One way to reduce reliance on costly equipment in the healthcare system is the use of Smart clothing. E-textiles are designed to feel comfortable on the skin but at the same time be functional. These smart fabrics consist of traditional fabric woven with conductive fibers as well as electronic elements such as biomedical sensors, microcontrollers, fiber optics and wearable antennas. In some clinical trials, smart clothing has shown to protect against infectious disease, help sense the state of the wearer’s health, and help prevent, treat, and manage health.
Analysis/Reflection:
Healthcare-related e-textiles have many possibilities with its innovations in high-tech fabrics and the advances in microelectronics. Some experts see smart clothing completely replacing other medical devices, such as bedside monitoring in hospitals with shirts that track hear rate, blood pressure, oxygen intact and more. It’s very important to start using these advanced technologies to try and avoid future and predictable diseases by monitoring the patients without any inconveniences. Especially stroke survivors since they are more likely to have another in the next five years.
