The rapid advancement of communications and networking technologies has revolutionized human's lifestyles by providing the best convenience and flexibility ever in accessing the Internet services and various types of personal communication applications. For instance, with the emerging wireless communication technologies, healthcare industry now is offering high-quality services to patients at low costs through a variety of applications. It can provide the right care to patients with different needs and patients can be treated in alternative, more cost-effective settings, for example, patients' homes or workplaces, instead of in traditional costly hospital settings. This is because these wireless-equipped healthcare systems enable remote and continuous monitoring of patients’ health status in both residential settings and outdoor settings, where patients feel more comfortable and their activities are less restricted.

Cite: Xiaodong Lin, Joel José P. C. Rodrigues, and Xu Li, "Special Issue on Security and Privacy in Communication Systems and Networks," Journal of Communications, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 575-576, 2012. Doi: 10.4304/jcm.7.8.575-576