google alpha Go search engine analytics built into a dedicated open source browser built on chrome (or chromium). While this might sound just like an app running on a smartphone, the idea is to build a Firefox, Chrome or Safari browser that is actually a dedicated health analytics and digital health single sign on personal health record browser. What you search and read in every day life is all fodder for personal health anlaytics. This is digital "google flu" writ larger for an individual. In a way, think of it is a browser add on or extension that is a personal health record data collector, storage, and dashboard, but it is actually the browser itself.

4. Universal Healthcare Observatory [Big Data app]
Problem:

The problem is that not everyone has access to free healthcare. Statistically, millions of people are rising out of poverty every year, according to the late Global Health researcher Hans Rosling. Access to free or affordable healthcare should be a basic human right.

Solution:
The purpose of the project is based on the scientific based belief of evidence based medicine that "for profit healthcare is hazardous to your health". The United Nations and even the WHO have many observatories, and this one would be similar to the European Observatory of Health Systems and Policies. It will be a big data app that pulls data and statistics from disparate sources to monitor the global healthcare systems in the world and promote any trends towards universal healthcare. It might be able to use the Trendalyzer software. The bold target would be to achieve universal access to free or affordable healthcare for everyone on the planet by 2050.

5. eHealth Garage [ infrastructure, service]
Problem:
In my neighbourhood there are two former automobile/gas stations that are now a Vietnamese restaurant and a Holistic Health Clinic. Gas stations used be found on almost every block in every neighbourhood in every city and town. Cars no longer break down because the technology is better and gas monopolies are pushing gas stations out of neighbourhoods. Needless to say, electric cars are moving in soon. Also in my neighbourhood is a legal Medical Marijuana Clinic. Why not an eHealth Garage?

Solution:
With an aging population living longer and a coming generations that might may well live easily way over 100 years of age because of advances in exponential medicine, preventive medicine and holistic health services need to be accessible with digital health services in the community. This is also a way to deconstruct medicine.The eHealth Garage could be a component of a Family Health Team but they might call it an eHealth clinic. I see the Garage being full of healthcare technology: x-ray machines, ultrasound, MRI, fitbits, resistance training gym machines, Transcranial Magnetic Stimluation (TMS) - almost any health technology that can be coupled with a digital health technology or record. DIY healthcare, though with options for professional healthcare oversight.



Friday, March 4, 2016

Health Informatics is Coming to Hamilton

More than several news stories are reporting about Health Informatics projects coming out or going into Hamilton in the last week or so. The first story was about CareKitHealth, which was a start-up company at The Forge and McMaster Innovation Park. This story broke for me when I read that the company was bought by the British Columbia based mHealth group Moseda.

The second story that really caught the attention of all Hamiltonians was IBM moving into six floors of the seemingly derelict Stelco Tower. The reason why is to do Health Informatics research. I would really like to find out what kind of Health Informatics research IBM will do there but it sounds like Watson Big Health Data Analytics to me. There will probably be many jobs and co-op opportunities for McMaster and Mohawk Health Informatics students, as IBM is partnering with Hamilton Health Sciences.

Then to top that off McMaster Health Sciences researchers scored a very large grant and funding:
A Hamilton team of researchers led by McMaster is receiving a total of $12.3 million to advance a remote monitoring and care system, called SMArTVIEW, for post-operative patients.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) today announced a $750,000 grant for the project through its eHealth Innovation Partnership Program (eHIPP).
An additional $11.6 million of in-kind support is coming from industry and other partners for the development and testing of the SMArTVIEW technological system that could save people facing life-threatening complications after surge
See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/innovations-in-wireless-patient-monitoring-and-care-attract-federal-support/ 
Now every time I hear about another Health Hackathon I wish I could have participated more!












Research






March 3, 2016

Innovations in wireless patient monitoring and care attract federal support

A Hamilton team of researchers led by McMaster is receiving a total of $12.3 million to advance a remote monitoring and care system, called SMArTVIEW, for post-operative patients.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) today announced a $750,000 grant for the project through its eHealth Innovation Partnership Program (eHIPP).
An additional $11.6 million of in-kind support is coming from industry and other partners for the development and testing of the SMArTVIEW technological system that could save people facing life-threatening complications after surgery.
Tens of thousands of seniors undergo cardiac and vascular surgeries in Canada and the United Kingdom each year, but studies have measured chronic postoperative pain in up to 40 per cent of patients at three months after surgery and hospital readmission at up to one in five patients.
Current systems for monitoring those patients after surgery are “inadequate,” says Michael McGillion. An associate professor of the School of Nursing, McGillion is principal investigator for the project. Co-principal investigator is P.J. Devereaux, professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and medicine for McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
With SMArTVIEW, a wireless information system connects specially-trained nurses to patients through tablets and other wireless devices. The nurses will monitor patients remotely and keep track of vital signs and provide education to improve patients’ recovery.
THE SMArTVIEW stands for TecHnology Enabled remote monitoring and Self-MAnagemenT: VIsion for patient EmpoWerment.
The research, to take place in Ontario and the U.K., will focus on remote, continuous monitoring and recovery support for eight weeks post hospital discharge. Several studies over four years will measure the effectiveness and efficiencies.
The Hamilton-based research team includes members of McMaster, Hamilton Health Sciences, the Population Health Research Institute and Mohawk College, along with members from the University of Toronto and Coventry University in the U.K.
“With SMArTVIEW and this research, we’ll be able to move from futuristic concepts to real-life care that’s in widespread use, based on evidence of real-world impact,” said McGillion.
“We are fortunate to be working with drivers of eHealth innovation including our lead technology partner, Philips Canada, along with QoC Health, a patient-engagement platform; XAHIVE, a secure communications service, and mPath, a mobile application developer.
“Looking ahead, we have the opportunity to reduce the global risk of serious complications following cardiac and vascular surgery by making continuous patient monitoring and virtual support, from hospital to home, a reality.”
The CIHR eHIPP was established to identify patient-oriented eHealth solutions that will improve health outcomes, patient experience and lower health costs, as well as foster partnerships between researchers and industry.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/innovations-in-wireless-patient-monitoring-and-care-attract-federal-support/#sthash.DYvts11Q.g8hE1sD3.dpuf

Research






March 3, 2016

Innovations in wireless patient monitoring and care attract federal support

A Hamilton team of researchers led by McMaster is receiving a total of $12.3 million to advance a remote monitoring and care system, called SMArTVIEW, for post-operative patients.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) today announced a $750,000 grant for the project through its eHealth Innovation Partnership Program (eHIPP).
An additional $11.6 million of in-kind support is coming from industry and other partners for the development and testing of the SMArTVIEW technological system that could save people facing life-threatening complications after surgery.
Tens of thousands of seniors undergo cardiac and vascular surgeries in Canada and the United Kingdom each year, but studies have measured chronic postoperative pain in up to 40 per cent of patients at three months after surgery and hospital readmission at up to one in five patients.
Current systems for monitoring those patients after surgery are “inadequate,” says Michael McGillion. An associate professor of the School of Nursing, McGillion is principal investigator for the project. Co-principal investigator is P.J. Devereaux, professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and medicine for McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
With SMArTVIEW, a wireless information system connects specially-trained nurses to patients through tablets and other wireless devices. The nurses will monitor patients remotely and keep track of vital signs and provide education to improve patients’ recovery.
THE SMArTVIEW stands for TecHnology Enabled remote monitoring and Self-MAnagemenT: VIsion for patient EmpoWerment.
The research, to take place in Ontario and the U.K., will focus on remote, continuous monitoring and recovery support for eight weeks post hospital discharge. Several studies over four years will measure the effectiveness and efficiencies.
The Hamilton-based research team includes members of McMaster, Hamilton Health Sciences, the Population Health Research Institute and Mohawk College, along with members from the University of Toronto and Coventry University in the U.K.
“With SMArTVIEW and this research, we’ll be able to move from futuristic concepts to real-life care that’s in widespread use, based on evidence of real-world impact,” said McGillion.
“We are fortunate to be working with drivers of eHealth innovation including our lead technology partner, Philips Canada, along with QoC Health, a patient-engagement platform; XAHIVE, a secure communications service, and mPath, a mobile application developer.
“Looking ahead, we have the opportunity to reduce the global risk of serious complications following cardiac and vascular surgery by making continuous patient monitoring and virtual support, from hospital to home, a reality.”
The CIHR eHIPP was established to identify patient-oriented eHealth solutions that will improve health outcomes, patient experience and lower health costs, as well as foster partnerships between researchers and industry.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/innovations-in-wireless-patient-monitoring-and-care-attract-federal-support/#sthash.DYvts11Q.g8hE1sD3.dpuf

Research






March 3, 2016

Innovations in wireless patient monitoring and care attract federal support

A Hamilton team of researchers led by McMaster is receiving a total of $12.3 million to advance a remote monitoring and care system, called SMArTVIEW, for post-operative patients.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) today announced a $750,000 grant for the project through its eHealth Innovation Partnership Program (eHIPP).
An additional $11.6 million of in-kind support is coming from industry and other partners for the development and testing of the SMArTVIEW technological system that could save people facing life-threatening complications after surgery.
Tens of thousands of seniors undergo cardiac and vascular surgeries in Canada and the United Kingdom each year, but studies have measured chronic postoperative pain in up to 40 per cent of patients at three months after surgery and hospital readmission at up to one in five patients.
Current systems for monitoring those patients after surgery are “inadequate,” says Michael McGillion. An associate professor of the School of Nursing, McGillion is principal investigator for the project. Co-principal investigator is P.J. Devereaux, professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and medicine for McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
With SMArTVIEW, a wireless information system connects specially-trained nurses to patients through tablets and other wireless devices. The nurses will monitor patients remotely and keep track of vital signs and provide education to improve patients’ recovery.
THE SMArTVIEW stands for TecHnology Enabled remote monitoring and Self-MAnagemenT: VIsion for patient EmpoWerment.
The research, to take place in Ontario and the U.K., will focus on remote, continuous monitoring and recovery support for eight weeks post hospital discharge. Several studies over four years will measure the effectiveness and efficiencies.
The Hamilton-based research team includes members of McMaster, Hamilton Health Sciences, the Population Health Research Institute and Mohawk College, along with members from the University of Toronto and Coventry University in the U.K.
“With SMArTVIEW and this research, we’ll be able to move from futuristic concepts to real-life care that’s in widespread use, based on evidence of real-world impact,” said McGillion.
“We are fortunate to be working with drivers of eHealth innovation including our lead technology partner, Philips Canada, along with QoC Health, a patient-engagement platform; XAHIVE, a secure communications service, and mPath, a mobile application developer.
“Looking ahead, we have the opportunity to reduce the global risk of serious complications following cardiac and vascular surgery by making continuous patient monitoring and virtual support, from hospital to home, a reality.”
The CIHR eHIPP was established to identify patient-oriented eHealth solutions that will improve health outcomes, patient experience and lower health costs, as well as foster partnerships between researchers and industry.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/innovations-in-wireless-patient-monitoring-and-care-attract-federal-support/#sthash.DYvts11Q.g8hE1sD3.dpuf

Research






March 3, 2016

Innovations in wireless patient monitoring and care attract federal support

A Hamilton team of researchers led by McMaster is receiving a total of $12.3 million to advance a remote monitoring and care system, called SMArTVIEW, for post-operative patients.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) today announced a $750,000 grant for the project through its eHealth Innovation Partnership Program (eHIPP).
An additional $11.6 million of in-kind support is coming from industry and other partners for the development and testing of the SMArTVIEW technological system that could save people facing life-threatening complications after surgery.
Tens of thousands of seniors undergo cardiac and vascular surgeries in Canada and the United Kingdom each year, but studies have measured chronic postoperative pain in up to 40 per cent of patients at three months after surgery and hospital readmission at up to one in five patients.
Current systems for monitoring those patients after surgery are “inadequate,” says Michael McGillion. An associate professor of the School of Nursing, McGillion is principal investigator for the project. Co-principal investigator is P.J. Devereaux, professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics and medicine for McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.
With SMArTVIEW, a wireless information system connects specially-trained nurses to patients through tablets and other wireless devices. The nurses will monitor patients remotely and keep track of vital signs and provide education to improve patients’ recovery.
THE SMArTVIEW stands for TecHnology Enabled remote monitoring and Self-MAnagemenT: VIsion for patient EmpoWerment.
The research, to take place in Ontario and the U.K., will focus on remote, continuous monitoring and recovery support for eight weeks post hospital discharge. Several studies over four years will measure the effectiveness and efficiencies.
The Hamilton-based research team includes members of McMaster, Hamilton Health Sciences, the Population Health Research Institute and Mohawk College, along with members from the University of Toronto and Coventry University in the U.K.
“With SMArTVIEW and this research, we’ll be able to move from futuristic concepts to real-life care that’s in widespread use, based on evidence of real-world impact,” said McGillion.
“We are fortunate to be working with drivers of eHealth innovation including our lead technology partner, Philips Canada, along with QoC Health, a patient-engagement platform; XAHIVE, a secure communications service, and mPath, a mobile application developer.
“Looking ahead, we have the opportunity to reduce the global risk of serious complications following cardiac and vascular surgery by making continuous patient monitoring and virtual support, from hospital to home, a reality.”
The CIHR eHIPP was established to identify patient-oriented eHealth solutions that will improve health outcomes, patient experience and lower health costs, as well as foster partnerships between researchers and industry.
- See more at: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/innovations-in-wireless-patient-monitoring-and-care-attract-federal-support/#sthash.DYvts11Q.g8hE1sD3.dpuf