- To be trapped in a roller-coaster That ́s how some of the patients are describing the situa- tion of living with heart failure. To be stuck in their home not knowing if they will have to seek care today and not knowing if they will have the energy to attend that birth- day party later this week.Each year 2-3% of the Swedish population are diagnosed with heart failure, which results in 30,000 new individu- als with the disorder. Cardiovascular disease is rapidly in- creasing in the world and before 2030, people with heart failure will increased by 100%. Our improved living condi- tions and better health have allowed us to grow older and made us more dependent on other types of care, care at home. Today the patients are only looking for changes in weight and if they have excessive water in their body. What if we could see changes in values before they develop in to symptoms? We could then use a smaller dosage of medicine and minimize the risk of damaging other organs.During my work I have met with patients, husbands, wives and care givers to gain a better insight and understanding of the different stakeholders problems. The common factor is the insufficient methods for monitoring that are being used today, which aren’t optimal for patients, relatives or care givers.That led me to look at non-invasive testing methods (PPG), which would make it possible to see a trend of a patients health. Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a simple and low-cost optical technique that can be used to detect blood volume changes in the microvascular bed of tissue. PPG is most often employed non-invasively and operates at a red or a near infrared wavelength due to its properties to permeate tissue. By sending out different wavelengths and recorde how much is transmit- ted, scattered and absorb, the sensor can measure levels in the blood. When the station is done with the test it will send the result automatically to “Mina vårdkontakter” which will be accessible for both care givers and the patient. The profile will provide the patients with test results and a first contact holding advice for immediate and awaiting care. This will educate the patients and lead to them gaining a better understanding of their current health situation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-73464 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Hedlund, Maja |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen Designhögskolan |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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