Wearable and Portable eHealth Systems

In this article we have outlined the importance and role of personal health management systems (PHMSs) along with some technical challenges and opportunities. In addition, there are a number of other challenges that need to be considered in order to enable PHMSs to achieve the expected level of operational dependability and establish their place in healthcare. The integration of PHMSs in healthcare implies their interconnection with health information systems (HISs) and electronic health records (EHRs). The most important requirement arising from this is the need for interoperability between PHMSs and HISs/EHRs. The potential of wearable and portable PHMSs to enable the shift to citizen-centered personalized care has been demonstrated through the work carried out under the European Commission´s Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes.