Huawei recently took its new telemedicine system to a conference in Paris, and the system showed itself to be quite an impressive piece of communications technology. Like many impressive pieces of communications technology these days, at its roots is one basic concept driving the system and making it a force to be reckoned with, specifically, Web-based real time communications (WebRTC). WebRTC is proving itself to be a valuable part of not only many specific systems but also many separate industries, and Huawei's system showed just how powerful a concept this can be.
Huawei's WebRTC system was not only capable of providing a contact method for users to keep in easy touch, but also stepped things up a notch by added a level of machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity, allowing users of the WebRTC system to monitor certain medical sensors like weight scales and pulse oximeters. Even better, many common WebRTC functions were seen operating here as well, including things like file transfers and location sharing, as well as whiteboard collaboration tools and instant messaging tools as well.
WebRTC itself, meanwhile, allows for several critical advantages, like vastly improved interoperability—most of WebRTC runs on a Web browser, though not all Web browsers can handle it just yet, so most devices that can handle a Web browser can in turn get in on the action—as well as a carrier-class network and on-demand quality of service (QoS) mechanisms to ensure that the calls made and received via WebRTC are as high-quality as possible. Huawei's solution, meanwhile, incorporates a few advantages of its own, using a gateway that's based on session border controller models allows it to support a variety of different connection methods, from 2G, 3G and 4G to standard Internet access. Additionally, deploying a WebRTC gateway is much simpler than many would expect, requiring just one network element upgrade in order to get it up and running to the fullest. That minimizes the strain on legacy networks, and makes for smooth operation on a variety of fronts.
WebRTC in general is a game-changer when it comes to communications systems, and more and more industries are finding out the sheer value this technology poses. Healthcare especially has seen its value in not only keeping doctors connected to patients, but keeping doctors connected to other doctors and further support staff. There are a host of uses beyond healthcare, of course, but WebRTC is showing itself to offer some great possibilities in terms of allowing patients to go home faster and help keep the costs of healthcare down, while at the same time managing to provide more services.
If doctors can remotely monitor a patient's vitals—as Huawei's system certainly suggests is possible at some point—then what need is there to keep said patient in hospital? The patient's home can provide a much more comfortable and familiar environment, and with remote vitals monitoring, getting a patient home becomes a desirable and medically viable plan of attack. Huawei's healthcare technology may not be the thing that saves the healthcare system as a whole, but it's still very likely to have a positive effect on the system as a whole.
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
