The importance of at-home telemonitoring of vital signs for patients with chronic conditions

In this paper we summarize the results of the CSIRO National Telehealth Project, review the level of user acceptance and patient compliance with the telemonitoring regime, and discuss the unique characteristic of the telemonitoring system selected, with respect to patient centric user interfaces, novel data acquisition methods and the ability to record, store and review all graphical traces remotely. We hypothesize that these features are essential to enhance the diagnostic capabilities of the care coordinators, ensure a high level of patient compliance and improve the quality of the measurements as well as improve patient self-management.