The movement of patient care away from hospitals and clinics and into homes is a growing trend. Portable medical electronics technology can expedite this process. In their most basic form, portable medical devices are all battery-operated microcontrolled hand held devices that take and analyze measurements using various bio-sensors on a patient.

Theres a growing trend of patient care moving away from hospitals and clinics and into homes. Healthcare providers are also driving this, as home care can help in improving efficiency and reducing costs incurred by doctors and hospitals. Portable medical electronics technology can expedite this process.

In the most basic form, portable medical devices are all battery-operated, microcontrolled hand held devices that take and analyze measurements using various bio-sensors on a patient.
There are several functional blocks that are common to most portable home-based and consumer medical devices:
Bio-sensor(s) or bio transducers
Amplification and analog-to-digital conversion of the sensor input
Power management: system power control and power sequencing
Micro controller: low-power operation and control.
User interface: display and human machine interface: keypads, scroll wheels, buttons and switches

Additional requirements may drive needs for:
Storage: interface to multiple standards
Interfaces: wireless and wired
Audio feedback or notification

Portable medical devices must offer low-power consumption to extend battery life. Making the device robust and adhering to health governance rules are additional requirements. And like all designs, faster time-to-market, low cost, reliability and small form factors are important.

While engineering is generally about making trade-offs between opposing features, specifications, and space constraints, such trade-offs are generally difficult to make in the portable medical arena. The requirements in this market are often incongruousthe need for a small form factor along with high functionality; low power consumption along with high performance analog; and long battery life along with high processing capability.

An excellent example system is a portable Patient Vital Signs Monitor, which measures blood pressure, heart rate, pulse oxygen and temperature using IR thermometry. Using a