Pervasive healthcare

Abstract

The US healthcare industry is confronting a number of challenges, including skyrocketing costs, a growing incidence of medical errors, inadequate staffing, and lack of coverage in rural and underserved urban areas. Healthcare workers are under increasing pressure to provide better services to more people using limited financial and human resources. One proposed solution to the current crisis is pervasive healthcare. The widescale deployment of wireless networks will improve communication among patients, physicians, and other healthcare worker, as well as enable the delivery of accurate medical information anytime anywhere, thereby reducing errors and improving access. At the same time, advances in wireless technologies - such as intelligent mobile devices and wearable networks - have made possible a wide range of efficient and powerful medical applications. Pervasive healthcare has the potential to reduce long-term costs and improve quality of service, but it also faces many technical and administrative obstacles.