Physiologic monitors

Physiologic monitors are smart devices that can be attached a patient’s body or even integrated into their garments. This can create a personal network with wireless transmission of physiologic monitoring. Any data can be sent to computer, allowing remote monitoring of real time data.

Advantages

Advantages of such monitoring systems could:

• Allow early detection of vital sign deterioration
• Alert responders to critical situations
• Enhance connectedness among patients and loved ones, providing reassurance to family and maintaining dignity and independence for patients
• Identify correlations between health and lifestyle
• Battlefield monitoring of soldiers
• Improve sports related conditioning
• Provide providers with transformative real time physiologic data
• Expand health care access to rural areas and developing countries where cellular access is often the only communication method available

Disadvantages

• Physiologic monitors have low traces of radiation that emit from the machines. These traces of radiation can be harmful to people wearing these devices.
• These devices can be very expensive. The maintenance on these devices tend to cost the manufacturers producing them a lot of money.
• The sensitivity of these devices can also be a factor. These devices must be constantly updated in order to make sure that patient data is being displayed on the device accurately. Improper data can lead to improper diagnoses, which also leads to improper care for a patient.