Wireless technologies for telemedicine

Wireless telemedicine is a new and evolving area in telemedical and telecare systems. Healthcare personnel require realtime access to accurate patient data, including clinical histories, treatments, medication, tests, laboratory results and insurance information. With large-scale wireless networks and mobile computing solutions, such as cellular 3G, Wi-Fi mesh and WiMAX, healthcare personnal can tap into vital information anywhere and at any time within the healthcare networks. The recent introduction of pervasive computing, consisting of radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth, ZigBee, and wireless sensor networks, further extends the potential for exploitation of wireless telecommunications and its integration into new mobile healthcare delivery systems. In this paper, snapshots of current uses and future trends of various wireless communications in the healthcare domain are highlighted. Special attention is given to the challenges of a telemedicine environment equipped with different wireless technologies and how the resulting issues might be addressed in medical services integration to provide flexible, convenient and economical medical monitoring, consultation and healthcare.