TY - JOUR
T1 - U-Healthcare Center Service in Busan City, South Korea
T2 - An Empirical Analysis and the Results of 1 Year of Service
AU - Bravo Santisteban, Ramiro D.
AU - Youm, Sekyoung
AU - Park, Seung Hun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2015, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2015.
PY - 2015/10/1
Y1 - 2015/10/1
N2 - Introduction: Studies have demonstrated that technological innovation is vital for prosperous economies, and greater technological innovation leads to improved public health indicators. The South Korean government has implemented policies to provide city services using information communication technologies, and ubiquitous healthcare (u-healthcare) wellness is one of these. This article presents the effects of using a u-healthcare center model that proves self-healthcare monitoring can work for the general population. Materials and Methods: The u-healthcare center has provided service to the public since April 2013. It is equipped with medical devices that evaluate physiological parameters such as weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), pulse rate (PR), and body fat (BF). This article focuses on the analysis of BMI, BP, PR, and BF parameters. Results: Health test results from 12,766 voluntary patients of the u-healthcare center were analyzed during a 1-year period. The four health parameters from each of the four seasons were analyzed and compared, showing statistically significant seasonal differences. A Duncan's post hoc analysis showed that BMI did not differ between spring and summer, whereas BP differed throughout all seasons. Participation of females was higher compared with males, and men's average BMI was statistically higher than that of the women. Some additional significant findings for all participants were as follows: 48.8% scored normal in BMI, 31.7% scored normal-controlled in BP, 90.7% scored normal in PR, and 24.8% scored normal in BF. A survey showed that 96.4% found the u-healthcare center to be generally helpful, and 95.7% responded that they would recommend it. Conclusions: Implementation of u-healthcare projects provides a new public service toward evaluating health parameters, providing historical health information access, promoting self-monitoring, and motivating users to be more aware of their own health status.
AB - Introduction: Studies have demonstrated that technological innovation is vital for prosperous economies, and greater technological innovation leads to improved public health indicators. The South Korean government has implemented policies to provide city services using information communication technologies, and ubiquitous healthcare (u-healthcare) wellness is one of these. This article presents the effects of using a u-healthcare center model that proves self-healthcare monitoring can work for the general population. Materials and Methods: The u-healthcare center has provided service to the public since April 2013. It is equipped with medical devices that evaluate physiological parameters such as weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), pulse rate (PR), and body fat (BF). This article focuses on the analysis of BMI, BP, PR, and BF parameters. Results: Health test results from 12,766 voluntary patients of the u-healthcare center were analyzed during a 1-year period. The four health parameters from each of the four seasons were analyzed and compared, showing statistically significant seasonal differences. A Duncan's post hoc analysis showed that BMI did not differ between spring and summer, whereas BP differed throughout all seasons. Participation of females was higher compared with males, and men's average BMI was statistically higher than that of the women. Some additional significant findings for all participants were as follows: 48.8% scored normal in BMI, 31.7% scored normal-controlled in BP, 90.7% scored normal in PR, and 24.8% scored normal in BF. A survey showed that 96.4% found the u-healthcare center to be generally helpful, and 95.7% responded that they would recommend it. Conclusions: Implementation of u-healthcare projects provides a new public service toward evaluating health parameters, providing historical health information access, promoting self-monitoring, and motivating users to be more aware of their own health status.
KW - health information technology
KW - healthcare technology
KW - self-healthcare
KW - South Korea
KW - U-City
KW - ubiquitous healthcare
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84945198389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/tmj.2014.0216
DO - 10.1089/tmj.2014.0216
M3 - Article
C2 - 26086067
AN - SCOPUS:84945198389
SN - 1530-5627
VL - 21
SP - 774
EP - 781
JO - Telemedicine and e-Health
JF - Telemedicine and e-Health
IS - 10
ER -