SECA - Partnership for Heart
Research Project in Telemedicine
In Germany, approximately 1.5 million people suffer from chronic cardiac insufficiency. Very often, the insidious symptoms are recognised too late, leading to complications and hospitalisation. ‘Partnership for the Heart‘ is a joint project by science, industry and healthcare system led by the Berlin Charité and aiming to develop a telemedical early warning system. The system monitors patients 7/24 at home and a mini-computer records all therapy-relevant vital parameters.
Body weight is an important risk indicator. A sudden increase in body weight for example may indicate beginning water retention in the body. Seca designed scales for this project based on the floor scale seca 867. An integrated RS232 interface and a BlueTooth module allow smooth transmission of the values to the Charité’s telemedical centres or the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart. Blood pressure and ECG are determined in a similar way.
Specialist physicians monitor the values around the clock and initiate appropriate actions when needed – they inform the patient and the family physician or the emergency medical service.
Since the telemedical early warning system is considered a viable alternative to current options it is being supported by the German Ministry of Economics. The government contributes 5 mio. EUR, the same amount is made available by the industry partners.
Further information:
www.partnership-for-the-heart.de
This article was published on 09/01/2007