Passive Hardware Considerations for Medical Body Area Network Transceivers

In hospitals and healthcare institutions, the sheer amount of patient metrics to track for the staff of doctors and nurses can be been a point of contention. Lawsuits based on the grounds of negligence are a risk that all healthcare practitioners take. Furthermore, there is an estimated 200,000 patients that die in the United States annually from medical errors. 1 Introducing wireless patient monitoring in these environments can potentially mitigate the risks that are innately involved in an environment geared at treatment and maintenance of sick people. There is always the potential for cyberattacks, but the rewards may outweigh the risks. Wired technologies limit patient mobility, increase the difficulty in transporting patients, and often introduce significant delays and hassle for the caregiver in arranging the cables.