| Objective:With the aging of the social structure and the rise in chronic diseases, preventive health care has become increasingly important. This study was to develop a simple and user-friendly moxibustion software system for home health care, to support safe and effective day-to-day care of moxibustion (including solar terms moxibustion). Visually guide users to quickly and accurately locate acupoints at home, provide a normalized operation procedure of moxibustion, and improve outcomes.Methods:First, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, the study determined precautions and contradictions of moxibustion for home health care, primary points for the selected moxibustion functions for health care, and points corresponding to the twenty-four solar terms, as well as a safe and effective procedure. Second, the study selected the software framework for system development, designed programming pre-examination, health moxibustion program, and created/added acupoints pictures and videos. It also established a back-end relational database, prepared data and added entry tables. Utilizing information visualization technology and cutting-edge computer software technology, the study established an interactive platform, to present users a simple, intuitive, and visualized moxibustion software system for home health care.Results:Designed and developed the moxibustion visualization software application for health care running on Windows PC. During the development and trail process, the software’s functions have continued to expand. The back-end database includes information of moxibustion functions for preventive care and24Solar Terms Moxibustion, nearly160pictures and videos of points locations made by medical professionals, the14meridians pathways and channel points. The system structure is scalable. Modifying/adding data in the database table does not require additional programming. Usability testing suggested that the system is simple, friendly, and easy to use, can provide users with quick and efficient moxibustion information for home health care, and efficient points query and retrieval services.Conclusion:1. Based on previous studies and theoretical framework, proposed the appropriate moxibustion acupoints for health care based on functions of zang-fu organs. Lead to propose acupoints for the24Solar Terms Moxibustion care.2. System guides self-examination to rule out people should not to take moxibustion at home by identifying contradiction tongue, pulse, and syndromes, to ensure the safety of moxibustion. Integrate design of visualization software and moxibustion for home health care, making the system normalized, visualized, controlled, and easy to use with the increased efficacy. It can help users to quick, safely and accurately perform moxibustion for health care.3. Software system structure is scalable. It is convenient to add or modify the system database in accordance with the requirements of the medical experts, to facilitate user maintenance and continuous improvement. It takes the ideas of Traditional Chinese Medicine, promotes safe and practical moxibustion to the public, and reduces the medical expenses of the society. This system can continue to be developed for supporting development of acupuncture treatment devices. It has positive social and economic benefits. |
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