The benefits of integrating internet technology with standard communications for telemedicine in extreme environments

The ability to continuously monitor the vital signs of a person can be bene ficial especially if the environment is hazardous or a person simply has ge neral health concerns. We wanted to ascertain if, by integrating the Intern et, ubiquitous switching technologies and off-the-shelf tools, this "suite of services" could provide a topology to enable remote monitoring in extrem e and remote locations. An evaluation of this approach was conducted at the base camp of Mount Everest in the spring of 1999. Three climbers were outf itted with wireless, wearable sensors and transmitters for 24 h as they asc ended through the Khumbu Icefall toward Camp One. The physiologic data was forwarded to the receiving station at Base Camp where it was forwarded to t he U.S. mainland. Two of the three devices delivered physiologic data 95%-1 00% of the time while the third unit operated at only 78%. According to the climbers, the devices were unobtrusive, however, any additional weight whi le climbing Everest must provide advantage.