Design and implementation of a virtual assistant for healthcare professionals using pervasive computing technologies

Abstract

With the advancement of hand-held devices, wireless and sensor network pervasive computing has achieved a perfect momentum. Formerly, a requirement existed that was a serious impediment and threat to the mobility of users -the necessary presence of a fixed wired network. This has been resolved by the recent advances in wireless and mobile technologies, particularly Bluetooth and WiFi. The advancement of available, portable, low cost mobile devices (PDAs, cell phones, etc.) has resulted in the user's mobility at unprecedented levels. As these devices can communicate with one another, the combined capabilities can be leveraged to form a useful new set of tools. Presently, pervasive computing is being extended into the sophisticated healthcare sector with the promise of providing an easier and more efficient mode of communication between physicians and patients or between the physicians themselves. In this paper we provide the details of our application 'Healthcare Aide', which has been designed to provide not only more convenience for doctor -doctor, resident doctor -doctor, patient -doctor and nurse -doctor interaction but also a smooth pathway for real-time decision making. Our pervasive middleware MARKS (Middleware Adaptability for Resource Discovery, Knowledge Usability and Self-healing) provides the underlying support for this application in a completely transparent manner. In this paper, we have also presented our survey results from users' point of view along with performance analysis.Design und Einfü hrung eines virtuellen Assistenten fü r im Gesundheitswesen tä tige Personen durch den Einsatz von ubiquitä ren Computertechnologien.Die technologischen Fortschritte bei Pocketcomputern, drahtlosen Netzwerken (insbesondere Bluetooth und WiFi) und Sensoren ermö glichen die weitgehende Unterstü tzung der Mobilitä t von Benutzern -dort wo frü her Einschrä nkungen aufgrund fest verlegter Netzwerkkabel bestanden. Da Pocketcomputer immer leistungsfä higer und preiswerter werden und auch miteinander problemlos kommunizieren kö nnen, verspricht die Entwicklung entsprechender Applikationen Unterstü tzung im Bereich des Gesundheitswesens. In diesem Beitrag prä sentieren die Autoren Details zur Anwendung ,,Healthcare Aide'', die zur Interaktion und EchtzeitEntscheidungsfindung bei Arzt -Arzt, Patient -Arzt, Schwester -Arzt verwendet werden kann. Die Middleware MARKS stellt die technische Plattform fü r diese Anwendung dar. In diesem Beitrag werden darü ber hinaus Studienergebnisse aus der Sicht der Benutzer zusammen mit einer Performanzanalyse prä sentiert.Schlü sselwö rter: virtueller Assistent; Healthcare Aide; ubiquitä re Gesundheitsfü rsorge; Middleware MARKS IntroductionPervasive computing (Weiser, 1993) is the concept that incorporates computing in our working and living environment in such a way that the interaction between humans and computers becomes extremely natural, and the user can get many types of data in a totally transparent manner. Considering virtual reality, which builds an artificial world in the comp...

Provider and Manager Perspectives on the Use of an Integrated Clinical Pathway for Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Qualitative Case Study

“…Other studies addressing the impact of IT on provider-patient relationships suggest including relationship-centred care in informatics research [ 52 ]. Virtual assistants and portable devices that can record clinical interactions and convert data to text have also been suggested as ways to improve the integration of IT into the provider-client encounter [ 53 ].…”