Patient monitoring systems can be used to collect health

data at home and, in some cases, in outdoor scenarios,

facilitate
disease management, diagnosis, prediction and
follow-up [1–4]. Recent advances in the development of
smaller and more precise sensors, which do not require
gels, have made it possible to apply a wide range of wireless
patient monitoring systems in natural environments (i.e. at
work, at home and so on) [5, 6]. The monitoring of
people in their natural environments is not practical when
it is necessary to use cables to connect the sensors with
the processing and communication units. However, the
increased performance, availability, and miniaturisation of
wireless communication technologies are majo factors in
the increasing deployment of home health care services [7, 8].

A collection of wearable medical sensors could communicate using personal

area network or body
network [1], which can be even integrated into user’s clothes [18].
Intelligent monitor connects to a
specialized medical service only in the event of a medical emergency or if an
episode requires
intervention. The user or doctor or both could formulate triggers that cause
even more data to be
collected, additional sensors to be enabled, or medical personnel to be
contacted.
In the case of wireless monitoring systems, security and reliability are
particularly important issue
[2]. Security can be preserved using the data encryption, balancing strength
of encryption with power
(both in terms of Watts and MIPS), etc. It is important to emphasize that, in
the case of medical
monitoring applications, simply wearing the device may disclose to the
user's
employer/insurer/acquaintances that the user is suffering from a medical
condition [2]. Consequently,
the wearable monitoring device has to be as unobtrusive as possible, to
preserve patient’s privacy.
Traditionally, medical monitors were limited to data acquisition, typically implemented as
Holters
[23]. Holters are used for 24-48 hour monitoring of ECG, EEG or polysomnography
(EEG, EOG, EMG,
EKG, heart rate, breathing, body position, snoring, etc.) and recording on cassette tape or
flash memory.
Recorded signals are then analyzed off-line using dedicated diagnostic systems.
Increased intelligence and low power consumption of new generations of
microcontrollers/DSPs
make possible a whole range of intelligent monitor applications. We believe that the
wireless personal
area network organization and sensor miniaturization will further enable new applications
in this field.
Further need for privacy protection and acceptance of implantable sensors and devices
requires the
introduction of entirely wireless personal network.

One such application is finger blood pressure monitor. In the finger blood pressure
monitor, you just need to insert the finger in the device and click start the button for
automatic readings. The monitor will quickly give you the display of your blood pressure
and the resolution is digital and easy to read. Both the systolic and the diastolic pressures
are displayed by the monitor along with your pulse rate. The best part of this device is
that you don’t have to bother the cuffs as the device is pretty small and can be very
comfortably carried in your pocket or purse. Most of them run on 4AAA batteries.