The Top Five Engineering Challenges Facing Wearable Medical Devices

Many companies are working on parts of patient monitor networks, if not the entire network. They envision secure connections to wireless networks that let healthcare providers remotely track patients’ progress. Today’s wearable medical products can also act as personal emergency-response systems This lets patients them leave hospitals sooner, eliminates many connectors and cables (not to mention clinic visits) and gives doctors reams of accurate data.

But as usual, there are some hurdles in going from the concept to a profitable product. There are five main design challenges common to patient monitors: power consumption (or battery life), portability (or size), patient safety, how much does a computer engineer make, and integration.