Park Sungmee, Jayaraman Sundaresan
Georgia Institute of Technology, Textile Information Systems Research Laboratory, School of Polymer, Textile & Fiber Engineering, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0295, USA.
Stud Health Technol Inform. 2004;108:239-52.
It is hard to place a price tag either on human life or on the quality of life. Technology is the key to enhancing the quality of life for everyone in the continuum of life from newborns to senior citizens--whether it is the safe delivery and care of undernourished premature babies, or extending the life of a senior citizen through exploratory treatments and procedures. Technology has the potential to rapidly transform healthcare and the practice of medicine by improving the quality and safety of patient care and increasing the efficiency of healthcare providers. Moreover, the healthcare industry must meet the challenge of balancing cost containment with maintenance of desired patient outcomes and this can be accomplished through the adoption of technology. Any technology that can minimize the loss of human life and/or enhance the quality of life has a value that is priceless. An overview of the key challenges facing the practice of medicine today is presented along with the need for technological solutions that can "prevent" problems. The paradigm of "e-Health" is discussed. Then, the development of the Wearable Motherboard as a "platform" for sensors and monitoring devices that can unobtrusively monitor the health and well-being of individuals (directly and/or remotely) is described. This is followed by a discussion of the applications and impact of this technology in the continuum of life--from preventing SIDS to facilitating independent living for senior citizens. Finally, the future advancements in the area of wearable, yet comfortable, systems that can continue the transformation of healthcare and e-Health to i-Health (for interactive health)--all aimed at enhancing the quality of life for humans--are presented.
无论是人的生命还是生活质量，都很难用价格来衡量。技术是提升从新生儿到老年人整个生命历程中每个人生活质量的关键——无论是安全接生和护理营养不良的早产儿，还是通过探索性治疗和程序延长老年人的生命。技术有潜力通过提高患者护理的质量和安全性以及提高医疗服务提供者的效率，迅速改变医疗保健和医学实践。此外，医疗行业必须应对在控制成本与维持理想的患者治疗效果之间取得平衡的挑战，而这可以通过采用技术来实现。任何能够将生命损失降至最低和/或提高生活质量的技术都具有无价的价值。本文概述了当今医学实践面临的主要挑战以及对能够“预防”问题的技术解决方案的需求。讨论了“电子健康”模式。然后，描述了可穿戴主板作为一种“平台”的发展情况，该平台可用于传感器和监测设备，能够以不引人注意的方式（直接和/或远程）监测个人的健康和幸福状况。接下来讨论了这项技术在整个生命历程中的应用和影响——从预防婴儿猝死综合症到促进老年人独立生活。最后，介绍了可穿戴且舒适的系统领域未来的进展情况，这些进展能够继续推动医疗保健和电子健康向互动健康（i-Health）转变——所有这些都是为了提高人类的生活质量。
