What you need to know about the Internet of Healthy Things in Singapore - Part 2

(Part 1 of this article discusses the emergence of the Internet of (Healthy) Things. In this second part, a tele-rehab application is discussed.)

A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated the number of people worldwide that suffer stroke annually is about 15 million, an epidemic proportion. The mortality rate is 5 million deaths, and it causes another 5 million to be permanently disabled. In Singapore, the number of stroke cases is about 2,000 annually.

Globally, 67% of stroke survivors are deprived the ability to be functionally independent. A further 10% require assistance with daily living activities and need long term institutional care. These impose great burden on the family and community in terms of time and resources.

For stroke survivors to regain their quality of life physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially, it is critical for them to undergo rehabilitation. The recovery process may be long and can continue for several years, but recovery rate is highest in the first couple years – initial six months being especially critical.

Rehabilitation starts when patients are in the hospitals, and continue at the rehabilitation centers, home, and residential care.

However, resources are typically in short supply due to limited hospital facilities and shortage of healthcare specialists, hence achieving full recovery rate is very challenging.

Rehabilitation typically relies heavily on the specialists’ manual examination and personal judgment, and supervision of the training activities, all of which are time-consuming tasks. This is worsened by the fact that the number of rehabilitation specialists is always not enough.

Moreover, with a long and painful recovery process, patients and their families would prefer to continue recovery training at home or at a community place that is convenient, where patients can muster the strength to continue. A next generation post-stroke tele-rehabilitation system that is ubiquitous, intelligent, motivating, and immersive is conceived to fill such a distressing need.

The scenario of a patient undergoing therapy in the convenience of the home, perhaps with a home caregiver assisting, is depicted in this Use Case. A travelling medical consultant, who may be in transit between medical centers, is closely monitoring the patient’s case.

The medical team in the hospital and the travelling consultant are both able to remotely and immediately review the patient’s exercise results. With mobile devices, family members working in a remote office can receive any feedback.

This Use Case can be extended to increase the number of touch-points for doctor-patient ratio, creating a multiplier effect that increases the productivity of the medical consultation, resulting in more attention being given to patients who may have been underserved.

Henceforth, it is important to understand the important considerations for the design of Internet-of-Healthy-Things (IoHT) in the Healthcare arena.

(In the third and final part of the article, possible considerations of IoHT are being deliberated.)

Oliver is among the speakers who will be sharing their expertise at the IoT Asia 2014 conference.

IoT Asia 2014
Singapore Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre
21-22 April 2014

Click here to register.