wHealth - Transforming Telehealth Services

TL;DR

wHealth is an ensemble-sensing framework that leverages everyday device sensors to improve telehealth service delivery, aiming to enhance elderly healthcare management and facilitate widespread adoption.

Contribution

It introduces a novel ensemble-sensing framework that integrates sensors in everyday devices for seamless telehealth communication and elderly healthcare management.

Findings

Potential for widespread adoption of telehealth services.

Enhanced communication between patients and clinicians.

Design addresses key barriers to telehealth implementation.

Abstract

A worldwide increase in proportions of older people in the population poses the challenge of managing their increasing healthcare needs within limited resources. To achieve this many countries are interested in adopting telehealth technology. Several shortcomings of state-of-the-art telehealth technology constrain widespread adoption of telehealth services. We present an ensemble-sensing framework - wHealth (short form of wireless health) for effective delivery of telehealth services. It extracts personal health information using sensors embedded in everyday devices and allows effective and seamless communication between patients and clinicians. Due to the non-stigmatizing design, ease of maintenance, simplistic interaction and seamless intervention, our wHealth platform has the potential to enable widespread adoption of telehealth services for managing elderly healthcare. We discuss the key barriers and potential solutions to make the wHealth platform a reality.