Patent ID: 8734340

Claim:
A method of providing a healthcare support service with a healthcare support apparatus connectable to a plurality of providing-side terminals via a communication network, the method comprising: acquiring patient's vital signs data by a measuring device; determining whether or not the vital data contains an abnormal value; determining that messaging to a destination terminal is required by the patient when one of: a first case in which a messaging request is inputted by the patient into the healthcare support apparatus while the vital data contains an abnormal value, and a second case in which a messaging request is not inputted by the patient within a predetermined time after it is determined that the vital data contains the abnormal value; selecting, by a processor in the healthcare support apparatus, a destination terminal from the plurality of providing-side terminals according to whether the first case or the second case occurs; and transmitting a message to the selected destination terminal when it is determined that messaging to the selected destination terminal is required by the patient, the message being one of input by the patient, and generated for the patient depending on whether the first case or the second case occurs, wherein, in the selecting step, the destination terminal selected for the first case is different from the destination terminal selected for the second case, wherein when the plurality of providing-side terminals include assistant terminals different from doctor terminals, and wherein in the second case, the destination terminal selected in the selecting step is selected from among the assistant terminals.