Imec and KU Leuven collaborate on innovations for psychiatry
Imec and the University Psychiatric Center of the KU Leuven have announced a collaboration on solutions for remotely tracking the mental state of patients. They plan to focus on innovations containing smart technology and algorithms, which should contribute to improving the comfort of living for the patients.
A significant part of psychiatric care is moving from the hospital to the home, from curative to preventive and from a collective approach to a more individual one. Wearables could accelerate this evolution. They can be used to monitor patients from a distance.
There are many useful parameters to measure, like heart rate, breathing and skin conductance, that reflect the amount of stress a patient is experiencing, as well as movement, motivity and sleep. By recognizing the signals that predict sickness or crisis it’s possible to provide feedback to the patient and send a caregiver in time.
Some tools already exist but none of them have solid scientific research behind them. The Leuven combination can make this happen. Imec is an experienced development center for hardware and nano-electronics, data mining and data processing. The academic psychiatric center houses numerous medical experts and experience in psychiatric care.
Source: bit-chips.nl
Picture credits: imec
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