Abstract
Over 30% of the people between the ages of 35 and 65 years
old have been diagnosed with a cardiovascular disease (CVD). These
diseases, when left untreated, lead to cardiac events such as heart
attack, bypass surgery, angioplasty, and many others. After these
events, rehabilitation is paramount. If a patient takes all of his or
her prescribed medication and makes recommended lifestyle changes the
individual will not only promote regression of his or her disease, the
patient will decrease his or her chances dying as a result of future
cardiovascular problems by 20-30% according to the ACSM’s
Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.
Unfortunately, only 20% the patients who could benefit
from cardiovascular rehabilitation participate. A study published in
1996 cited many reasons for this lack of participation. Among the most
common reasons for lack of participation among patients were: lack of
knowledge, lack of motivation, and lack of access to care. Larger
barriers to participation occurred in the medical community; these
included: lack of resources and facilities, time and economic
constraints, poor communication between specialty and primary care
providers, and lack of policies and standards.
The primary objective of the P3C Communicator is to
motivate individuals with cardiovascular diseases to continue in
taking a proactive approach to improving their well-being. We will
achieve this objective by providing users with analysis of their heart
rate and blood pressure. The P3C Communicator will take automatic
readings of the user's blood pressure and heart rate through the use
of a blood pressure/heart rate monitor. The data will then be sent to
our central server for analysis. The server will respond to the P3C
docking station with varied messages. If the user is doing well, the
docking station will display a positive message. If the user is
possibly having problems, the docking station will display a warning
or alert. The goal of the P3C Communicator is to motivate an
individual to maintain an exercise regiment that suits him or her,
while making sure that the user is not pushing his or her heart past a
safe level. |
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