'Smart' Hospital to Improve Care
From: BBC News - May 7, 2003
 
Scientists at Aarhus University's Center for Pervasive Computing in Denmark
are working on several ways to enhance medical care for patients. For
example, an "intelligent bed" features built-in computers with sensors that
track the patient's position and adjusts itself as needed. The beds also have
a screen where doctors can read patient notes, eliminating the need for
paper-based notes or handheld computers. To ensure security of the displays,
the research team are working on special pens that allow only doctors to get
access to patients' data. Dr. Jakob Bardram says the team is trying to
incorporate chips in the pen as an identification tool; the security
technology is similar to those used by banks. Another invention is a medicine
box with an embedded computer the size of a coin. These boxes would indicate
to a nurse at the bedside that a box belongs to a particular patient.
Finally, the researchers are working to develop computers small enough to
insert into the pills themselves, says Bardram, thereby allowing the pill to
communicate with the medicine container to ensure accurate medicine delivery. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3004089.stm