The Mobile Electronic Medical Station

8/12/2019 The Mobile Electronic Medical Station

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EUROCON 2005 Serbia & Montenegro, Belgrade, November 22-24, 2005

Abstract - The Mobile Electronic Medical Station

(meMS) is a combination of a mobile and a measurement

device for medical purposes. A tool obtained by such a

combination is an extremely useful mobile gadget.Benefits of using Internet should be distributed between

all those who participate in this new dimension of life.

Diseases that ravage the planet and because of which people die every day present a challenge to new

technologies. The development of new mobile interfaceand the organization of health services with the assistanceof electronic channels bring new seconds of hope by

implementing e-Health-Care Services. Keywords - e-Health, Mobile Electronic Medical Station,

Telemedicine[4], [5].

I. I NTRODUCTION

Contemporary information and telecommunication

technologies improve conditions in all spheres of life.

Medical protection as one of the core human activities isneeded in urban as well as in the most remote rural areas

[Fig. 1]. Such need is sometimes measured by minutes or

seconds.

Figure 1. Developed electronic network of health-care

services of Serbia

II. EHEALTH NET AND APPLICATION

Following up and updating archiving of data on the

situation in the field hit by a natural disaster, as in case of

M. N. Uzelac is with the eBusiness Workshop 2005, Serbia (phone:381-63-8019904; e-mail: [email protected]).

floods, for example, contributes to timely information that

provide for making the right decision and limit the impactof consequences of such a disaster - for example, possible

infectious diseases.

Electronic medical personal files of all those who havehealth insurance enable consultations and co-operation of

several medical electronic centres, creating an electronic

consultative meeting of experts that is operative even if itis distant from the patient's location. In this way, a number

of health workers needed in the field is being reduced.With several operative men a large number of patients iscovered with the logistic support of these electronic

medical centres.

Figure 2. Application of interactive electronic health-care

Accelerated speed of giving an advice or expert

opinion, the exchange of information on the condition of a

patient or an injured is crucially important in emergencyinterventions.

The configuration of a mini health-care centre from an

information-technological aspect is the following: acomputer unit, IPnetcam, specialized interface (meMS),

printer, scanner, eHealthGrid application [Fig. 2] and, of

course, it should be linked by a high-quality CableDistribution System (KDS), ADSL or mobile connection.

The electronic personal medical file, electronic recipe

and all medical electronic documents should bestandardized.

III. STANDARDIZATION

The following should be determined by thestandardization: 1. Data type; 2. Extension type; 3. Data

size; 4. Data resolution; 5.Package size; 6.Minimum

flows.Let us look at the benefits that may be brought by a

direct digitalisation of medical data that can be further

Mobile Electronic Medical

Station

Marinko N. Uzelac

1-4244-0049-X/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE 64



processed electronically. The passing of decisions and theneeded time play a crucial role in emergency cases. Tele-

medicine brings additional minutes to numerous services

of e-Health-Care Services, and one of them is e-Radiology. The objective of e-Radiology is first of all to

archive, to enable a medical examination, to interpret and

acquire medical images. The trend is that these images are

directly digitalized and the advantages of such a procedureare obvious and numerous: 1. Elimination of a film and

chemical processes; 2. No time needed to develop films;

3. Direct access to an image; 4. No need for expensivedigitalisation [2].

Such approach brings a multitude of categories of e-

Health-Care Services that may be continuouslysupplemented.

A today's flow of e-Health-Care Systems requires the

standardization of enormously potential services andaccessory devices and tools that present the basis for this

significant e-business industry. It is also necessary to

establish legal frameworks for the provision of these

services. The development of new, better ways of providing health-care is the basis of all e-Health-Care

Services programmes. By comparing researches andexperience with other practices in the country and abroad,

one creates an opportunity to correct mistakes and to

introduce oneself with new successful methods.Telemedical practice, organization, staff and

administration are very difficult to be characterized and its

structures are more and more complex: professionalmedical staff, information technologies, hospital and clinic

administration, professional training, congresses,

marketing, politics, trade relations, finances. Programs ofe-Health-Care Services should enable the initiative of

making definitions (what is being measured; how data aretransferred, archived and analysed) and theimplementation of e-services that patients need. The key

element of this program is a multi-media medical database

(MMD): 1. Preparation and systematisation of completedata on a patient; 2. Expert review of information before

teleconference; 3. Simultaneous review of information in

the MMD during teleconference; 4. Subsequent scientific

analysis of clinical data.The leader of the project “National Electronic Health-

Care Network” should be the Ministry of Health. Other

ministries may be included in the project as well as

medical equipment manufacturers, manufacturers ofinformation telecommunication equipment, medical

services, pharmacies, specialists, logistic support staff.

IV. MOBILE ELECTRONIC MEDICAL STATION

The Mobile Electronic Medical Station (meMS) servesfor measuring pressure, heartbeats, bodily temperature,

heart analysis, blood analysis and as a port for other

measurement and medical devices such as inhalators andinjectors [Fig. 3]. Also, this medical console serves in

such a way that these medical measurements and analyses

can be transferred, by a mobile or in some other way of

telecommunication connections, to a desireddestination[5].

The device presents a combination of a mobile phoneand a medical device for the measurement of health

conditions. It consists of a rigid housing and a flexible

belt. Besides its hardware component, this device also hasan appropriate software component and new servicing

methods. The application of this device obviously comes

from its application in health-care and the improvement ofa user's experience. Providing a completely new service

for users, this device may present the basic particle of the

future mobile electronic health-care network. Instead ofwaiting for long in stuffy waiting rooms, undergoing a risk

of an additional infection from already infected people,

this device provides a higher level of the provision ofhealth-care services[5].

After initiating the system, the user, by pressing a

functional button, makes a selection between whetherhe/she wants to have his pressure, pulse and/or

temperature measured; then, the user calls a specialist

doctor by a video call and with the doctor's assistance via

interactive transparent instructions, using electronicstethoscope, performs the reading of his/her heart beats[5].

The specialist is on-line all the time, he has the user's

image and the user sees the doctor on his/her screen of thedevice. After finishing the medical examination, the

specialist gives an electronic recipe that the user forwards

to the pharmacist and then the patient takes the prescribedtherapy. All measurements are archived and may be

forwarded to the specialists. Also, the specialist may have

a database on the patient with which, upon a request, thearchives of the device is being synchronized[5].

Figure 3. Mobile Electronic Medical Station

In the past the problem was solved in such a way that

the images of measurements and analyses were transferred

to a computer and sent to a certain web destination. Thereare some suggestions to solve the issue by using a mobile

phone as a hub[5].

In this way, by a single device, this medical console, the

previous solutions are being united and the issue of havinga lack of mobility, interactivity and transparency is thus

being solved and that, in some emergency cases, may be

decisive for saving a patient's life[5].By digitalizing all signals that the emMedicalStation

measures, records, stores or emits, mobility and

transparency are ensured. The devices has a status of ageneral design – officially patent pending, and the creation

of three or more models is envisaged, depending on built-

in components for mobile networks 900/1800MHz,UMTS.

The monoblock housing of the device with a built-in

antenna may have the following dimensions:

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85x65x24mm, weight: 130gr. By the development of lightmaterials and nano components, the dimensions of the

device may be minimized and its weight reduced.

The battery of the device is a changeable category and itis recommended to use: Li-Polymer of 1000mAh.

The screen is TFT, and depending of the model, the

number of colours may be from (16bit) 65,536 to (18bit)

262,144. The video aspect of device are cameras with theresolution from 640x480 to 1632x1224 pixels, enable

making photographs (.jpg), a video file (.3gp), digital

zooming, auto focus and flash, as an option.The device has a recording (.amr), emitting (.amr,

.mp3), storing and sound transfer capabilities.

Internal and external memory helped by the MemoryStick Duo card give 1024MB capacity.

The device has communications - local, by attaching a

cable to an USB port, wireless RFID, IR or bluetooth anda remote transmission of data by GSM, GPRS. Suported

protocols are WAP 2.0, POP3, SMTP, and SMS, EMS,

MMS, SyncML technologies.

The device measures: blood pressure 0-299 mmHg, pulse 40-180/minute, and temperature 34-42°C. The

device may measure the level of sugar in one`s blood byan electrochemical method, using a test strip.

It can be concluded from the following that this device

presents the basis for future mobile mini laboratory.Description of numbers of the draft [Fig. 4]: 1. Front

side; 2. Backside; 3. Top; 4. Bottom; 5. Left side; 6. Right

side; 7. Turn on/turn off; 8. Navigation-up/down; 9. Navigation-left/right; 10. Big screen; 11. Small screen; 12.

Camera; 13. Navigation; 14. Keyboard; 15. Going

backwards; 16. Accept; 17. IR, port, charger; 18. EKG port; 19. e-Stethoscope port; 20. Functional button F1; 21.

Functional button F2; 22. Functional button F3; 23.Functional button F4; 24. Registration of inhalation; 25.Registration of injection; 26. Registration of body weight;

27. Start measuring; 28. Volume regulation; 29. Memory

card; 30. Earphones; 31.Analysis card; 32. USB port; 33.Pulsator and pressure echo; 34. Battery and SIM card; 35.

Belt buckles[5].

Functional buttons have the following purpose: F1-

measurement: pressure, pulse, blood sugar, temperature, e-Stethoscope, body weight; F2 – telephone: ordinary call,

video call; F3 – sending signals: USB, SMS, e-mail, IR,

Bluetooth; and F4 – archiving: save, review,

synchronization[5].

V. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL BENEFITS

One billion mobile devices is expected in year 2005.The estimates on the income of mCommerce for year

2005 are 8-24 billion dollars, depending on the researcher

who performed the study.The estimates of the Internet users till 2007 are

1.460.000.000, and wireless users of the Internet shall

amount to 56,8% of all Internet users.By adding medical services to mobile devices, a digital

transmission of all medical measurement signals becomes

possible, and that opens a new dimension for the usage of

mobile phones.

Figure 4. Draft of meMS-e[5]

The potential maximum of additional services is the

maximum number of mobile devices. Starting from the

zero minimum, we come to the approximate value of

about 500 million mobiles with medical services. Thespeed of the penetration depends on the productional

efficiency. Recent studies suggest that the self-monitoring

of blood pressure (SMBP) may improve the identification

and control of hypertension. There are more than 800million people with high blood pressure worldwide. This

number is forecast to increase significantly due to therapidly rising number of elderly people and those who are

overweight.

Worldwide Penetration of Handheld Devices Through2005: Asia-310 million, Europe-177 million, US-24

million.

It is expected that the growth of this service via mobiledevices of the next generation shall continue in the future.

Currently, there is no offer of this service at the market, so

at present, the market is 100% free for the penetration.Potential commercial benefit of an meMedicalStation

may be defined via the potential usage of:

Self-monitoring blood pressure, temperature andother measurements that are possible with this device.

Continuous storage of medical data with a statistical

analysis and an automated recommendation for takingcertain therapy and a medicine.

Interactivity with expert medical staff (doctors,

nurses), and synchronization of data with the medicaldatabase.

A possibility of adding new data, and of compiling

all medical data in the memory of the device.

One of the benefits is the programming of a value

that, in case of being exceeded, activates the alarm (sound,light or vibration), warning the user of the criticalcondition. These values may be systolic or diastolic

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pressure, pulse, temperature or time at which one shouldtake a medicine.

Programming a definite time (times) when self-

monitored measurement starts, the table of an automaticstart of meMS.

Continuous monitoring of medical results of remote

users or users who are not easily accessible.

Benefits from its usage in sports, for themeasurement and control of burden and stability test for

sportsmen.

People dealing with difficult, high-risk jobs may have

the independent control of their medical condition and

changes that occur due to stressed situations.

Measurement and statistical analysis of medical data

when a person is awake and asleep enable the adjustment

of required concentration and alertness.

Certain professions, such as: divers, pilots,

parachutists, climbers require an ability to make a correct

decision, and these decision depend on someone`scondition. By monitoring these conditions it is possible to

prevent making wrong decisions, i.e. to predict the

condition that is result of a bad decision.

Coordination of all related parameters in order to

achieve better results regarding one`s health.

By adding an RFID to this device, the potential of its

usage is doubled.

The device is also usable for the following market

groups: 1. Medical care, 2. Army, 3. Business services, 4.Personal services, 5. Sports.

VI. CONCLUSION

This work wants to point out to the importance and

possibilities of using telecommunication-informationtechnologies in health-care. The initiative for the

implementation of an e-HealthNet national network in

Serbia should come exactly from the ICT sphere, and

without a wide support and planned approach, this

network of future health-care services shall only present a

modest pendant of sporadic classical health-care services.

We have presented the main idea and described some

features of certain categories of e-Health-Care Services.

We have presented a mobile electronic medical unit[5].

We perceive the future development of this area in the

integration of all classified and qualified individual

research projects[4].

R EFERENCES

[1] L. Beolchi, European telemedicine glossary of

concepts, standards, technologies and users; 5th ed.

W83GA1 2003 EU(World Health Organization,

Library&Information Networks For KnowledgeDatabase-WHOLIS).

[2] Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications ofTelemedicine, Telemedecine: a guide to assessing

telecommunications in health care; Institute of

Medicine (U.S.).

[3] T. M. Fliedner; Teleconsultation in radiationmedicine; 2002; WHO.

[4] M. N. Uzelac, eHealth, submitted for publication,INFOm, 2005.

[5] M. N. Uzelac, Patent: Mobile Electronic MedicalStation – application No. P-2005/0508, Intellectual

Property Office; 2005.

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The Mobile Electronic Medical Station

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