An hardware/software system for the healthcare sector
OMNIACARE is a hardware/software system designed for the social welfare and healthcare. It provides tools to both operators providing assistance and the patients. The main objective is to improve the quality of life for those who need special attention in the daily activities and those who, day by day, take care of them.
The system is aimed to users who do not suffer from serious diseases, have discrete mobility capabilities and are self-sufficient in daily activities, but who may find themselves in difficult situations and may need support.
To promote the independence of vulnerable people and to help them having an independent life, as long as possible in their own home, the system makes use of advanced technologies that allow to perform a continuous monitoring of the health state of the patients. Thanks to the system, the caregivers are able to provide remote assistance, checking the patient’s situation, receiving alerts in case of critical situations and enabling them to communicate directly with patients.
The Omniacare system is made in a modular way in which each element carries out certain specific functions, so that the system can adapt itself to different situations and environments in a dynamic manner. It is therefore possible to implement a higher or lower number of features, using or discarding specific elements without compromising in any way the overall operation of the system.
This architecture is therefore open to potential future developments by adding new modules.
It is composed by the following elements:
• Central server
• Home server
• Systems for vital signs capturing
• Webcam
• Smartphone (O.S. Android)
The central server is the main element of the system. It contains the profiles of the individual users, the configuration settings of the various devices and the data received from the sensors and from the handheld devices. It also provides the web interface to access the system, to which the operators use to connect and carry out their activities. To avoid local changes in the configuration of the devices due to the changing needs of the user, all the configuration and parameterisation of the sensors and the handheld devices has been implemented on the central server and can be configured by the caregivers when needed, from remote. The home server and the handheld devices perform periodic synchronisations with the central server to keep the configuration aligned. The home server in turn sends instructions to the sensors, depending on the case, for a possible change of their configuration.
The central server has been implemented using the OMNIAPLACE platform, inheriting its native functionalities:
• structuring information in hierarchical form
• a WEB-based user interface
• browsing functionalities and advanced search of information
• data exporting
• management of user privileges in a very granular way
• events management
• traceability of information
The home server has the purpose of interfacing itself with different detection devices using the appropriate communication protocols. It also performs a preliminary analysis of the data and sends it to the central server according to the rules and the periodicities defined on the central server. It perform an analysis of the data collected and in case of anomalies it sends a request of an alert to the central server. It does not require any interaction with the user and therefore is not equipped with graphical interface.
The camera is connected through a Wifi router to the Internet. It allows the visual evaluation of the situation of the elderly in the case of an alert condition.
The smartphone communicates directly with the central server through its Web Services. It performs the functions of a display of reminders and alerts, telephone with a simplified navigation and GPS tracking of the assisted, if the localisation is needed , when the patient is outdoor.
The system allows its access through Internet by a web interface, which resides on the central server. There are two different categories of users, characterised by different access permissions to information and feature sets.
The tutors, or caregivers, have access to data about their patients and the sensor outputs. They can also configure the devices provided to each patient.
The administrators are users who have the full access to the system, so they can create the login credentials and configure all the system parameters