Safer for cardiac patients

Checking your blood values anywhere in the world. Enjoying a coffee and making sure you're safe at the same time.

Every year, almost 50,000 Norwegians take warfarin. The medicine thins the blood, to prevent heart patients from developing blood clots. But if they take too much, the blood becomes so thin that they may bleed to death; if they take too little, the blood becomes too thick, and they may develop blood clots and die.

In the new project Tele-Warf, researchers at the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine and Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory will try to reduce this problem by introducing new electronic solutions.

Patients test blood values themselves

"It can be very difficult to dose this medicine correctly. The amount you need to take depends on several factors, such as diet and intake of other medications," explains project manager Daniel Nygård. 

For this reason, cardiac patients visit their GPs regularly for follow-up, to get their blood values measured and have the dosage of warfarin adjusted if necessary.

But they only get these checkups every fourth or sixth week. So patients risk taking the wrong dose because they have made slight changes in their diet. The result may be that the patient develops complications and becomes ill in the period between the check-ups.

In the project, patients will take blood tests themselves and have them checked. They will use a sensor that sends in measurement values automatically for electronic storage and processing in a recently developed computer system. After this, the system will calculate a new warfarin dosage and send the proposal to the GP through the electronic patient record.

- "The doctor checks that the new dosage is correct and sends the approval back to the system, which in turn forwards the new dosage by SMS to the patient's mobile telephone," explains Nygård.

Less to think of – greater peace of mind

Patients save time because they do not need to visit the doctor, while doctors can assess the blood values and the dosage proposal exactly when it suits them. The new method also avoids misunderstandings that may arise when the patient gets a verbal message about the new dosage.

"A very positive effect of this is that patients get greater freedom than they have today," Nygård points out. It will no longer be necessary to go to the doctor to check whether the warfarin dosage must be changed.

"As long as you have your mobile phone and the sensor with you, you can sit at a pavement café in Paris and do this – with the reassurance that you are not taking too much or too little medicine," he concludes.

Facts about the project

Tele-Warf is one of the first projects at the new Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL), which was established in 2006. The technology behind the project is to be developed during 2007, and tested on a larger scale during 2008.

The computer system which will receive the measurement values that patients send in has been developed by the Norwegian telecom company Telenor. Tele-Warf will also use Well Communicator, which is a program for secure exchange of electronic messages in the public health service.

This electronic messaging system is used by most of the GP practices in Norway. In practice, this means that all GP practices linked up to Norsk Helsenett, the Norwegian health network, can introduce the solution when the development is complete.

Contact person at the NST and TTL

If you would like to know more about Tele-Warf, you can contact project manager and civilengineer Daniel Nygård at the direct mobile telephone number +47 959 423 00

Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory

The Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL) has been established as a Centre for Research-based Innovation (SFI). The centre is to develop new technology for use in the public health service and pave the way for commercialization of this technology.

TTL has been established with funding from the Research Council of Norway (NFR) and from partners at the centre. For more information, you can download the fact sheet "Future Health Care":

TTL_Fact_sheet_0107_web.pdf