Book chapter · 2023

The Role of 5G Networks in Healthcare Applications

Narasimha Rao VajjhalaiD & Philip EappeniD

In Applications of 5G and Beyond in Smart Cities, pp. 87–98, CRC Press · Published

Scopus

Research summary

The summary, key findings, methodology and relevance notes below are this website’s own description of the chapter, written from the published abstract and text. The official abstract and citation details are given further down.

The Problem
COVID-19 exposed overcrowded hospitals and unequal access to medical resources, and the potential of 5G networks to support smarter healthcare remained unclear to policymakers.
The Methodology
Review chapter of 5G technologies and their application to smart healthcare services, with a discussion of deployment challenges and leadership and policy recommendations.
The Core Finding
The chapter maps 5G technologies to smart healthcare applications, sets out the challenges of deploying them, and gives leadership and policy recommendations for designing 5G-enabled healthcare strategies.
The Citation
Vajjhala, N. R., & Eappen, P. (2023). The Role of 5G Networks in Healthcare Applications. In Ambar Bajpai, Arun Balodi (Eds.), Applications of 5G and Beyond in Smart Cities (pp. 87–98). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003227861-5

What question does this chapter answer?

How can 5G cellular technologies be leveraged to deliver smart healthcare services, what applications and deployment challenges exist, and what should leaders and policymakers do to exploit them?

What did the chapter find, in detail?

Motivated by the strain that COVID-19 placed on hospitals and the global imbalance in medical resources, the chapter reviews the various 5G technologies and examines how they can support smart healthcare services. It presents smart healthcare applications that leverage 5G networks, discusses the challenges of deploying them, and offers leadership recommendations to help policymakers design strategies for 5G-enabled smart healthcare.

Why does it matter?

A growing global population and overcrowded hospitals make smarter healthcare management a necessity. 5G’s bandwidth, latency and connectivity characteristics underpin many smart-city health services, and leaders need a clear view of both the applications and the deployment barriers.

Key findings

  1. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed overcrowded hospitals and a global imbalance in medical resources, making smarter healthcare management imperative as the population grows.
  2. 5G cellular communications bring significant potential for innovation across sectors, including healthcare; the chapter reviews the 5G technologies involved.
  3. Various smart healthcare applications leveraging 5G networks are presented, together with the challenges involved in deploying them.
  4. The chapter provides recommendations for leadership to help policymakers design strategies that leverage 5G to create smart healthcare applications.

Source: Vajjhala & Eappen (2023), In Applications of 5G and Beyond in Smart Cities, pp. 87–98, CRC Press. DOI: 10.1201/9781003227861-5

Chapter at a glance

Design and results of The Role of 5G Networks in Healthcare Applications
QuestionHow can 5G networks be leveraged for smart healthcare, and what are the challenges?
DesignReview chapter
ContextStrained post-COVID-19 healthcare systems; global imbalance in medical resources; rising population
CoverageReview of 5G technologies; smart healthcare applications leveraging 5G; deployment challenges
RecommendationsLeadership guidance for policymakers designing 5G-enabled smart healthcare strategies
CitationVajjhala & Eappen (2023) · DOI 10.1201/9781003227861-5

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted strained healthcare systems with overcrowded hospitals and a global imbalance in medical resources. The rapidly increasing global population makes it imperative to identify smarter ways of healthcare management. The advent of 5G cellular communications technology brings significant potential for innovation across different sectors, including healthcare. This chapter provides a review of the various 5G technologies and examines how these technologies can be leveraged to provide smart healthcare services. A discussion of various smart healthcare applications leveraging 5G networks is presented in this chapter, along with the challenges involved in deploying the applications. This chapter also provides recommendations for leadership that could help policymakers design strategies to leverage 5G networks and create smart healthcare applications.

Abstract as published in Applications of 5G and Beyond in Smart Cities.

Limitations

  • A review chapter; it does not report an empirical deployment or performance measurements of 5G healthcare systems.

When this research may be relevant

This chapter may be relevant to literature on 5G and beyond in healthcare and smart cities, telehealth and remote care infrastructure, technology strategy for health systems after COVID-19, and policy-oriented reviews of connected health applications.

Research topics addressed: 5G networks; smart healthcare; healthcare applications; telehealth; smart cities; healthcare management; COVID-19; digital health infrastructure; technology leadership; health policy

How to cite

Vajjhala, N. R., & Eappen, P. (2023). The Role of 5G Networks in Healthcare Applications. In Ambar Bajpai, Arun Balodi (Eds.), Applications of 5G and Beyond in Smart Cities (pp. 87–98). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003227861-5

BibTeX
@incollection{vajjhala2023role,
  title = {The Role of 5G Networks in Healthcare Applications},
  author = {Vajjhala, Narasimha Rao and Eappen, Philip},
  booktitle = {Applications of 5G and Beyond in Smart Cities},
  editor = {Ambar Bajpai and Arun Balodi},
  pages = {87--98},
  year = {2023},
  publisher = {CRC Press},
  doi = {10.1201/9781003227861-5},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003227861-5}
}
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