Calgary Announces Wireless Medical Device Initiative
The Calgary Health Region and the University of Calgary throw down the
wireless medical device gauntlet, declaring the start of a program to
develop, “a new generation of wireless medical devices that will
enhance patient care and safety.” The first facility to likely support
this new technology is a new hospital planned for south Calgary.
Here's their wish list of new technologies to develop:
- A smart band-aid or wireless temperature system which is placed on the
patient’s temple to continuously monitor the patient’s body temperature
and send the information wirelessly in real time to the nursing station. - A sensor that continuously measures patient heart rate and blood
oxygenation sending the data wirelessly to the nursing station. - Remote sensors that promote healing as well as read and transfer
information on blood characteristics to computers, which analyze the
information in real time. - “Smart” bed sensors that trigger an alarm at a nursing station when a
patient moves outside of a programmed space to alert the healthcare team
when a patient may be in danger of falling. - “Micro-machined” needles that deliver medications or extract fluids by
precisely penetrating the skin above the layer of nerve endings,
eliminating the painful insertion of traditional “hollow” needles.
As the new technologies are further developed, they will be thoroughly
tested on the Medical Ward of the 21st Century, at the Foothills Medical
Centre.
