Electronic data capture in healthcare—NFC as easy way for self-reported health status information

Abstract

We present an electronic data capture (EDC) system based on Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC is an easy way for self-reporting of health status information. As traditional paper-based questionnaires are time- and cost-consuming and may be affected by low patient compliance, our EDC system allows patient monitoring and electronic data acquisition directly from the patient's home. It enables real time representation and analysis of patient data and thus allows direct medical intervention by physicians. The results of a field test indicate that NFC is almost as simple as filling out a paper-based questionnaire. During the study patients used the prototype autonomously and with minimal errors. Further, NFC technology was perceived as very intuitive and the information quality of each patient's health status could be improved. Based on the findings we derive recommendations for future research and applications of NFC based electronic data capture systems.