December 16, 2010

Smart Hospital Beds in Our Future?

Can we have a smart hospital bed in our future? This may happen if hospital bed manufactures come on board with current technology.

John LaCourse may soon have his name on a lot of hospital beds. He is a professor and chair of the University of New Hampshire's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research may soon represent a leap forward in hospital patient care. He is presently negotiating with hospital bed manufacturers to add his programmed algorithm technology to make hospital beds “smart” computerized beds.

This research looks very promising and is on the fast track to becoming a reality. It will be useful for many applications including, blood pressure monitoring, prevention of bed sores, sleep apnea, and potentially many other applications.

The microprocessors will be incorporated in the bed and must be standardized as a plug-and-play so medical devices can share information and communicate with each other. This will provide patient information which will hopefully reduce care errors.

Read the article here for more information. This is something I am looking forward to seeing come to fruition. These could prove very useful, not only in hospitals, but also in nursing homes, hospice care, and even in home care. This may also have applications for continuous blood glucose monitoring and insulin pump use.

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