Richard Satava, MD, focuses on the usual collection of data possible with wireless technologies—then quickly projects to the next steps: as-needed communications with clinicians; and uninterrupted tracking and acknowledgement to and from wired persons, informing them of their good health or no. Thanks to Dr. Satava, we're looking at the promises of wireless technologies in ways we may never have dreamed of - till now.

Wireless technology and point of care in the home

As evident by the other commentaries, wireless technologies abound – but healthcare-specific technologies are sparse.  For healthcare, wireless will empower the individual, and mainly through telemedicine but also as a stand-alone monitoring system for people, whether health/fitness advocates or those living with a chronic disease. 

Wireless systems are predicated upon a set of non-invasive, wearable monitors which can accurately measure certain critical factors, such as vital signs or blood chemicals.  For fitness and for heart disease individuals, these measurements will be blood pressure, pulse rate, and electrocardiogram (EKG) that can measure the performance of the heart as a measure of total body fitness or as a warning for heart failure and irregular heart beats.  Other sensors, such as blood sugar and sweat, can determine the fatigue level of a fit person, or the dangers in persons living with diabetes or other metabolic diseases.  As a stand-alone system, these monitors can notify the person about their excellent health, or alert them when an impending crisis is about to occur.  In the latter situation, urgent action can be taken to avoid a serious medical emergency, thus preventing the person from a complication of their disease that would require hospitalization. 

The same information as above could be arranged to be fed into a telemedicine network wirelessly and make the information available to a nurse or physician.  Whether on a real-time basis, as in patients who are at home immediately after a surgical procedure, or on a reporting schedule (like, once a day or once a week), the transmission to the healthcare provider can have the doctor’s or nurse’s expertise available to those persons who are high risk, without needing the person to be in the hospital.  From a very practical perspective, this information can be made available to a caregiver, usually a daughter or son, when the parent lives alone – this provides both reassurance to the family as well as an early warning if something goes wrong. 

The promise is that, in the immediate future, more and more of these sensors will become available, and they will be even smaller and less intrusive to a point of being literally invisible.  A good example is the Smart Tee Shirt, that automatically begins monitoring vital signs when you put the shirt on.  Other devices are being created which are like common accessories, such as watches, ear rings, or lockets.  The result is that our population will have the reassurance that their health is being monitored and they will be alerted if there are problems.  In addition, many sensors will be embedded throughout the house,  especially in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, (see the work by Alice Pentland of the University of Rochester) to monitor many functions, such as sleep patterns,  body chemistries, or nutritional intake.  All of the collected information will go into a central personal computer that provides the information back to the person – safe from the outside prying eyes.  If - and only if - the person wants someone else to have the information, will it be sent to family members, nurses or doctors.

These technologies are here today, and are beginning to be networked together over the Internet, to empower each person to know more about their daily health and therefore live a healthier life style. 

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