Technological advances in wireless monitoring will allow many elderly people to retain their independence and live at home monitored by wireless devices, rather than having to give up living at home for assisted living facilities. Similarly, heart patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation will be able to do so in their own homes while their heart rates are constantly monitored. In case of an emergency, these devices send updates to medical technicians before they arrive on the scene and to the doctors in the emergency room.
Of course, the most direct beneficiary of wireless healthcare is the consumer. New solutions, such as wireless biosensor Band-Aids and glucose monitoring mobile phones, give people a more personal, effective and real-time healthcare experience. Qualcomm has already collaborated with its partners to bring to market significant healthcare-related solutions, including phones for the elderly (Jitterbug), asthma and diabetes management (BeWell Mobile Technology) and wireless pills (Proteus Biomedical).
The PillPhone is a mobile phone application that sends timely medication reminder messages and provides easy access to a drug information database. In the near future, innovations such as “smart pills” or “ingestible event markers” will report when a pill is taken – using tiny, embedded RFID chips -- helping manage medication usage better. Fitness and diet trackers will also help to track an individual’s lifestyle and fitness status.
Increased access to wireless healthcare services will provide an inexpensive way to manage one’s own healthcare needs. Wireless monitoring products, such as Corventis, (about the size of small bandage and taped to the chest) keep tabs on heart rate and sends electrocardiogram information to the patient’s mobile phone. This allows people, especially those with congestive heart failure, to monitor their heart condition, send vital information to their physician and possibly pre-empt hospitalization.
Advances in wireless healthcare have most significantly impacted developing countries, especially in under-served communities hundreds of kilometers from urban hospitals and health facilities. Patients in remote villages either have too little access to communication with healthcare professionals or, at best, must spend valuable time travelling to distant medical facilities for diagnostics and treatment. Even if this can be done, many simply cannot make the journey back for follow-up results and treatment. 3G mobile healthcare tools are often the most effective way to address the lack of medical facilities and dearth of medical practitioners in rural areas.