Wireless communication in health care: who will win the right to send data boldly where no data has gone before?
Increasingly, health care professionals will need to retrieve, store, share, and send data using several types of wireless devices. These devices include personal digital assistants, laptops, Web tablets, cell phones, and clothing that monitor heart rate and blood pressure. Regardless of the device, several standards will vie for the right to provide the wireless communications link between the health care professional and the wired data resources located within a health care organization. This article identifies the top three technologies in the wireless communications field: Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Mobile Communications, and Bluetooth; breaks down each according to its strengths and weaknesses; and makes recommendations for their use by health care professionals located inside and outside a health care facility. Where appropriate the discussion includes an explication of how a specific technology can be made secure from hackers and other security breeches.
Campbell
Robert J
RJ
Health Management Systems, Rangos School of Health Sciences, Duquesne University, 433 Fisher Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15216, USA.
Durigon
Louis
L
D040421:Cell Phone; D016494:Computer Security; D006801:Humans; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000639:trends*; D013686:Telemetry; D014584:User-Computer Interface