A Survey on Ubiquitous Healthcare Service Demand among Diabetic Patients

BACKGROUND: Advanced information technology can be used when developing diagnostic and treatment strategies to provide better care for diabetic patients. However, the levels of need and demand for the use of technological advances have not been investigated in diabetic patients. We proposed and developed an individualized, ubiquitous (U)-healthcare service using advanced information technology for more effective glucose control. Prior to our service initiation, we surveyed patient needs and other pertinent information. METHODS: During August 2009, we conducted a 34-item questionnaire survey among patients with diabetes who were older than 40 years in two certain hospitals in Korea. RESULTS: The mean age of the 228 participants was 61.2+/-9 years, and males made up 49.1% of the sample. Seventy-one percent replied that they wanted individualized healthcare service, and they also wanted their health information to be delivered through mobile devices such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (40.4%). Most patients had never heard of U-healthcare services (81.1%); however, after explaining the concept, 71.1% of participants responded that they would use the service if it was provided. Despite their willingness, participants were concerned about technical difficulty in using the service (26.3%) as well as the cost of the service (29.8%). CONCLUSION: The current study suggests that more than 70% of diabetic patients are interested in using U-healthcare services. To encourage widespread use, the application program or device of U-healthcare services should be simple, easy to use and affordable while also including a policy for the protection of private information.

Non-linear Analysis of Single Electroencephalography (EEG) for Sleep-Related Healthcare Applications / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: Soft-computing techniques are commonly used to detect medical phenomena and to help with clinical diagnoses and treatment. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the single electroencephalography (EEG) signal with the chaotic methods in order to identify the sleep stages. METHODS: Data acquisition (polysomnography) was performed on four healthy young adults (all males with a mean age of 27.5 years). The evaluated algorithm was designed with a correlation dimension and Lyapunov's exponent using a single EEG signal that detects differences in chaotic characteristics. RESULTS: The change of the correlation dimension and the largest Lyapunov exponent over the whole night sleep EEG was performed. The results show that the correlation dimension and largest Lyapunov exponent decreased from light sleep to deep sleep and they increased during the rapid eye movement stage. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that chaotic analysis may be a useful adjunct to linear (spectral) analysis for identifying sleep stages. The single EEG based nonlinear analysis is suitable for u-healthcare applications for monitoring sleep.

Legislation Direction for Health Information Privacy in the Telemedicine Era / 대한의료정보학회지

The Korean law on medicine was amended in 2003 to introduce new provisions for telemedicine, electronic medical record, and electronic prescription. However, this has not satisfied the realities of the increased demand on medical services and related technology development, resulting in calls for a legislative amendment. In this regard, recent active promotion projects and the advance notice proposing a new amendment by the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs have raised the need for active discussions on telemedicine because the current law on medicine and its amendment do not adequately address the individual privacy protection aspect in the telemedicine environment. In this regard, this study examines current domestic and foreign legal systems on telemedicine and privacy protection, drawing and reviewing subjects to be discussed for individual privacy protection in telemedicine, and proposes plans that may improve Korea's legal system. The domestic and foreign literature on telemedicine and privacy protection was reviewed, recent legislations on telemedicine and views of interest groups were considered, and expert opinions were collected. In addition, the main discussions on privacy protection in telemedicine were identified and reviewed, including information ownership, the scope of privacy protection, the right to review and request correction, and privacy protection matters related to foreign patients. The recent amendment to tele medicine contains a provision only on penalties for privacy protection violations. The main discussions in this study on privacy protection are expected to be reflected in future amendments to enforcement rules and sub-ordinances such as the enforcement ordinance.

Usability of COPD u-Healthcare Services: A from Patient Experience Perspective / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: This study determines the usability of the experimental u-Healthcare services program by examining the prior experience of COPD patients. METHODS: A qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews were conducted. A total of eight COPD patients with prior experience in u-Healthcare services were interviewed between August 12, 2009 and September 10, 2009. RESULTS: The participants were asked open questions on u-Healthcare services, including their general experience, major attributes, service expectations, future usage intentions, and education and training needs. The participants were also asked to indicate current healthcare inconveniences that u-Healthcare services might solve. CONCLUSION: The results of this study based on patient experience suggest the potential viability of u-Healthcare services.