One of the major advances of present-day society is in the field of computer telephony and more particularly computerized telecommunications. Today, in the growing fields of healthcare, medical monitoring, quality control, pharmaceutical research, social psychology, behavioral medicine, and human motivation, formal verbal interchange is essential to provide modification of behavior along with its continuing reinforcement and ongoing information. In addition, measuring, monitoring and follow-up is essential to quality healthcare delivery. By using computerized telecommunications coupled with interactive voice response technology (IVR as it is known in the field of computer telephony), a client's, patient's or employee's behavior can be modified and reinforced at the site where behavior occurs and wherever the client, patient or employee goes. In addition, his or her medical condition can be continuously tracked.
It has been found that, as the frequency of reinforcing feedback increases, the client shows more rapid progress towards a particular goal. Similarly, the establishment of goals requires feedback and feedback requires goals, thus feedback is one of the key mechanisms in which goals are attained and the practice of medicine requires efficient and economical means for delivering healthcare. In medical practice, more frequent contact with the patient improves the quality and effectiveness of care.
However, numerous studies have shown that feedback in itself does not have the power to motivate performance without the establishment of goals. By utilizing a system of personalized and continuous computerized reinforcement, a client can be provided with more opportunity and greater frequency of economical therapeutic contact or feedback than through treatment or supervision in person. Additionally, the use of an interactive system vastly increases the therapeutic effect of this method of behavioral modification and reinforcement. As such, the subject invention uniquely mediates positive or beneficial expectancies of the physician, counselor, manager, administrator or other authority figure to the patient, student, client or employee. In addition, it builds a data base for monitoring client or patient populations.
Learning is enhanced through interactive feedback, and feedback heightens the learning experience. In traditional adult education, motivation, and behavioral modification, the amount of continuing feedback is limited to the time actually spent with a physician, counselor or supervisor, or in a class or seminar. Here, too, the feedback is limited to the actual time the physician, counselor, supervisor or trainer spends providing interaction with any one client, student or employee. By contrast, the addition of a computer and telecommunications or broadcast transmission allows "narrowcast" interaction and feedback on a continuous 24-hour basis to the client, student or employee wherever he or she goes, allowing for far greater frequency of interaction. Most importantly, in the case of adult behavior modification, this feedback, reinforcement, and resulting motivation becomes economically available for the first time at the site where the behavior occurs. Further, it permits a more economical means of providing measuring, monitoring and follow-up of patients, clients, students and employees.
As set forth in detail in my parent patent application Ser. No. 08/315630, a need exists for a computer driven interactive two-way communication link that increases the opportunity to create realistic and engaging behavioral reinforcement and guidance in the home or office and at remote locations, with both stationary and portable wired and wireless communication devices to assist the physician in the practice of medicine by facilitating compliance with medical requirements in regard to their patients. A need also exists for more effectively measuring, monitoring and providing follow-up of patient populations. Similarly, a parallel situation exists in business and educational organizations for the motivation of employees or students on a continuing basis in their natural environment.
The use of various telecommunication devices and computers, uniquely permits the greater personalization of medical treatment and education on a continuing basis.
A computerized interactive telecommunication system increases the client's, patient's, employee's or student's ability to resolve his medical, school or work problems at the site where his behavior occurs, and adjusts him within the framework of a preset goal. By including, within the context of the personalized message, challenges in the form of questions, an entertaining, rewarding and stimulating process can be added due to the increased feedback or interactive nature of new telecommunication technology.
With regard to the prior art, as set forth in my parent patent application Ser. No. 08/315,630, many types of systems have endeavored to provide an effective means for providing surveillance over the monitoring and behavioral modification of a patient or client by using a telecommunication link. However, these prior art systems have not disclosed an adequate and cost-effective telecommunication network that uses a remote computer in combination with a telephone or other platforms to provide positive behavioral, motivational and monitoring messages and/or questions that are answered by a patient, client, student or employee by means of a dual tone multifrequency telephone set or other telecommunication platforms, nor have adequate access methods or interfaces been provided.