Home Healthcare Support

Developed in conjunction with the New England Medical Center in Boston, the Home Health Care Support System is designed to empower and support people with chronic disease who are being treated at home rather than in a hospital. Through the system, patients can access information which complements and enhances what they hear from their physicians, hospital staff or social workers. The system supports a broad range of information services, provides consultation and symptom analysis and demonstrates medical procedures through video. It supports emotional as well as information needs, giving patients the ability to communicate with their healthcare providers and caretakers, as well as with their patient peers. The user interface is designed for a broad range of users including those who can't type or have little computer experience. It is easy to navigate using touch, and supports a variety of task-appropriate media including audio and video. The system initiates a new style of interaction between healthcare providers and their patients who need long term, home healthcare services.

The following pictures show the home menu of the Home Health Care Support System, and a user beginning instruction on a procedure to be performed at home.

Home Menu of Home Healthcare Support System 25 KB image

From the Home Screen (shown above) patients or caretakers may choose to

report problems to their medical providers as they occur
browse the medical library
track personally meaningful medical events
communicate with providers or peers

Patients with cancer often have a catheter implanted in their chest to ease administration of chemotherapy and frequent blood testing. Because the end of the catheter is externalized, the site needs regular, sterilized cleaning to prevent infection.

User interacting with the system

Here a user interacts with the system to learn how to do this himself. Full motion video instruction lets him step through the procedure at his own pace, providing supplementary information as needed if he has additional questions.

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