Research on the establishment of a systematic support system for children in medical care using artificial intelligence (AI) technology

The number of children who require life-sustaining medical care after treatment for congenital or acquired diseases (medical care children) has been increasing by more than 1,000 every year, and is expected to continue to increase rapidly with the advancement of medical technology. In order for these children with medical care and their families to live in the community with adequate support after discharge from the hospital, it is necessary to develop a local system that can respond to the conditions of children with medical care, including the development of home medical care. For the elderly, there is a framework of community-based comprehensive care, and home medical care has become a routine medical system. For pediatric patients, there is no concept of supporting patients and their families while utilizing local medical resources, and this is deeply connected to the problem of transitional care for patients with childhood-onset diseases. In order to include children in medical care, who require support that also takes into account their pediatric characteristics, in the framework of comprehensive community care, it is necessary to make continuous organizational efforts inside and outside the hospitals of advanced pediatric medical institutions and university hospitals that have many children in medical care. Parents and medical personnel make comprehensive judgments about the health status of severely ill pediatric home patients, who have different pathological characteristics from normal children, based on their appearance and changes in various vital signs. These comprehensive judgments are made empirically by extracting factors for judging medical conditions based on the condition of each individual patient, finding the normal range, and weighting changes in multiple factors. These empirical medical treatments encompass issues such as information sharing in the realization of organized medical support. Specifically, with the National Center for Child Health and Development (NCCHD) playing a central role, we will examine ways to share digital data on information necessary for collaboration with external medical institutions, information obtained in the home, information obtained from caregivers other than medical personnel, and information obtained from wearable devices, etc. We will hold several meetings to identify issues, with the participation of doctors, nurses, and co-medical personnel from external medical institutions as research collaborators, as well as patients' families if possible.