Patient Monitoring by Mobile Phone

Italian researchers have developed a new monitoring system that allows doctors to check on newly discharged hospital patients via their mobile phones.

Keeping updated on the condition of patients after they have left the hospital can help doctors to "detect patient suffering earlier and to activate a well-timed intervention,” according to Reply-planeT (Milan, Italy), a firm that has developed a wireless monitoring system for just that purpose. The system is designed to reduce the need to use printed questionnaires. Instead, doctors can send short questionnaires to the mobile phones of patients, who can answer the questions using their phone keypad. The results are collated automatically and presented to doctors on a secure web page.

Researchers from Reply-planeT made a survey of 97 cancer patients at the National Cancer Institute in Milan, asking them to answer 10 questions about the state of their health, using their mobile phone. All who attempted to complete the survey did so successfully with their mobile phone, confirming the user-friendliness of the system. However, 42% refused to participate, mostly due to inexperience with mobile phones.

"We are currently introducing modifications aimed at improving the system,” wrote the researchers. "The next steps are to demonstrate the system's usefulness for patients and/or providers, and to demonstrate provider acceptance and use of the system.” Their article on the system was published in the June 15, 2004, issue of the online publisher, BioMed Central.




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