Yesterday at 8:00 PM • Modified yesterday at 8:29 PM
Smart cameras that monitor your heart rate or breathing. At the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven they are developing a technique to better monitor patients after open heart surgery. Artificial intelligence (AI) can also predict whether someone will develop heart problems. “Groundbreaking,” say the researchers.
Three small cameras are pointed at a bed. The patient is monitored with special software. For example, very small changes in the color of your skin can measure your blood pressure using AI. An algorithm can predict risks and even recognizes patterns of conditions.
This study concerns patients recovering from open heart surgery. “This gives us a better understanding of how they are doing. You may be able to send patients home earlier or offer more care if things are going badly,” says professor of cardiology Lukas Dekker, who is leading the research.
Freedom
Patients can move more freely. Lukas: “You no longer need wires or plasters. It also costs very little: they are simple cameras.”
It will probably be less work for nurses in the future: you do not have to keep taking or checking all kinds of measurements. “You really have time to sit next to the patient more often and ask how things are going,” nurse Claudia Basten dreams out loud. “That should be given much more time.”
Does she fear for her job? “No, the computer cannot take over the care we can provide.” The researchers emphasize that it should absolutely not be a cutback, but an improvement in the quality of care.
Liège
A camera pointed at your bed doesn’t sound very private. Certainly not when you want to change clothes or when family comes to visit. The researchers have also thought about that. “If you pull this string, a shutter will open in front of the camera.”
“The cameras only record parts of the body that are necessary to measure vital functions,” the hospital emphasizes. “It is never about recognizable faces or clear characteristics of a person.” The images are not saved. They are also quite grainy and deliberately have a somewhat lower resolution.
You can’t just come across the cameras yet. It’s really about an investigation. When does it actually happen? Lukas: “It will take a number of years before we can use this product on a large scale.”
