eHealth is a critical part of modern healthcare. It’s improving patient experience, enhancing processes and increasing efficiency. Wireless connectivity plays a crucial role in these applications through remote communications, locational capabilities and device networks.
In this article, we explore three key areas of eHealth innovation and examine how each is providing patients with an enhanced quality of care.
What is eHealth?
eHealth describes technologies that actively enhance the efficiency, accessibility and capability of healthcare services. This includes devices and services that provide remote connectivity and monitoring, improved access to care and advance the quality of patient support. All in all, eHealth is any technology or device that provides new conveniences for patients and facilities without sacrificing service quality.
The evolving nature of eHealth has led to the widespread implementation of technology across the healthcare industry. Each of these areas face different challenges that require specific technological solutions to enhance the experience for patients and improve the ability to provide it.
The key applications of eHealth
Remote care for patient accessibility
The recent pandemic and increasing number of ageing patients has emphasised the need for remote healthcare services. Being forced to travel into dedicated facilities for simple routine checks and basic monitoring is an unnecessary challenge for many patients. And for some, it can be a barrier of entry to the services they need.
Remote care provides patients with access to healthcare services in the comfort of their own home. Through the integration of IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) devices and networks, healthcare facilities can monitor patients in real-time via wearables and sensors. If an emergency situation takes place, medical facilities can then administer urgent care as soon as possible.
Wireless hospital networks to enhance operations
Healthcare facilities are managing more patients as populations rise, resulting in available resources being spread thin and patient wait times going up. Alongside this, communications between staff, devices and databases need to be efficient and reliable, or there is a risk of providing out-of-date or incorrect support to patients.
The deployment of IoMT networks within hospital environments brings a number of efficiency benefits for both facilities and the patients being supported. Patient health records and monitoring can be seamlessly transmitted to clinicians to reduce interactions, and specialised devices/software can be integrated to automate manual tasks like data extraction and form filling. This improves operational efficiency for healthcare facilities to be able to manage more patients whilst maintaining a high level of support.
Improving the efficiency of disaster response units
Responders to medical emergencies are vital in providing critical patients with medical attention as soon as possible. Every minute counts in these situations, and paramedics need access to efficient and intuitive technologies to minimise response time.
eHealth Systems such as the ePCR improve communications between the emergency operation centre (EOC), paramedics and healthcare facilities. Patient details and location are provided to paramedics via GNSS. The paramedics can then provide updates on the patient’s condition and vitals for the hospital to be prepared on their arrival. These systems greatly enhance the capabilities of disaster response units by reducing response times and ensuring patients receive suitable medical attention ASAP.
Importance of antenna integration in eHealth applications
Antenna integration is responsible for providing the desired features of eHealth devices. IoMT devices need reliable connectivity and low latency to enable real-time communications, and GNSS systems for responders need to be highly efficient to operate for extended periods.
With appropriate antenna integration, each eHealth device can exhibit resilience, performance and efficiency without compromising on any. Compact SMD or FPC antennas provide a compact solution for IoMT divides, whereas dedicated GNSS modules provide the locational capabilities required by first responders. The key is to find the right antenna solution for your specific device.
Integrate the perfect antenna solution for your eHealth device
eHealth is a necessary evolutionary step in healthcare services, providing both efficiency for facilities and enhancing the support for patients. IoMT devices, networks and dedicated responder systems greatly improve healthcare processes, but need resilient antenna integration to ensure patients receive the support they need at all times.
At Antenova, we specialise in providing antenna integration support so that you can find the perfect antenna solution for your eHealth device. We provide a wide range of antenna types and technologies that showcase impressive power efficiency and compact size without compromising on performance. No matter the desired frequency band range, form factor or desired range, our team of specialists can help you find the right wireless solution to support your patients.
To find out more about our wide range of high performance antennas and integration support, contact a member of our team today
