Title: Telemedicine trends and challenges: a technology management perspective

Authors: J. Puentes, R.K. Bali, N. Wickramasinghe, R.N.G. Naguib

Addresses: GET-ENST Bretagne, Departement Image et Traitement de l'Information, Brest, France; INSERM U650, Laboratoire de Traitement de l'Information Medicale, Brest, France. ' Knowledge Management for Healthcare (KMH) Research Subgroup, Biomedical Computing and Engineering Technologies Applied Research Group (BIOCORE), Coventry University, Coventry, UK. ' Center for the Management of Medical Technology (CMMT), Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, 565 West Adams Street Ste 406, Chicago IL 60661, USA. ' Biomedical Computing and Engineering Technologies Applied Research Group (BIOCORE), Coventry University, Coventry, UK

Abstract: After four generations of varied applications, telemedicine now finds itself at a crossroads. Validated concepts have integrated the available technology to handle the basic system components, as well as data and information processing, in multiple manners. Medical data exchange has been tested as a result. Among the multiple technology evolutions that could be identified as significant trends we have selected four – wireless broadband, non-invasive sensors, emerging multimedia standards, and open source software – which are likely to have an impact on the current telemedicine progression, at the functional and economic levels. What follows is a description of each technology|s main characteristics.

Keywords: telemedicine; wireless broadband; wireless networks; healthcare technology; non-invasive sensors; open source software; multimedia standards; technology management; biomedical engineering; biomedical technology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2007.014137

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2007 Vol.1 No.1, pp.59 - 72

Published online: 22 Jun 2007 *

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