Wearable Medical Devices

The term wearable medical devices describes autonomous devices that are worn by a person and provide medical monitoring or support over a prolonged period of time. Their distinguishing characteristic is that they are worn either as an accessory or are embedded into clothing. Such devices normally incorporate noninvasive physiological sensors, data processing modules, medical feedback, and wireless data transmission capabilities. They are small, light, unobtrusive, and designed for operation by unskilled users. Current developments include real-time feedback, alerting mechanisms, medical decision support, and wireless access to information. Wearable medical devices offer the supporting hardware for dealing with the emerging medical trend of delivering point-of-care service, unconfined medical monitoring and support, and assisting in the remote management of medical conditions for rehabilitating patients, the chronically ill, and the disabled. Keywords: wearable devices; wireless telemetry; medical monitoring; medical aids

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