Towards the design of a generic systems architecture for remote patient monitoring.

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) of vital signs offers the potential to provide high quality care to elderly and chronically ill people in their home environment, while making effective use of healthcare resources. However, among other factors, the lack of technical, clinical and organisational interoperability of RPM systems has hindered integration into mainstream healthcare. This research offers work towards defining stakeholders and their requirements for the design of a generic systems architecture that fits various types of remote patient monitoring and can be deployed in different healthcare systems. Requirements are specified not only for technical compatibility with other systems, but also for clinical and organizational compatibility with healthcare professionals' routines and power structures.