We are in the age of technology and it offers many ways to improve our day to day life - and especially our health. Many were the technological advances for medicine; not only in the creation of medicines and new devices for exams, but also in the care and monitoring of patients. One such innovation is remote patient monitoring. In addition to having a low cost, another advantage is the fact of reducing the number of hospitalizations. Thus, people with hypertension, diabetes and other pathologies can have a better quality of life. For monitoring to occur, patients need to wear a type of wristband or any other technological device that fits as a garment. It is all the time connected to the internet and thus can transmit important patient data to the system in real time.

Remote patient monitoring

Remote monitoring uses digital technologies to collect health-related data from individuals in a particular location (such as a patient's home) and transmit them electronically to healthcare professionals who will review and provide the necessary recommendations. This assistance is mainly used in scenarios where the patient is with reduced mobility, unable to move to large centres, or in rehabilitation, homecare and / or rear. In these locations most of the time there are no expert medical practitioners readily available, and in the case of home care for example, the data are often fragmented and lost amid so many papers filled daily.

To facilitate access to this information, patient-connected mobile devices are used to check vital signs, movement patterns, drop alerts, etc. There are several devices that can be used non-invasively and that help in the diagnosis of certain clinical conditions at a distance. For example, digital stethoscopes now have the ability to transmit in real time all the nuances of the heartbeat to the remote doctor. In addition, multifunctional cameras allow the sharp evaluation of structures such as the skin, eye fundus, oropharynx and pupils. Generally, these cameras can be integrated into the evaluation platform, always maintaining the security of the data collected. The performance of tests such as continuous holter, continuous electroencephalogram. The main benefit of this system is to detect in real time critical changes in vital signs, and other patterns of clinical importance such as movement, sleep pattern, and fall / impact sensors, leading to a faster response to information on changes in vital signs related to the day-to-day activities of the patient.

With the current technology, we are still very vulnerable to cyber-attacks, and the storage of confidential medical information can be violated by hackers with vested interests. To avoid this, you need to be careful with the platform used, with national and international validations for use in the medical area. In addition, despite mobile digital technology, and the evolution of Remote patient monitoring devices, there is in the population of patients and clinicians the interest or even the ease of adapting to the new available interaction processes. The difficulty in dealing with mobile technology, still observed in the majority of the elderly, makes communication with the remote health professional even more difficult, even with previous training.