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Application of u-Health Under Special Situations

Article information

J Korean Med Assoc. 2009;52(12):1164-1172
Publication date (electronic) : 2009 December 31
doi : https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2009.52.12.1164
Dong Kyun Park, MD, Kug Sang Jeong, PhD, Eun Young Jung, RN
u-Healthcare Center, Gacheon University Gil Hospital, Korea. pdk66@gilhospital.com

Abstract

u-Health is a good alternative in providing health care service under special situations where access to health care is limited. With the expansion of life space and the increase of travel, people are being put in danger across various situations on the sea, in the sky, disasters, and so on. It is not easy to provide health care in those situations, while people may still have high expectation to heath care. This gap can be narrowed by using u-Health, which is based on advanced information and communication technologies. The special situation for u-Health is where normal health care cannot be performed because of physical limitation and danger, which can be further broken down to five situations. The first is a situation on means of transportation such as ship and airplane. The second situation is when medical facilities are far away from life space, in places like backwoods. The third situation occurs on the place where it is difficult for patients to receive treatment due to restrained freedom, for example, a prison. The forth is the situation where the medical team is unable to approach easily, such as war zone and disaster area. The last special situation is the extreme environments like polar region. In order to make the u-health system more helpful for patients under special situations, there is a need for a research development and investment on sensors to measure accurate bio-signals, the network to transmit the data, and the technologies to analyze the data and to provide feedback. Therefore, institutional supports for technology development are required for further development of u-Health for people in great needs.

Keywords: u-Health; e-Health; Telemedicine; Ubiquitous healthcare; Pervasive healthcare

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Copyright © 2009 Korean Medical Association

Figure 1

Figure 1

Architecture of maritime telemedicine for Korea Coast Guard.

Figure 2

Figure 2

MedAire's remote assistance.

Figure 2

Figure 2

U.S. army's mobile healthcare: BMIST.