Well cared for: new telehealth system for people in quara

Domestic quarantine is one of the most effective measures to contain the spread of the Corona virus. This significantly reduces the burden on the health system - both in terms of hospital capacity and that of health authorities, such as the 1450 hotline. However, the problem arises that medical care must be ensured for those affected. A possible outbreak of the disease with its potentially severe consequences must not be overlooked.

This is made possible by a new telehealth system that is now being used in Tyrol as part of a research project. It enables close monitoring of symptoms to get patients to a hospital in time, if necessary.

Specifically, an ear sensor is used to automatically measure body temperature, oxygen saturation and breathing rate, and a cell phone app is used to record medically relevant values of the patient. This data is transmitted to a care team of around 20 people from the Medical University of Innsbruck and the Tirol Kliniken, which guarantees round-the-clock monitoring.

This new Covid-19 monitoring system is based on the Telehealth platform, which has been tried and tested for years and is developed and operated by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and the AIT spin-off TELBIOMED Medizintechnik und IT Service GmbH. This is a modular platform that provides basic functions for the secure and reliable collection and transmission of data and can be adapted to specific applications using disease-specific components. The modular design of the system enabled specialists at the AIT Center for Health and Bioresources to develop an application for Covid-19 home quarantine care within a very short time.

The AIT Telehealth Platform is used, for example, in the telehealth service HerzMobil, in which patients with heart failure have been receiving telemedical care in Tyrol and Styria for several years. Other applications include the care of diabetes patients. In all these areas, telehealth services provide valuable support for the efficient and targeted use of resources.

In the Covid-19 monitoring project in Tyrol, this is how it works in practice: high-risk individuals are given an ear sensor, and the data is transmitted pseudonymously via a special modem (in the process, the name is replaced by a code, making it de facto impossible to establish identity) to doctors, who can analyze the information and respond immediately. The AIT Telehealth system serves as a patient record. Individuals who do not belong to a high-risk group can use the AIT Telehealth platform like a diary: They enter their vital data daily and answer relevant questions about their well-being or symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, sore throat, etc.). To avoid input errors, the system performs a plausibility check as soon as the data is entered. Then this data is transmitted in structured form to authorized caregivers. The data server is operated in the secure IT environment of the AIT. Only authorized persons have access to the data server, and all data is of course transmitted in encrypted form.

A clear graphical representation of all data is displayed to healthcare professionals to facilitate follow-up. In addition, simple filter options can be used to search for persons with conspicuous symptoms. Depending on the need, groups of persons can be transferred to separate care lists with different monitoring cycles.

The care teams can use an integrated feedback function to send messages to the persons in home quarantine at any time. These messages can be received and confirmed by the users directly in the system. All information is stored transparently and traceably. The persons in quarantine can view the recorded data clearly at any time and thus also have a kind of medical diary in which they can check the progress for themselves.