What Is a Smart Medical Home?

The Smart Medical Home is the result of work across several disciplines at the University of Rochester, New York. Housed at the Center for Future Health, the home showcases medical technology in a home setting. The Smart Medical Home at first glance looks like a regular apartment with a dining room, living room, bedroom and kitchen. However, upon closer inspection, you can see the adjoining room filled with high-tech computers and gadgets that are meant to help us live a healthier and happier future.

Pioneering the Way

• The intention behind the University's Smart Medical Home was to change the way people approach their health. This cross-disciplinary effort combines experts in a wide range of disciplines from engineering, computer scientists, social scientists, dermatologists and physicians. The Center for Future Health is also working with both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Those two universities are also working on their own versions of a smart home.

Overall Goal

• The Center for Future Health's goal is to create a fully integrated Personal Health System so that all technology is integrated and works efficiently. This will allow consumers to maintain their health, detect diseases and manage current illnesses all within their own home. Data can be collected within the home itself 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help doctors and hospitals. It will be possible to measure traditional vital signs such as blood pressure and pulse as well as new "vital signs" such as sleep patterns, rehabilitation patterns and behavior patterns.

Technology

• Technology utilized in this futuristic home includes infrared sensors, computers, biosensors and video cameras. There is a scanning system behind a mirror that can take three-dimensional images of your skin and check for features such as moles. A gait monitor is being developed to track the way residents walk. This could indicate the development of diseases such as Parkinson's at an early stage, aiding with treatment and prevention.

Chester the Pill

• A good demonstration of what this technology can accomplish is "Chester the Pill." Chester is a computer-generated icon that functions as your own personal medical advisor. He can dispense information about medications, side effects and other medical issues. This technology can discuss medical information with residents in real time utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and speech-recognition software.

Smart Bandage

• Another technology being developed is a "smart" bandage that can detect the presence of bacteria on your skin. Scientists are now determining if the same technology can be utilized to detect pathogens on food packaging or cutting boards. The bandage looks just like a normal bandage but within a minute or two of being placed on a wound can tell a person if he has one of any top five harmful bacterium in his wound.