Smart bandages may be the next health field area to interface with technology. Tracking wound healing will support intervention before a serious problem arises. This will keep the patient healthy and reduce expenses; a win-win for all.
Smart Bandages with 5G Infrastructure Monitor Wound Healing
Bandages which can detect how a wound is healing and send messages back to doctors could be trialed within the next 12 months, scientists have said.
The bandages would use real-time 5G technology to monitor what treatment is needed and also keep track of a patient’s activity levels.
Prof Marc Clement, chairman of the Institute of Life Science (ILS), said: “5G is an opportunity to produce resilient, robust bandwidth that is always there for the purpose of healthcare.
“That intelligent dressing uses nano-technology to sense the state of that wound at any one specific time.
“It would connect that wound to a 5G infrastructure and that infrastructure through your telephone will also know things about you – where you are, how active you are at any one time.
“You combine all of that intelligence so the clinician knows the performance of the specific wound at any specific time and can then tailor the treatment protocol to the individual and wound in question.”
“What the future holds is a world where there’s the ability to vary the treatment to the individual, the lifestyle and the pattern of life.
Experts in nano-technology would develop the tiny sensors while 3D printers at ILS would be used to produce the bandages which would bring down the cost.
Prof Clement said experts at the Welsh Wound Innovation Centre are also involved in the project and trials would go through the Arch wellness and innovation project in south west Wales where there is a “honey pot” of one million people to carry out such tests.
“What we’re creating within this city deal, is an ecosystem that can prove concept, prove business, manufacture locally and take innovation to a global marketplace.” he added. read more at bbc.com
Using technology to monitor wound healing is a brilliant way to improve patient care. What will be the next health-technology interface to improve quality health care?