The Potential Implementation of Radio-Frequency Identification Technology for Personal Health Examination and Monitoring

Abstract

This paper presents several possible applications of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology for personal health examination and monitoring. One application involves using RFID sensors external to the human body, while another one uses both internal and external RFID sensors. Another application involves simultaneous assessment and monitoring of many patients in a hospital setting using networks of RFID sensors. All the assessment and monitoring are done wirelessly, either continuously or periodically in any interval, in which the sensors collect information on human parts such as the lungs or heart and transmit this information to a router, PC or PDA device connected to the internet, from which patient’s condition can be diagnosed and viewed by authorized medical professionals in remote locations. Instantaneous information allows medical professionals to intervene properly and in a timely fashion to prevent possible catastrophic effects to patients. The continuously assessed and monitored information provides medical professionals with more complete and long-term studies of patients. The proposed ideas promise to result in not only enhancement of the health treatment quality but also in significant reduction of medical expenditure.