This study describes the development of an information technology (IT)-mediated
home-based healthcare model designed to improve the effectiveness of caring for stroke
patients who require chronic, home care. This model was evaluated at Kaohsiung Medical
Hospital in Taiwan between 2005 and 2008; 84 newly diagnosed stroke patients diagnosed
as the chronic covalence stage were enrolled for preliminary testing of this model. These
patients required 24-hour in-home monitoring of their health status and emergency call
service. Over the course of the study, 15 emergency transfers were carried out, and the
acute stroke patients were sent to the emergency care within 26 minutes, on average. This
system helped physicians, patients, and their families to more efficiently detect the occurrence
of recurrent stroke. In addition, we found a statistically significant finding
(p < 0.001) that daily blood pressure (BP) monitoring increased from 45.5% in the initial
month of the study to 76% after 3e10 months of intervention. Meanwhile, the proportion
of patients with an abnormal BP rate decreased from 20.5% in the initial month of the study