What problems are you trying to solve?

Without continuous monitoring, patients with cardiovascular diseases could face risks of delayed recovery and deterioration that would require readmission. QOCA ecg aims to alleviate these problems by providing a smart IoMT solution that enables patients to be monitored remotely throughout extended periods of time and empowers the care team to provide continuous cardiac care with streamlined integration, fast deployment, and cost-effective management, and return on investment.

Why is the problem critically chosen?

The National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) Telehealth Center* has been looking for an efficient and scalable way to monitor patients continuously even after they are discharged. For those with cardiovascular diseases such as CHF (congestive heart failure), it is critical to keep track of their vital signs such as ECG over a sustained period of time for more thorough evaluation with automated analysis and reporting.

It has been difficult to achieve this without sacrificing the comfort and convenience of patients and within manageable costs. QOCA ecg provides the opportunity to leverage an AI-enabled IoMT solution that is user-friendly and cost-effective to solve the challenge of providing continuous cardiac care.

* NTU Telehealth Center: https://www.ntuh.gov.tw/telehealth/Index.action?l=en_US

What technologies are applied to solve the problem?

  • IoMT – Bluetooth-enabled and lightweight single-lead wearable ECG sensor capable of up to 14 days of data collection per charge
  • AI-enabled automation of ECG data analysis
  • Real-time dashboard for simultaneous patients monitoring

*Devices provided are adjustable as required by care needs.

Any particular areas of improvement?

QOCA ecg* provides a suite of IoMT sensor, a mobile APP, and tools for AI-enabled collection, analysis, and management of patient ECG data. Its easy-to-use wearable ECG sensor enables continuous monitoring for up to 14 days. When patients return to the hospital after the two-week period, the ECG data can be automatically analyzed with its included analysis tool to generate reports for evaluation and care recommendation. Additionally, at times of sudden discomfort, the IoMT sensor can also transmit real-time data via mobile APP for immediate evaluation by the remote care team. 

It means very significant improvement for the care quality of cardiovascular disease patients with much more data to provide precise evaluation and continuous monitoring while keeping the patients at the comfort of their homes. Also with AI-enabled automation for ECG data analysis, it significantly reduces the cost and time of the care team so they can focus more on patient recommendations and making expedited return to their normal life possible.

* QOCA ecg: http://www.qoca.net/product.php?id=6

What have you learned and how would the technology advancement potentially or practically help?

By leveraging the AI-enabled QOCA ecg smart IoMT solution, hospitals such as the National Taiwan University Hospital can significantly enhance the care quality and recovery experience of cardiovascular disease patients. It was shown possible even with limited resources as the solution was designed with simplicity and automation in mind for easy adoption, deployment, and management.

IoMT makes it feasible to collect data over sufficiently long enough periods for more thorough evaluation and reference for future diagnosis. The way that it could improve the cardiac care model would translate into better patient outcomes and reduced costs for cardiovascular disease patients over time.

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