Healthcare administrators hope that the fifth generation (5G) internet technology will be very effective in providing medical assistance in rural areas.
The absence of local doctors and public transport makes life in the countryside more difficult, especially for the elderly, but researchers in Germany believe that faster internet connections may be the key to solving this problem.
The Amberg-Weiden University of Applied Sciences in the German state of Bavaria is looking into areas where the 5G network can improve health care for patients in remote areas of the country.
Professors Clemens Polita and Stephen Hamm have been working since the beginning of 2020 on a new concept with their team of 15 researchers, as Hamm believes that the fifth generation technology will not solve all problems in the field of health care, but the high speeds of the network will bring many advantages.
"This progress may emerge when data is transmitted in real time to the hospital while the patient is in the ambulance, in the emergency room or in the patient's room," says Hamm.
Driverless transportation systems, hours of video consultation, and robot-assisted operations are just some of the other things that researchers are thinking about.
Polita adds that the nationwide public 5G network is not strictly necessary to improve healthcare, but it could be a specific care facility, hospital, or just a single operating room equipped with 5G technology.
He says that the Corona epidemic in particular showed the importance of digital communications, as the fifth generation network can support telemedicine by allowing large amounts of footage to be transmitted quickly.
In addition, as the network capacity increases, many users can be active simultaneously without overloading it, especially with urgent and sensitive data, as the connection must work without interruption.
By researching technical, legal and ethical questions, the project aims to provide political leaders, medical companies, and hospitals with recommendations for action.
The team takes placebo patients and then works to determine the area in which 5G technology will be useful in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation or care.
In addition to the possibilities, the team also wants to know the limitations of 5G technology, and is data protection foolproof when handling patient files? Is there adequate IT security? Or can online medical tools be disabled or even turned off from the outside?
However, with all that might be technically and legally possible, researchers also question whether this is morally justifiable.
For example, Polita says the social aspect of the doctor-patient interaction should not be lost if health care becomes increasingly digital, especially in rural areas where the elderly may be alone, and in this case it is not correct to restrict personal contact any more.
Conversely, if clinicians can speed up some work procedures with the help of digital tools, they may have more time for personal contact with patients.