Decision support for the remote management of chronic patients

Abstract

Chronic diseases may cause major limitations in patients' daily living due to acute or deterioration events, which can happen more or less frequently and, often, cannot be totally relieved, causing a worsening of patients' conditions. In the last years, a strong effort is being spent in the development of intelligent ICT applications for patients' telemonitoring, aimed at maximizing the quality of life of chronic patients by means of a regular collection of information about their status and actions in a long-stay setting. In this paper, a knowledge based decision support system is presented, which is aimed at aiding clinical professionals in managing chronic patients on a daily basis, by assessing their current status, helping face their worsening conditions, and preventing their exacerbation events. © 2012 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.