ehealth – Design for Wellbeing

SUCCCE – Smart use of communication in complex care environments

Tobias Larsson — Mon, 20 May 2019 09:13:26 +0000

The SUCCCE product is a handsfree, advanced decision support for alert management and consists of both hardware and software. SUCCCE provides medical doctors and other health care staff with direct alerts from medical devices and adequate medical information concerning their patients on a heads-up display in their eyes’ field of view. The advanced data filtering in SUCCCE makes sure that the alerts and information are recieved by staff with matching responsibilities.

TAGS: acceleratoraugmented reality BTH ehealth google glass Healthcare succce tobias larsson

C-connect – The future of medical monitoring

Tobias Larsson — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 09:15:51 +0000

Challenge: A solution that delays the need of help from the home care in Karlskrona

Solution: In the future the population of seniors is expected to grow. This is a problem for the society since the workers will have to take care of more seniors. Therefore a solution that delays the need of help from the home care is necessary. When examine current problems among seniors, the project team found two common safety issues. The first one is that seniors felt more safe when they knew that someone was checking up on them, to know that the person is alright. The second one is that seniors felt more safe if they could contact someone when needed.

The solution was a watch band that have sensors and a button. The sensors will monitor information regarding a person’s health status. The information that will be monitored is body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood oxygen. This to fulfill the first issue. The button will be an emergency button, that the seniors can use to contact someone when needed. This to fulfill the second issue.

TAGS: blue science parkBTH dfw ehealth Healthcare home care Landstinget Blekinge Medical Monitoring region blekinge security

LARM system – At home monitoring system

Tobias Larsson — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 08:58:35 +0000

Challenge: To help creative innovative solutions for Landstinget Blekinge for patients to get at home healthcare / solutions for mobile teams.

Solution: Sensors that collect data from the user and communicate to the user via an app. The data is also sent to a monitoring central at the hospital that evaluates the results.

Impact: By removing the patients from the hospital to their home, there is more space cleared up at the hospital for the patients who are more in emergency conditions instead. The patients that stay from home, get to feel “less sick” due to the fact that they get to stay home.

TAGS: BTHdata dfw ehealth health app Landstinget Blekinge monitoring systems region blekinge sensors

Test-arena Blekinge – Behandling på distans

Tobias Larsson — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 19:04:06 +0000

Syfte
Hjärt- och kärlsjukdomar är den vanligaste dödsorsaken i Sverige, både hos kvinnor och hos män. Ungefär hälften av västvärldens befolkning insjuknar och dör i någon av dessa sjukdomar. I Sverige har 12 procent av befolkningen någon hjärt- eller kärlsjukdom.

Projektmål

Att genom forskning och produktutveckling ta fram tekniska lösningar riktat till personer med kronisk hjärtsvikt genom vilka patienten, anhöriga och sjukvårdspersonal kan övervaka och följa upp vitala parametrar relaterade till diagnosen, och med hjälp av AI prediktera försämringar i sjukdomsförloppet och på så sätt reducera antalet sjukbesök samt att öka tryggheten och patientens kunskap om sin diagnos.
Utveckla en testbädd i vilken tekniska lösningar ska kunna testas och valideras. Projektet är ett av sex delprojekt i Test-arena Blekinge och genomförs i samverkan med forskare på Blekinge Tekniska Högskola och näringslivet i Blekinge.

Läs mer: https://www.bluesciencepark.se/ehalsa/article/test-arena-blekinge-behandling-pa-distans/

TAGS: applied health technologyblekinge institute of technology blue science park BTH ehälsa ehealth

Evaluating Health Information Systems Using Ontologies

Tobias Larsson — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 11:46:35 +0000

ABSTRACT

Background: There are several frameworks that attempt to address the challenges of evaluation of health information systems by offering models, methods, and guidelines about what to evaluate, how to evaluate, and how to report the evaluation results. Model-based evaluation frameworks usually suggest universally applicable evaluation aspects but do not consider case-specific aspects. On the other hand, evaluation frameworks that are case specific, by eliciting user requirements, limit their output to the evaluation aspects suggested by the users in the early phases of system development. In addition, these case-specific approaches extract different sets of evaluation aspects from each case, making it challenging to collectively compare, unify, or aggregate the evaluation of a set of heterogeneous health information systems.

TAGS: applied health technologybiomedical BTH ehealth evaluation fi-star fistar health information systems mdd ontologies Shahryar Eivazzadeh technology assessment tobias larsson

Effective analysis within medical imaging using collaboration based on networking structure | 2012-2014

Tobias Larsson — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 19:04:24 +0000

Objective: Medical imaging is facing major challenges. The demographic and geographic structure needs to be addressed with new approaches and services. Digitalisation has been ongoing for over 10 years, but there is still great potential to be exploited in sharing capacity and expertise. This project focuses on this potential.

The project will analyze more effective forms of collaboration, working in networks. The issue is complex in nature as it spans over different health care providers, specialties and processes. It also covers a number of areas such as technology, patient safety, legal and regulatory requirements.

Making experts available to more than one care giver at a time, will result in benefits that we can assess today, but it will also create new structures and opportunities in medical imaging that can not be predicted.

The project results in a concept, tested in a pilot, within three major scenarios, access to capacity, peer nodes and multi-disciplinary teams. This will be available for healthcare to apply on various forms of medical imaging.

Today, there are no known initiatives that links technology with interaction, legal and commercial considerations. The potential is great, internationally, as medical imaging requires increasing resources for efficient and quality care.

The long term effects are:

Higher and more consistent level of diagnostics, regardless of location
Faster implementation of new evidence based medicine
Increased opportunities for high-quality diagnostics in smaller communities
Efficiency and reduced costs
Less traveling for patients and specialists

BTH staff: Prof Tobias Larsson, Prof Bo Helgeson (COM), Madelene Larsson (COM), Massimo Panarotto

Time span: Phase B:2012-2014 / Phase C: 2015-2016

Funding: Phase B: 20 MSEK (10 MSEK VINNOVA Challenge Driven Innovation, 10 MSEK partners), Phase C: 19 MSEK (10 MSEK VINNOVA Challenge Driven Innovation, 9 MSEK partners).

Partners: RxEye AB (project leaders), Royal Institute of Technology, Blekinge Institute of Technology, County Council of Blekinge, County Council of Stockholm.

Center for TeleMedicine – Sustainable products and services within e-health and tele medicine | 2010-2012

Tobias Larsson — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:26:11 +0000

PROJECT SUMMARY

The project will provide a cost-effective development of sustainable e-health related services and products. This should be done by various pilot project demonstrators to create realistic scenarios. Primarily this is done for the County Council of Blekinge but also other potential customers may be targeted. The project will create a technological-medical frontier area that can generate new business in Blekinge.

The focus of the project is

E-health pilots, based on feasibility studies and identified needs, in teleradiology, telepathology, care-in-home, and video communication 2.0;
Availability and resource problems and the effects of applying an e-health perspective
Interoperability of products and services between public and private actors
Clarification of the methodology and approach for the development and implementation of e-health activities.

Our goal is to create an e-health center anchored in Blekinge, which can operate also in other counties and with other potential customers. We want to develop healthcare operations and streamline existing processes through the creation of new innovative and sustainable solutions for products, services and related practices. The proposed pilots will primarily be teleradiology, telepathology, care-in-home and video communication. Also other disciplines such as laboratory medicine and dermatology will be able to be evaluated within the project.

The pilots that will be implemented within the project are all based on the already completed need studies and trials, and is rooted in the activities and parties involved. A priority scheme for pilots will be undertaken in conjunction with the project to take into account the current situation in the related project at the time.

A planned e-health center will

Providing a cost-effective e-health service for the County Council of Blekinge
Increase the attractiveness of medical experts to work in the County Council of Blekinge
Evaluate various products and services in a secure but “sharp” test environment with employees and patients in everyday medical work.
Give priority to work closely with those who will use the services and develop an approach that provides us with a growing expertise in Blekinge in the relevant areas
Enhance cooperation with other counties, and companies
Create a technologically and methodologically medical focus area of Blekinge
Generate new business in Blekinge, and through this increased export activity

In “Regionalt Tillväxtprogram 2008-2013” Region Blekinge describes “Health & IT” as a priority area profile and write: “It is important to support existing and establish new innovative environment where ideas can be commercialized and businesses evolve.”

In conclusion, this project has close and active links with the County Council of Blekinge, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Region Blekinge, and the for Blekinge established telecommunications industry.

PROJECT INFORMATION:

Type: Research and development
Keywords: E-health, product-service innovation, needfinding, wellbeing
Application area: Healthcare
Time frame: 2010-2012
Research unit: Blekinge Institute of Technology
Funding: 19 MSEK
Partners: Tillväxtverket, County Council of Blekinge, BTH, Telecom City

Contacts:

Tobias Larsson, Professor, BTH, tobias.larsson@bth.se.
Madelene Larsson, Interaction Designer, BTH. madelene.larsson@bth.se

NeedInn – Need Centered Product Innovation within E-health | 2005-2007

Tobias Larsson — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:12:22 +0000

Needfinding process in NeedInn (swedish)

PROJECT SUMMARY

Needfinding and innovation are the keywords of NeedInn.

The goal for NeedInn is to create a method, a working process, which contributes to a need centered product development process within e-health. To make this happen we need to develop a way to find the needs and to make them more clearly for users and solution providers.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Type: Research and development
Keywords: E-health, Engineering Design, Needfinding, Product Development
Application area: Healthcare
Time frame: 2005-2007
Funding: 5.3 MSEK, EC Regional Programme for Innovative Actions
Research unit: Luleå University of Technology
Partners: Alkit Communications, EU, Luleå Kommun, Länsstyrelsen Norrbotten, Länsstyrelsen Västerbotten, Skellefteå Kommun,

DOCUMENTS

Final report – NeedInn: PDF | 1.6 MB

LINKS

PUBLICATIONS

Needs as a basis for design rationale. / Bergström, Mattias ; Ericson, Åsa ; Larsson, Madelene ; Nergård, Henrik ; Larsson, Tobias ; Renström, Boo. In: Proceedings of the Design 2008 : 10th International Design Conference, May 19-22, 2008, Dubrovnik, Croatia. University of Zagreb, 2008. 8 p. Research: Article for conference peer reviewed
Design for wellbeing. / Larsson, Tobias ; Larsson, Andreas. In: The Engineering Handbook of Smart Technology for Aging, Disability and Independence. / ed. Abdelsalam Helal ; Mounir Mokhtari ; Bessam Abdulrazak. Hoboken, N.J : Wiley, 2008. p. 819-832
Need driven product development in team-based projects. / Ericson, Åsa ; Larsson, Tobias ; Larsson, Andreas ; Larsson, Madelene. In: Proceedings of the 16th International conference on engineering design : ICED 07. 2007. 11 p. Research: Article for conference peer reviewed
NeedInn : behovsdriven produktutveckling inom E-hälsa. / Larsson, Tobias ; Larsson, Madelene. Luleå : Luleå tekniska universitet, 2007. 60 p. Research: Scientific report
In search of what is missing : needfinding the SIRIUS way. / Ericson, Åsa ; Larsson, Tobias ; Larsson, Andreas. In: Knowledge Sharing and Collaborative Engineering : Proceedings of Fourth IASTED International Conference on Knowledge Sharing and Collaborative Engineering, KSCE 2006. Acta Press, 2007. 6 p. Research: Article for conference peer reviewed
Educating engineering designers for a multidisciplinary future. / Bergström, Mattias ; Ericson, Åsa ; Matzen, Detlef ; Tan, Adrian. 2007. 2 p. Conference: National Workshop on Functional Products – Development and Sales, No. 2, Luleå, Sweden, October 24, 2007 – October 25, 2007. Presentation.
Design for Wellbeing : Innovations for People / Larsson, Andreas ; Larsson, Tobias ; Leifer, Larry ; Van der Loos, Machiel ; Feland, John. In: Proceedings of 15th International Conference on Engineering Design : ICED 05. 2005. 10 p. Research: Article for conference peer reviewed
Design for wellbeing : innovations for people. / Leifer, Larry ; Larsson, Andreas ; Larsson, Tobias ; Van der Loos, Machiel ; Feland, John. In: Human Centered Design : Maruzen for 10th anniversary of the Kanto Branch, Japanese Society of Mechanical Engineers. ed. / S Fukuda. 2005. 11 p. Research: Contribution to scientific book/anthology
Innovations for Life : Design for Wellbeing / Larsson, Tobias ; Larsson, Andreas ; Kassfeldt, Elisabet. In: First International Conference on Lifestyle, Health and Technology : June 1-3, 2005 at Luleå University of Technology, Porsön, Luleå, Sweden. 2005. 1 p.

TAGS: E-healthehealth Engineering Design LTU madelene larsson Needfinding needinn Product Development tobias larsson

INTELiCare | 2003-2004

Tobias Larsson — Sun, 08 May 2011 08:51:22 +0000

PROJECT BRIEF

When: 2003-2004 (finalized)

What: Intel’s Proactive Health project is seeking creative technology designs and demonstration prototypes in two primary areas: social health monitoring and support (SHMS) and daily routine monitoring and management (DRMM).

Documentation:

Project Brief: PDF | 0.4 MB

PROJECT SUMMARY

The current goal of Intel’s Proactive Health project is to explore, demonstrate and test a variety of home health technologies aimed at prolonging elders’ independence and enhancing their quality of life. The initial focus of the Proactive Health project is on addressing the needs of elders coping with various stages of cognitive decline. Social researchers working on the Intel Proactive Health project have conducted extensive ethnographic studies of elder households with the goal of developing a deep understanding of the everyday lives of elders and their caregivers. An important design requirement that emerged from those studies was the need to design and develop novel technologies that can be embedded into the everyday routines and household devices used by elders. Engineers working on the Proactive Health project are currently prototyping a number of sensing technologies based on Intel platforms and infrastructure.

Intel’s Proactive Health project is seeking creative technology designs and demonstration prototypes in two primary areas: social health monitoring and support (SHMS) and daily routine monitoring and management (DRMM).

Social Health Monitoring and Support (SHMS)

Social Health Monitoring and Support focuses on detecting, monitoring and facilitating social interaction between elders and other people-what Intel’s Proactive Health team refers to as “social connectedness.” A key technical challenge in this area involves detection of elder interaction (in person, on the phone, or via some other communication technology). Technology solutions that enable SHMS should be designed and developed with the goal of addressing questions such as:

What are some ways of enabling a remote caregiver to detect when an elder is interacting with another person?
What channel of communication is being used during a particular elder interaction (i.e. face-to-face, telephone, etc.)?
How long did the interaction last?
What was the interaction about?
How can certain changes in elder speech patterns be detected that might signal cognitive decline or other problems?
What are some non-intrusive ways of providing elders with feedback about their level of social connectedness (e.g. through the use of ambient displays)?

One technology approach might involve the use of mote-based wearable sensors that detect certain conversational properties. Imagine for instance a pendant worn by an elder that records the number of minutes he or she spends talking. Another approach might be a brooch worn by an elder that measures the number of gaps between his or her words. Output from such devices could be sent to an application running on a PC that generates certain conversational statistics. These statistics could, in turn, be used to provide a measure of an elder’s social health as well as longer-term changes in speech fluency.

Daily Routine Monitoring and Management (DRMM)

The focus of Daily Routing Monitoring and Management is on monitoring elders’ daily routines and assisting them with their routines on an as-needed basis. Technologies designed for DRMM should address questions such as:

What are some ways of detecting whether an elder followed or departed from his or her morning ritual?
What are some means for detecting whether an elder is having a “good” day or a “bad” day?
What are some ways of sensing when a remote caregiver needs to be alerted?
What are some ways of distinguishing between urgent and non-urgent information about the elder?
What are some non-intrusive ways in which non-urgent information about an elder’s day can be shared with a remote caregiver?
What kinds of informational displays are more appropriate for use in an elder’s home?
What are some ways of helping an elder get started on their routine or pick up where they left off if they’ve lost their way?

Technology solutions might employ mote-based technologies that place low demands on an elder’s attention and involve minimal learning (e.g. via use of ambient displays). Imagine, for example, a kinetic sculpture that provides an elder with information about how far he or she is from achieving his or her daily exercise goal. Alternatively, imagine a technology that might help the elder detect emergent opportunities to take a walk with a friend. Technologies designed and developed for DRMM should focus on intuitive, unconventional indicators and employ technologies that can be embedded in tangible objects versus technologies that use LEDs and traditional monitor-based displays.

The results

The result presented in May was the system with the two included devices that has been successfully given the properties that the project group aimed for. A few new creative functions have emerged that aim to fulfil and further exceed the user’s expectations.

Looking back on this project, having used this product development methodology in a distributed collaboration with Stanford University and the Royal Institute of Technology, the INTELiCARE members feel they have been successful in creating new solutions that promote the wellbeing of elderly people.

The team

Joakim Eriksson, Christian Johansson, LTU

TAGS: christian johanssonehealth intel joakim eriksson LTU Luleå University of Technology ME310 sirius Stanford University

ehealth – Design for Wellbeing

SUCCCE – Smart use of communication in complex care environments

C-connect – The future of medical monitoring

LARM system – At home monitoring system

Test-arena Blekinge – Behandling på distans

Evaluating Health Information Systems Using Ontologies

ABSTRACT

Effective analysis within medical imaging using collaboration based on networking structure | 2012-2014

Related links

Center for TeleMedicine – Sustainable products and services within e-health and tele medicine | 2010-2012

NeedInn – Need Centered Product Innovation within E-health | 2005-2007

INTELiCare | 2003-2004