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Taking Care of Mobile Patients
Roland Piquepaille writes "After a patient has been hospitalized for a surgical intervention, he usually wants to return to his normal life. But doctors would like to monitor him to be sure that the operation was successful. How can they manage this without being too intrusive? In "Health Care Monitoring of Mobile Patients," Italian researchers offer a three-layer networking solution. First, a body area sensor network would continuously record your cardiac activity or your body temperature. A second level would involve a home sensor network, including for example a PC wirelessly receiving this information. Finally, this home network would be able to alert an hospital network if needed. Right now, this whole idea is at the proof-of-concept level, but it really looks promising."
+1 No link to his bogus website.
Being aware of Apollo stuff and some successive stuff this is just a natural progression. The really good thing here would be to get the patient out of the hospital and away from all of those nasty germs growing in that germ factory called a hospital. Your health gets in greater danger the closer you get to a hospital. They are really dangerous. Just to clarify I am an RN and I do know what I am talking about.
Hospitals have a risk of infection that is horrid. The problem is population density. In a 100 bed hospital your chances of catching something there in 3 days is about 10% or less. If the hospital has 500 beds it is about 50% Don't even think of those 2000 or so bed hospitals! What is worse your risk is of really nasty (Germ Warfare types etc) bugs getting to you like MRSA and Hemolytic Strep etc.
The best thing we could do for public health in the USA is to reduce the size of our hospitals dramatically. Following right behind that we should for the exact same reasons cut down on the size of our schools and especially get rid of or reduce daycares!
Now that I have stepped on all of the politically correct toes.. Mods get a life if you disagree.
Never Politically Correct ~ I prefer the facts If you don't like what I say, get a life, or comment yourself.
I can just imagine it now...
Sensor modules are located in the appropriate places - cardiac, temperature, blood oxygen level - all connected by bluetooth to the hub of your Body Sensor Suite - your cell phone. The phone stores 2 hours worth of telemetry at the maximum collection rate. It runs the input data through gates, constantly checking for pre-loaded alert triggers. If it detects a problem it can react with a variety of responses, from warning you in a kindly caretaker voice (maybe recorded messages from your 3 daughters) to take it easy, activating a medpak release, automatically connecting with your doctors office, up to sending a mayday on the 911 channel with automatic integration to the nearest EMT unit. The EMTs and your doctor receive real time sensor feeds as well as a GPS upload from your phone. Your doctor can remote activate medpaks, adjust your pacemaker, or use your phones camera to check pupil dilation. The EMTs have your complete medical history as well as treatment instructions from your doctor before they reach the scene. Your phone handshakes with the infotags embedded in the EMT's drug deliver system - verifying doses and checking for allergies.
If you don't have any problems every two hours your phone links with your PC at home. Data is downloaded. Your complete records are available to your doctor (or his Virtual Physicians Assistant) via internet. He can monitor trends and modify the alert trips and actions. These new settings are uploaded to your phone during regular updates. Lifestyle information linking time, place, and physical condition are available for diagnostic evaluation. Your phone calls you and says "you are entering the first phase of an allergic reaction, what are you touching?" Sensors are available for environmental contaminants, radiation, air quality, even electromagnetic and sonic energy. Your phone won't let you drive drunk or fall asleep at the wheel. There's a hack available that masks cannabis detection. There's a lot of hacks available - recreational, performance enhancing, popular supplements. To refill your medpaks you just insert them into the AutoScript at your favorite store - yes - hacks are available. Of course if your phone indicates you have been deviating from your doctor prescribed regimen your co-pays go up. And there is that nasty rumor about the NSA...
And of course.....it runs linex.