Regulations and Standards for Wireless applications in health

Many of the implementations of eHealth require some form of telecommunications facility. Although wired networks can be applicable, there are many areas in which a wireless communications facility is required. The particular method of wireless communication is dependent upon the application: for example, wireless programming of an implantable device such as a pacemaker has vastly different requirements to those of a wireless alarm for a blood oxymeter. However, wireless devices have to exist in an electromagnetically shared environment, and it is therefore necessary for the standards and regulations applying to such devices to be so designed as to optimise both the efficient use of the radio spectrum, and the usefulness of the wireless link in the context of eHealth. Such wireless devices currently include the use of such general wireless technologies as Bluetooth, cellular telephony, and RFID, as well as those using radio spectrum shared on a secondary basis intended for communication with medical devices. This paper briefly reviews the current situation regarding such standards, including the potential reliability and the degree of subjectivity to interference, and looks to the probable areas of future development in radio standards that will be required to meet the increasing demands of the technologies inherent in the growth of eHealth.