Esko Alasaarela Docent University of Oulu EuHPN-seminar 13-14.6.2005 in Oulu, Finland

1. Technology based solutions for productivity and efficiency of healthcareTowards ubiquitous healthcare Esko Alasaarela Docent University of Oulu EuHPN-seminar 13-14.6.2005 in Oulu, Finland

2. What is the problem to be solved? • The worldwide cost crisis of the healthcare systems • due to ageing of population • due to rising cost of workforce in western countries • due to rising costs of high quality treatment • due to threat of new panepidemies • due to new diseases (due to overwhelming delivery of antibiotics etc.) • How to maintain the quality and availability level of healthcare services? • Could new technological solutions offer help? • especially the Ubiquitous computing technology?

3. Ubiquitous – present everywhere • Ubiquitous computing ≈ Pervasive computing • Ambient intelligence (used in EU, e-Europe-program) • Available everywhere, anytime for anybody

4. What is ubiquitous healthcare? • Ubiquitous healthcare makes healthcare available everywhere, anytime – pervasively • Ubiquitous healthcare integrates healthcare more seamlessly to our everyday life, independent of wherever we are • In fact, healthcare will be one of the main application areas of ubiquitous computing • Because of the global financial crisis of healthcare, ubiquitous healthcare will be one of the greatest challenges of information society technology

5. HIS Issues of ubiquitous healthcare • HIS Hospital and healhcare information systems • Information streams • Individual identification • Patients’ health records • Patients’ monitoring data • Professionals’ expertise data • Medical database • Administrative data • Patient and professional user interfaces!!! • Pervasive networking • Pervasive server network

6. Ubiquitous healthcare technologies • Technologies for individuals (patients) in hospitals and during healthcare services • e.g. wireless hospital technologies • Technologies for individuals outside the hospital (eHealth) • Personal disease management (e.g. diabetes) • Personal wellness management (e.g. fitness) • Independent living (e.g. elder people) • Technologies for healthcare professionals • Hospitals without walls • Management of information and resources inside hospitals • Interlinking the information world and the physical world  problem of USER INTERFACE

7. Problems to be solved • It is big and challenging change. How can we manage it? • The new healthcare processes and technologies have to be developed in real life, with real patients and real healthcare professionals and real engineers  cross-professional cooperation in practical environment • Development of robust and easy user interface • User interface is the crucial challenge! • How do we motivate real patients to wear and use in the beginning bulky and sometimes faulty prototypes? How are ethical issues involved? • Practical and economical issues • The projects need engineers, professionals, piloting environments, technical materials and components. How are they organized and funded? • How will the change be promoted in public? • There are only few success stories so far … • Should the change be done little-by-little or as national or European wide projects?

8. What does it mean in money? • The $1.5 trillion healthcare industry in the U.S. currently spends only 5 % on information technology, and only small part of it on wireless technologies • A market research reveals that the overall U.S. wireless data networking and related servicing opportunity in the healthcare sector will grow to over $7 billion by 2010, with the potential to be much higher given proper development • NPfIT in UK invests about 8 billion pounds on IT of NHS (National Health Services) by 2010 • In Finland Tekes, Sitra and Ministery of Social and Healthcare affairs together with the companies invest altogether about 0.5 billion euros (?) in reengineering healthcare processes by information technology by 2010 http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c4573

9. Jeff Goldsmith, the Futurologist

10. MIT Wireless Ring Sensor Measurments (wireless) - Heart rate - Heart rate variability - Oxygen saturation - Estimation of blood pressure

11. Some of the benefits of Ubi-Health • Basic and potential benefits • Rapid response to critical medical care regardless of geographic barriers • Flexible and swift access to expert opinion • Management of medical expertise also in rural areas • Intelligent personal health monitoring system • Swift medical care in emergencies and medical data management in catastrophes • Promotion of healthy life styles with continuous health monitoring • Synergy of information from individual sensors (better insight into the physiological state and level of activity) Source: Guest Editorial Introduction to the Special Section on M-Health: Beyond Seamless Mobility and Global Wireless Health-Care Connectivity. IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine. Vol 8, No. 4, December 2004, 405-414

12. Concluding • The crisis problem is worldwide • Europe, America, Far East etc. • Investments in technological development efforts are increasing but not sufficient • More international strategic cooperation and coordination are needed • The future will be different! • We are not talented enough to see the future as it will be • We have to be prepared to different futures

13. Swan – the National bird of Finland Thank you! Photo: Esko Alasaarela