A sensor-enhanced health information system to support automatically controlled exercise training of COPD patients

For an improvement of the quality of life for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) we developed a concept and prototype of a sensor-enhanced health information system. This system includes a component that is monitoring the rehabilitation training and automatically controls the target load for the exercise on the basis of his or her vital data. The system also detects potentially critical health states and communicates alarms to external users. The component interacts with a personal electronic health record (PHR) that provides additional health related information for the decision making process, as feedback to the user and as an opportunity for physicians to optimize the users exercise plan. The PHR uses current medical informatics standards to store and transmit training data to health care professionals and to provide a maximum of interoperability with their information systems. We have integrated these components in a service oriented platform design that is located in the home environment of the user.