Panel discussion - Gabor Kiss, Obuda University, Hungary

1. USING SMARTPHONES IN HEALTHCARE AND TO
SAVE LIVES
Gabor Kiss
University Obuda
kiss.gabor@bgk.uni-obuda.hu

2. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays the use of smartphones gets more and more
widespread in the whole world.

3. INTRODUCTION
• Smartphones today are provided with lots of knowledge and
due to their operating systems they can easily be extended
with new functions.
• They are usually supplied with GPS receivers, gyroscopes
and cameras and they also have access to the Internet.
These attributes have aroused the interest in how people could
use a smartphone nowadays to satisfy the need that appears
more and more often that is to live a healthier life.
Since people have such appliances with them all the time, they
should exploit the opportunities hidden in them.
What about the fields in which these functions could be made a
good use of once they have been built in smartphones?

4. A HEALTHIER LIFE
• Proper nutrition
• Regular fluid intake
• Exercise

5. Proper nutrition
People should try to intake just as much food and drink as they
need at that very moment to preserve their life cycles.
People should simply compensate for the energy they have
used since their previous meals.
It certainly depends on what types of activities they have
performed (sports, physical work, sitting while
working, sleeping… etc.) and also how much energy their
bodies basically need to sustain the biological processes
(individual value).
How could smartphones help moderation?

6. Proper nutrition
The smartphone should also know how many calories people
need.
It could count it on the basis of their weight, percentage of
bodily fat, age, sex, height and it also has to take into
consideration how much they actually move and what type of
work they do.
Some of the values can be measured and indicated but it is
more difficult to calculate the daily motion.
To do so, people need the help of their phones.
They could tell how many minutes it took them to walk to
work, how much time they have spent standing, sitting, doing
sports, sleeping… etc.
On the basis of these figures they could reckon how much
energy intake they will need.

7. Proper nutrition
A simple application needs the data of the types of the
movements and the time spent doing them.
On the basis of these data a smartphone could count the
amount of calories users need.
Then the types of food that the users want to have could be
named or selected from a list and the application could count
how many gramms of it they can consume to compensate for
the energy used.

8. Proper nutrition

9. Proper nutrition

10. Proper nutrition
In a complex application smartphones could get to know when
their users were jogging, walking, travelling and standing on the
basis of the GPS co-ordinates and the measured speed and
they could calculate the time spent relaxing with the help of a
gyroscope (it can recognize the act of going to bed or sitting
down).
If the GPS co-ordinates are changing quickly but they are not
connected to the movements of the body, people are travelling
and so they need just a basic amount of calories to sustain their
biological processes.

11. Proper nutrition
Portable sensors that are able to communicate wireless could
provide further data about the momentary state of health and
need for fluid and calories.
After the evaluation of this data smartphones could count
people’s calorific needs between two meals quite reliably.
Now people should only get to know how much they should eat
of what they want.
With the help of their cameras these phones could even make
an attempt to recognize the type of the given food and could
indicate the calorific needs for it.
For instance when a user starts eating some Milanese
macaroni, his phone either recognizes what type of food he has
in front of him or he could select it from a list.

12. Proper nutrition
What smartphone sets could also assist their users with is to
recognize how much food they have already had, how many
times they have lifted their forks to their mouths and how much
food they have put on their forks.
The appliances could give a sign that their users have had
enough and should put down their
spoons, knives, forks, chopsticks… etc.
They should stop eating because they would only intake
superfluous calories that their bodies can not make use of.
The recognition of the types of food and the measurement of
the calories that users need could be processed automatically.

13. Regular fluid intake
In this rushing world people fail to take the sufficient amount of
liquid most of the time.
They consume 1.5-2 litres of fluid instead of the recommended
3-4 litres.
As it has already been discussed in connection with food
intake, smartphones could recognize how much and what type
of drink their users have had and could give signals when they
have reached the sufficient amount and also warn them if they
have not had enough to drink that day.

14. Regular fluid intake
A more simple method is sensory monitoring.
This application would be more user-friendly.
Smartphone users have to make a connection between their
phones and the sensors to obtain the measured values of the
different sensors.
Since the activity depends on how much fluid a user needs, a
portable sensor that could communicate wireless could
measure the amount of liquid leaving his body through his skin
and the apparatus could modify the required amount with
regard to this data.

15. Regular fluid intake
The composition of people’s blood could also be constantly
checked with the help of various sensors.
If their blood is not diluted enough, there is not enough liquid in
their bodies.
Having evaluated the values of the sensors smartphone sets
could again give signals in time to compensate for the lost
amount of liquid by continuously checking the values measured
by the sensors.

16. Exercise
Muscles and bones require burdening so that they will not
become weak; their ’maintenance’ is indispensable since the
muscles hold and move the bones.
The built in sensors (GPS receivers and gyroscopes) make it
possible for smartphones to recognize the kind of activity their
users perform, for instance walking, jogging, cycling, working
out in the gym… etc.
Certainly smartphone users could also select the type of activity
they are about to start.
In this case they should only pay attention to the time spent
doing sports, so that they could calculate when their phone sets
should signal to them to stop on the basis of an average energy
need and muscle work.

17. Exercise
When the users have indicated or their smartphones have
recognized the kind of activity the users are performing, the
appliances could calculate how much time their users should
spend doing this type of exercise to keep the given muscles in
good condition on the basis of their individual data
(weight, height, age, sex, percentage of bodily fat… etc).

18. Exercise
Naturally, it is not enough to keep muscles and bones in a good
condition.
People have to pay attention to the fact that they need cardio-
trainings to be inserted in their daily routines since they need to
train their hearts, too.
But here they have to make sure that they decrease the burden
gradually once they have reached their maximum individual
pulse rates during a training session.
The maximum heart rate depends on age, sex, the type of
activity (eg.
jogging, swimming, cycling…etc.), weight, percentage of bodily
fat and height.

19. Exercise
The maximum pulse rate to which burden can be increased and
also the time span of burden depend on how trained people
are.
An endurance test can determine the maximum individual pulse
rate and it can also be found out with the help of a
sphygmograph during a training session.
When a phone user has achieved his maximum pulse rate, he
has to decrease the burden of the heart and so gradually
decrease the pulse rate, otherwise it can lead to
indisposition, unconsciousness or incidentally to death.

20. Exercise
It is important to establish the maximum pulse rates for
sportspeople as well as for everyday people and it is vital to
signal when to stop working out by decreasing the burden
gradually.
The problem could be solved if the smartphone users’ sets are
attached to sphygmographs and if the individual maximum
pulse rates are set in the phones.
The appliances could give signals when the given values are
reached and they also display information concerning the
degree and the process of decreasing the burden.

21. Exercise
The bodies of people suffering from heart disease can be
burdened with the 60-80% of their maximum pulse rates.
These values are determined on a scale and doctors can
inform their patients of them once their diseases have been
recognized.
In this case the modified values have to be set in the
smartphone sets.

22. DISEASE
At the topic of proper nutrition it has already been discussed
how a smartphone could determine the proper quantity of food
named by its user or recognized by itself so that the phone user
will not intake any superfluous calories.
He can even attempt to lose some weight with its help.
The composition of nutriments and also their quantity can differ
in case of various diseases.

23. DISEASE
Nephropathic patients can intake less protein than healthy
people.
Smartphones could even help them with choosing the right food
by displaying them in a list that shows which food contains the
right amount of or rate of protein; the phones could also
determine the quantity to be taken on the basis of the
measured values mentioned before (necessary calory intake).

24. DISEASE
People suffering from hepatopathiaor kidney disease, bilious
complaint or pancreatic disease can eat only low-fat and
unseasoned food.
Smartphone users could take a picture of the chosen food and
the appliances could compare the pictures with other pictures in
the database on the Internet.
When the phones have recognized the types of the food, they
could analyse the ingredients and could make signals if the
food is not healthy for the users.

25. DISEASE
People suffering from diabetes are obliged to intake a
decreased amount of carbohydrate.
It is very important for them to decide upon the amount of
carbohydrate on the basis of what type of activity they will be
doing, for instance they have to take more carbohydrate before
doing sports.
A smartphone appliance could again assist its user since he
could tell the phone what type of activity he would like to
perform and for how long and also how much insulin he usually
has to take.
On the basis of all these information the amount of
carbohydrate that is needed due to the different burdening can
be calculated.

26. DISEASE
Smartphones could be used to signal if their users have to take
a given medicament and they could make sure the different
medications do not neutralize or reinforce their effects by
indicating when to take them to avoid the undesired
consequences.
Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease could be warned to
eat, drink and take medication on the basis of a given
regularity.

27. LIFE-SAVING
Smartphones could be applied for observation and giving
distress signals in the case of sick people living alone or in the
case of the sick people whose relatives work during the day
and can not look after them.
The roles of the smartphones are revaluated in the case of sick
old people living alone or being alone at home without any help.
These appliances could be used to give out warnings to
eat, drink or take medicine and are useful in other fields as well
due to the fact that they process the data of the connected
portable sensors that are able to communicate wireless.

28. LIFE-SAVING
The sensors could perceive the changes of the cardiac
rhythm, the rise of body temperature, the oxygen level in the
blood, the respiratory rate… etc.
Having processed the data of the connected sensors a
smartphone could send a message to the patient’s relatives in
case of a possible indisposition; it may contain the data of the
type and the duration of the indisposition.
The oxygen level in the blood can be measured with a
pulsoxymeter and its changing can refer to various diseases.

29. LIFE-SAVING
For example the hurried inspiration of an asthmatic can mean
an attack.
If the pulsoxymeter measures a big change in the oxygen level
in the blood, it could make a signal and/or send a message to
the screen of the phone after evaluating the data.
On the basis of the signals of a smartphone the family
members could call the ambulance or hurry home depending
on the degree of the disposition.

30. LIFE-SAVING
It might happen that a patient loses consciousness on the
occasion of an indisposition.
In this case a smartphone apparatus could recognize the
sudden change of the bodily position after evaluating the data
of the built-in gyroscope and could decide on the level of the
seriousness of the situation by evaluating the values measured
by the sensors.
If the change of the bodily position is the consequence of a
sudden fall and the patient’s state of health is satisfactory
according to the measured values, it is still worth making a note
of this event by the phone so that it will be able to analyse an
incidental aftermath.

31. LIFE-SAVING
If there is a change in the pulse rate apart from the natural rise
caused by the fright at the fall or if the pulse rate stays high for
long, it has to be analysed since there can be a fracture or an
internal haemorrhage in the background.
In such cases a smartphone could write information on the
screen about the patient’s precise condition, the measured data
and the GPS co-ordinates with the help of the built-in GPS
receiver.
It could also supply individual information about blood-
group, drug allergy…etc. in the light of which the ambulance
doctor can get prepared to examine a particular part of the
patient’s body and to attend the patient more properly.

32. LIFE-SAVING
It is also worth sending a message to the ambulance if the fall
is the consequence of losing consciousness; the measured
data, the patient’s condition and the GPS co-ordinates can be
life-saving information since the people surrounding them rarely
recognize the seriousness of the situation if there is anyone
around them at all and the event does not take place at home
when they are alone.
The phone could draw the attention to its display by giving out
loud signals; it can contain vital, life-saving instructions that can
help keeping the patient alive until the ambulance arrives.

33. LIFE-SAVING
If a car driver loses consciousness, it is not only his life but also
the lives of other people that will be endangered.
In case of indisposition the phone could send instructions to the
vehicle to take over the control from the driver and not to allow
him to use the steering wheel or the pedals; the vehicle itself is
to use them properly.
The car is to switch on the hazard warning indicator and the
phone will drive the vehicle off the road to its edge while
gradually decreasing the speed and paying attention to the
position and the movements of the surrounding
vehicles, objects, people and other living creatures.
In the meantime the phone set could also call the ambulance
and send the information about the precise location and the
measured data.

34. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
KIND ATTENTION!