Next Generation Technology for Chronic Care Self Managenment

描述（由申请人提供）：随着人口老龄化，慢性护理变得越来越重要。这与急性护理的对比是显著的：医生通常可以通过处方和/或程序来解决急性问题，但对于日复一日、一小时又一小时持续存在的慢性问题，情况往往不是这样。由于对大多数人来说，聘请住家护士是不切实际的，那些患有慢性疾病的人必须帮助管理他们的病情。每天，病人都要决定他们要吃什么，是否要运动，以及在多大程度上服用处方药。虽然基于计算机的工具可以让患者更好地管理他们的慢性疾病，但它们有固有的局限性。对大多数人来说，家用电脑是固定的机器，只要时间允许，偶尔就会用到。生活忙碌的人经常会好几天不用电脑。因此，个人电脑对慢性问题自我管理的影响开始趋于平稳。幸运的是，我们正处于个人计算机技术革命的边缘，它对自我管理的重要性应该与十年前的个人计算机一样重要。迅速普及的手机已经不仅仅是用来打电话的工具了。最近，几家制造商推出了既能播放视频又能上网的机型。服务提供商提供各种“按需”服务。现在可以在手机上看电视节目和电影了。这对慢性护理意味着什么？自我管理工具现在可能会跟着病人走。换句话说，当人们需要决策帮助时，它们可以移动提供现场信息。意识到这一趋势，卫生保健提供者正在创建他们的网站和基于互联网的工具的“移动版本”。这些版本，虽然类似于他们的前辈，优化了小手机屏幕和键盘输入。过去通过有线家庭电脑访问的媒体和工具现在越来越多地可以通过手机无线访问。缺少的是一种机制，让患者像使用家用电脑一样使用手机使用医疗设备。该项目的目标是启动能够充分利用这一新功能的医疗设备的开发。美国医疗保健费用的上涨继续困扰着公共和私人支付者。这促使人们研究为自己和亲人管理慢性病的新方法。该方案的目标是在日常基础上促进与健康相关的行为。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As the population ages, chronic care becomes increasingly important. The contrast to acute care is significant: a physician can often address acute problems with prescriptions and/or procedures, but this is often not the case for chronic problems that persist day after day, hour after hour. Since it is impractical for most people to hire a live-in nurse, those that suffer with chronic illness must help manage their conditions. Each day, patients decide what they are going to eat, whether they will exercise, and to what extent they will take prescribed medications. While computer-based tools allow patients to better manage their chronic conditions, they have inherent limitations. For most people home computers are stationary machines that are occasionally visited as time permits. People with busy lives may often go many days between using their computer. Consequently, the impact of personal computers on the self management of chronic problems is starting to plateau. Fortunately, we are on the verge of a technical revolution in personal computing that should become as significant to self management as personal computers were a decade ago. Cell phones, which have quickly become ubiquitous, are becoming much more than devices with which to make phone calls. Recently, several manufacturers have released models that play videos as well as provide a very capable Internet connection. Service providers offer a variety of "on-demand" services. It is now possible to watch television programs and movies on your cell phone. What does this mean for chronic care? Self management tools may now go where patients go. In other words, they can be mobile providing on- the-spot information when people desire assistance in decision making. Aware of this trend, health care providers are creating "mobile editions" of their web sites and Internet-based tools. These editions, while similar to their predecessors, are optimized for small cell phone screens and keypad input. Increasingly, media and tools that use to be accessed by wired home computers may now be accessed wirelessly by cell phones. What is missing is a mechanism for patients to use their medical devices with their cell phones as they did with their home computer. It is the goal of this project to start the development of medical devices that will allow full utilization of this new capability. The rising cost of American health care continues to plague public and private payers. This is prompting the examination of new ways for people to manage chronic conditions for themselves and their loved ones. The goal of this program is to promote health-related behavior on a daily bases.