Report: Wi-Fi adoption in healthcare up 60% in past year
Deployment of Wi-Fi in healthcare environments has grown by more than 60 percent worldwide during the past 12 months, according to ABI Research. High double-digit growth is expected to continue for both wireless local area network (WLAN) and Wi-Fi RTLS (Real-Time Locations Systems) deployments, the London-based market research firm said.
Other wireless technologies experiencing significant growth in the healthcare area in the past year include cellular machine-to-machine systems and body-area networks, wearable wireless sensors that transmit a patient’s condition to monitoring applications, ABI reported.
“Wi-Fi adoption has helped overcome initial concerns about complexity and reliability of wireless within healthcare,” said ABI Research Principal Analyst Jonathan Collins. “The growing number of wireless technologies and wireless applications being developed, piloted and deployed within healthcare further underline the level of interest in using wireless to improve the flexibility and efficiency of healthcare services around the world."
Technologies tracked by ABI Research’s Wireless Healthcare Research Service included Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Low-Energy Bluetooth, ZigBee, 802.15.4 and proprietary low-power RF offerings across applications such as WLAN, personal monitoring, disease management, assisted living and telepresence.
Other wireless technologies experiencing significant growth in the healthcare area in the past year include cellular machine-to-machine systems and body-area networks, wearable wireless sensors that transmit a patient’s condition to monitoring applications, ABI reported.
“Wi-Fi adoption has helped overcome initial concerns about complexity and reliability of wireless within healthcare,” said ABI Research Principal Analyst Jonathan Collins. “The growing number of wireless technologies and wireless applications being developed, piloted and deployed within healthcare further underline the level of interest in using wireless to improve the flexibility and efficiency of healthcare services around the world."
Technologies tracked by ABI Research’s Wireless Healthcare Research Service included Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Low-Energy Bluetooth, ZigBee, 802.15.4 and proprietary low-power RF offerings across applications such as WLAN, personal monitoring, disease management, assisted living and telepresence.