Further Information
The virtual ward project in the UK aims to revolutionise community-based remote patient monitoring for high-risk patients. Currently, NHS trusts provide patients in the community with smartphones (for communication purposes) and vital signs monitoring equipment (such as BP cuffs and oxygen saturation probes). Apart from the initial capital cost of purchasing the equipment, the trusts incur additional costs for logistics (delivering equipment to and from patients) and sterilisation processes. But what if the smartphone itself could capture vital signs? The algorithm development process would utilise open-source code to extract photoplethysmogram (PPG) waveforms from video pixels captured through the "finger-on-camera" technique. The challenge lies in accurately extracting vital signs information from these PPG waveforms.