PRESSURE project
Remote monitoring with healthcare still close by
The healthcare of tomorrow begins at home. Through the e/MTIC project PRESSURE, healthcare institutions, universities, companies and startups are working together on innovative home monitoring solutions that allow patients to recover safely in their own environment. Smart sensors, digital connections and hybrid care pathways quite literally bring healthcare to the patient鈥檚 home.
Care beyond the hospital walls
The future of healthcare no longer takes place solely within the hospital. More and more patients are being treated at home, in a familiar environment and without compromising quality. PRESSURE demonstrates how technology accelerates this development.
Catharina Hospital, Freesense Solutions, SmartQare, Eindhoven University of Technology and Eurocept Homecare are working together on a major challenge: developing a comfortable, continuous and non-invasive way to measure patients鈥� blood pressure. Their aim is to shift care from the hospital to the home setting without compromising safety or quality.
鈥淭he project is not about one single technology,鈥� says Alex Serrarens of Freesense Solutions. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a chain of innovations that together enable new care pathways.鈥�
Collaboration as the key to success
The strength of PRESSURE lies in the collaboration between a wide range of parties, from medical technology to healthcare providers and researchers. According to Lukas Dekker, cardiologist at Catharina Hospital, this diversity is exactly what is needed to truly change healthcare. 鈥淥nly by working together can you ensure that an innovation actually takes root in practice,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is a real need to keep patients in the hospital for a shorter time, but then we must be certain that they can recover safely at home.鈥�
With smart sensors and digital dashboards, doctors can monitor patients remotely. If something changes in the health of chronically or long-term ill patients, interventions or treatment adjustments can be made immediately鈥攚hile the patient remains in their own environment.
Homecare as a fully-fledged partner
An important link in the project is Eurocept Homecare, an organization specialized in complex care at home. 鈥淢ore and more care can easily be delivered at home,鈥� says Jan-Pieter Izelaar of Eurocept. 鈥淏ut that requires reliable monitoring and close cooperation with the hospital. It鈥檚 new for us to be involved already in the development of the technology, but that is exactly what makes this project so valuable.鈥�
Within PRESSURE, the focus is therefore not only on technology, but also on new ways of working together. Care processes are being redesigned so that home monitoring can seamlessly fit into daily practice.
The user at the center
The PRESSURE project follows a clear design philosophy: technology must serve the people who use it. 鈥淭he patient and the care professional are central,鈥� says Henk Stapert of smartQare. 鈥淒ata must reach the professional securely, simply and reliably, without complicated actions.鈥�
Although patients are only involved to a limited extent in this phase, their input will be crucial in the next step. Izelaar adds: 鈥淣urses are already talking to patients about their experiences and expectations. We use that feedback directly to improve the technology.鈥�
Frans van de Vosse of Eindhoven University of Technology 鈥� School of Medical Physics and Engineering Eindhoven (SMPE/e) also emphasizes the importance of this approach: 鈥淧atients are indispensable especially at the beginning and the end of the development process鈥攆irst in defining the requirements and later in checking whether we meet them.鈥�
From technology to practice
A well-functioning device is not automatically a usable innovation. Implementation in healthcare is often the biggest challenge. 鈥淎 sensor may be technically perfect, but if the data does not properly end up in the electronic patient record, it鈥檚 of little use,鈥� says Dekker. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we pay a lot of attention to integration into the care workflow.鈥�
In addition, it must be demonstrated that the innovation truly adds value. Shorter hospital stays, better outcomes and lower costs are crucial to gaining support within hospitals and from health insurers. Stapert adds: 鈥淭he road from technical validation to standard care is long. You must prove step by step that it works, that it is safe, and that it supports both doctor and patient.鈥�
Learning and innovating
In heart failure, the focus is on treating people with severe heart failure at home using intravenous medication. In endocarditis (an infection of a heart valve), it involves long-term intravenous antibiotic treatment, which currently almost always takes place in the hospital.
What makes PRESSURE unique is that it鈥檚 not about one device, but about a complete care concept. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not just developing a new blood pressure sensor,鈥� says Dekker. 鈥淲e鈥檙e exploring how technology, data and care processes together can form a new care pathway. That is the future.鈥�
Six EngD candidates from different programs (CI and QME) are also working together within the project to connect technology, medicine and care logistics. Van de Vosse: 鈥淲e are training a new generation that understands how technology and healthcare reinforce each other. That is exactly what this sector needs.鈥�
Innovation
In addition to applicability in the digitized care practice, the project is working on at least two further innovations. First, TU Eindhoven, smartQare and FreeSense Solutions are developing new algorithms for blood pressure determination. The innovation lies in the fact that this blood pressure reconstruction is performed using the same sensor datacurrently used to determine heart rate, heart rate variability, oxygen saturation and respiration. The benefit of this combination is that the (home) patient no longer needs to undergo an uncomfortable cuff measurement to determine blood pressure. Furthermore, this innovation enables quasi-continuous blood pressure monitoring.
Second, a new interactive wearable is being developed that, in addition to the mentioned vital signs, can also maintain auditory communication with the (home) patient. This so-called 鈥渂io-hearable鈥� opens up many possibilities for remotely coaching patients in medication intake, performing protocol measurements, completing questionnaires via conversational AI, enabling direct contact during alerts, and supporting overall mental well-being. This innovative bio-hearable has therefore been named 鈥淐areBuddy.鈥�
The next step: testing in practice
In the coming period, the focus will be on testing the technology within two concrete care pathways: heart failure and endocarditis. The goal is to show that patients can go home earlier and safely, without compromising quality of care.
At the same time, work continues on the standardization of data flows, so the solutions can easily be scaled up to other hospitals. Serrarens: 鈥淲e want to show how it works in practice for these two care pathways, so that others can follow.鈥�
PRESSURE is not an endpoint but a beginning. Across the Netherlands and Europe, initiatives around home monitoring and hybrid care are emerging. 鈥淭hat multitude of projects is positive,鈥� concludes Van de Vosse. 鈥淚t shows that we have something valuable in our hands. Technology can truly transform care鈥攂ut only if we do it together.鈥�
More information:
The project PRESSURE is part of the Eindhoven MedTech Innovation Center (e/MTIC) partnership. This project is funded by OPZuid - European program for regional transition-driven innovation.
