Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: May 19, 2025
Date Accepted: Feb 9, 2026
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Assistive Technologies for Pulse-based Tele-Practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine: a Feasibility and Pilot Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Pulse palpation is essential for accurate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis. However, this tactile-sensory-dependent technique is not feasible in teleconference, leaving TCM underserved by conventional tele-practice frameworks. To address this, we developed an Assistive Pulse Data Collection (APDC) device.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate feasibility and to preliminarily examine the CMPs agreement on real-person pulses and machine-generated pulses, and collect users’ feedback.
Methods:
Following WHO guidelines for piloting new medical technologies, a two-phase, dual-method evaluation was conducted. In the feasibility phase, 10 subjects’ pulses were recorded using the APDC device. Five CMPs evaluated the subjects’ and machine-generated pulses using a 5-point Likert scale (1, “Strongly Disagree” to 5, “Strongly Agree”). In the pilot phase, 10 CMPs assessed pulses from 42 subjects and refined the regenerated outputs for comparison. Quantitative and qualitative feedback from CMPs and subjects was collected.
Results:
CMPs evaluated machine-regenerated pulses across four parameters: frequency (mean agreement score = 4.1, SD = 0.6), rhythm (3.8, SD = 0.6), width (2.7, SD = 0.9), and force (2.4, SD = 1.0), indicating moderate-to-high agreement for frequency/rhythm but lower consensus for width and force. Following device refinements (e.g., adjustable armrest, pressure calibration, pulse algorithms), the pilot phase CMPs’ agreement improved for frequency (4.3, SD = 0.7) and rhythm (4.0, SD = 0.8), while width (3.0, SD = 0.9) and force (2.8, SD = 0.9) remained suboptimal. CMPs reported enhanced clarity (4.3, SD = 1.0) but persistent inefficiency (2.5, SD = 0.5) and neutral satisfaction (2.6, SD = 0.5). Subjects maintained favorable ratings for comfort (4.0, SD = 0.7), easy to use (3.9, SD = 0.8), and high satisfaction (4.0, SD = 0.7).
Conclusions:
The APDC device is feasible and enables CMPs to take remote pulse feature assessment, but further optimization of pulse force and width is warranted. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06974227; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06974227
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