Taiwanese researchers yesterday demonstrated a new system that would allow doctors and other healthcare personnel to remotely monitor the condition of hospitalized patients with highly contagious diseases, such as COVID-19.
The technology, developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH), was designed to reduce risk for medical personnel and improve treatment efficiency, ITRI Service Systems Technology Center director Cheng Jen-chieh (鄭仁傑) said in the demonstration at the hospital.
The system uses cameras and infrared sensors to monitor changes in color of a patient’s facial capillaries and their chest movements as they breathe, Cheng was cited as saying in a TMUH news release.
Photo: CNA
Artificial intelligence algorithms convert the data to provide a readout of the patient’s heart rate, respiratory rate and body temperature, he said.
Those vital signs are displayed on an electronic whiteboard at the nurses’ station, which can alert them to any changes in a patient’s condition, he added.
If any abnormalities are detected, doctors and other healthcare professionals can use the system’s videoconferencing feature to speak with the patient, Cheng said.
Meanwhile, patients can access their vital data in real time via a mobile app, ITRI said.
By allowing the process to be contact-free, medical professionals at hospitals would be able to work more efficiently and significantly reduce their risk of exposure to highly contagious diseases, ITRI executive vice president Chang Pei-zen (張培仁) said.
Medical staff at hospitals enter COVID-19 quarantine rooms 12 to 15 times per day, he said.
Each time, they have to don protective gear, a process that takes about 20 minutes, and on leaving the room, they have to carefully remove and dispose of the protective equipment, he added.
The remote treatment system has been installed at TMUH, but no details were provided on how widely it would be used elsewhere in the nation.
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