Pervasive Computing and Security in Healthcare

This assignment delves into the intersection of pervasive computing and healthcare, examining the potential benefits of M-Healthcare and Smart Homes. It emphasizes the critical need for robust data security measures to protect patient information and build trust in these emerging technologies. The discussion highlights the challenges in ensuring data integrity and quality, and underscores the importance of ongoing research and analysis to enhance the security of pervasive environments in healthcare.

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Pervasive Computing Environments
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Contents
What is Pervasive Computing? [1][2]..........................................................................................................2
Case studies on Healthcare & Pervasive Computing...................................................................................3
Healthcare Environment 1 – M-Healthcare System....................................................................................3
Opportunities for Pervasive Computing..................................................................................................3
Proposed Pervasive Computing Environment for M-Health Care............................................................3
Healthcare Environment 2 – Smart Homes.................................................................................................4
Opportunities for Pervasive Computing..................................................................................................4
Privacy in Pervasive Smart Homes...........................................................................................................5
Comparing Pervasive Environments – M-Healthcare versus Smart Homes.................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7
What is Pervasive Computing? [1][2]
 Pervasive (ubiquitous) computing is one of the latest technologies in the world of computing.
 It has become an integral part of communication. In a Pervasive environment, users have the
freedom to connect with any device. This could be anything like mobile phones, laptops, smart
phones, terminals and tablets.
 Pervasive computing revolves around major technologies like operating systems,
microprocessors, mobile protocols, advanced middleware, sensors/actuators and the internet.
 The vision behind Pervasive computing is completely different. In a pervasive environment,
devices can act as portals to application-data space. This space is not a traditional repository where
custom software packages are executed. Instead, it is all about real time connections, data transfers
and message interpretations!

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Case studies on Healthcare & Pervasive Computing
Healthcare Environment 1 – M-Healthcare System
According to recent trends, the need for applications that can send and receive information via wireless
sensor networks has increased drastically. Mobile healthcare systems require many applications to
provide better healthcare of high quality. This is why many healthcare organizations use Mobile
healthcare systems. This is a latest wireless and mobile technology network that helps in the
implementation of efficient healthcare systems. These systems are believe in the use of non-wearable and
wearable sensory devices. This proposal can introduce various legal, privacy and security issues. The
World Health Organization claims that many people are killed by heart diseases every year. To help
people with heart diseases, there should be an efficient and sophisticated strategy. This is where pervasive
computing comes into the picture.
Opportunities for Pervasive Computing
With the advent of smart healthcare facilities, patients will be able to receive premium healthcare services
at affordable rates.
A basic M-Health care system would have the following responsibilities.
1) The M-Health care system can keep track of patient details and family information.
2) The system is designed with emergency buttons that can be used to call family members, doctors
and ambulance. During these calls, Personal Health Information (PHI) should be shared.
Proposed Pervasive Computing Environment for M-Health Care
 An important module in M-Health care would be “Health Monitoring”.
o This is an important module that holds details of the user’s personal health information
like temperature, heartbeat, blood pressure, blood sugar and few other critical stats.
o These details can be collected by BSN and stored using Bluetooth.

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o 3G networks can be used to transfer these details to the healthcare center. Medical
professionals use these details to provide assistance to patients.
o In case of life threatening situations, doctors will be able to save lives better using
pervasive computing.
 Body Sensor Network is another important component that transfers data from wearable
devices.
o The body sensor network uses various units and wireless communication to transfer data.
o The devices should be worn by the human body
o Wearable sensors can be used to monitor the following healthcare stats: blood oxygen
levels and ECG.
o Critical details of the wearer’s physical activity can be shared using the body sensor
network.
 Database servers and web portals can be used to manage and monitor the entire pervasive
environment.
o The server deals with patient details (read and stores information).
o The web portal displays critical information to doctors and patients.
Healthcare Environment 2 – Smart Homes
Healthcare has improved drastically over the past few years. There are advanced healthcare services for
medical staff and patients. Smart Homes is a sophisticated pervasive environment that offers monitoring
and self-treatment for patients. Smart Homes use simple devices that trigger standard outputs for certain
physical conditions.
Opportunities for Pervasive Computing
Smart homes play an integral role in the pervasive paradigm. Here are few reasons why Smart Homes
form a pervasive environment:

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1) Smart Homes use components like sensors, which can be transparent and invisible to patients.
2) Smart Homes store and communicate capabilities with PHI, collection and processing
information.
3) Information from the devices are authenticated and authorized.
However, Smart Homes is strongly related with privacy issue.
Here are few privacy principles to be followed by Smart Homes:
1) A HIPAA privacy officer has to be appointed
2) Minimum necessary policies like non-routine disclosures, routine disclosures and uses should be
documented
3) Policies for information on how records can be accessed should be defined
4) Policies on how accounting information can be accessed should be defined
5) Policies on how information amendment can be done should be defined
6) Business associate policies and contracts should be defined
Privacy in Pervasive Smart Homes
There are plenty of papers to describe how smart home solutions can be made secure. Some of these
approaches are used.
A well-known RFID based privacy protection is used by existing smart homes. The ultimate goal of RFID
is to help patients control what is shared in the pervasive environment.
Few outlined safeguards are as follows:
1) Privacy protection systems should be used to preserve entity authorization, confidentiality and
integrity
2) Access control mechanisms should be used to define how Mobile RFID provides content. Access
control mechanisms should be used to manage log data, personal information and object
information.

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3) Mobile RFID applications should have the following facilities
a. Communicate through secure paths
b. Provide accurate auditing functionalities
c. Rules should be created to manage personal information – Rapid Prototyping systems can
be used here!
d. You should be able to negotiate privacy policies to prevent the way personal information
gets gathered and shared.
Challenges in Smart Homes are very prominent. Data integrity and quality are of top priority. This is
because many other fields of information security gets derived with integrity and quality. Addressing
these two concerns is important for creating secure pervasive environments.
Comparing Pervasive Environments – M-Healthcare versus
Smart Homes
Pervasive environments can change the way we see healthcare. M-Healthcare is way of communicating
patient details across several channels and availing immediate support. It is very useful when homes have
critical patients who may require immediate help! On the other hand, Smart Homes can be used to
improve your family’s health quotient. To be more precise, people who use Smart Homes efficiently will
know how to handle their health conditions. They will be able to acquire prompt healthcare assistance.
M-Healthcare and Smart Homes are prone to data security issues. These issues should be addressed to
improve the efficiency and reliability of pervasive environments in healthcare. Data security issues can
make patients feel vulnerable. Organizations that rely on pervasive environments should create a safe and
secure platform for their patients. They must make sure data is acquired, stored and analyzed with
predefined principles. This is easy said than done!

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Plenty of research is done to improve the security quotient of pervasive environments like Smart Homes
and M-Healthcare. Yet, there is plenty of scope for research and analysis. These security questions should
be answered to ensure pervasive environments reach a whole new level!
References
1. Beal, V. (2017). Pervasive Computing. Retrieved from
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/pervasive_computing.html
2. POST note (2006). Pervasive Computing. Retrieved from
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn263.pdf
3. Jazayeri, M. (nd). On The Way To Pervasive Computing. Retrieved from
http://www.inf.usi.ch/jazayeri/docs/papers/pervasive.pdf
4. Scheermesser, M., Kosow, H., Rashid, A. & Holtmann, C. (nd). User Acceptance of Pervasive
Computing in Healthcare: Main Findings of two Case Studies. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.682.6253&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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5. Theoharidou, M., Tsalis, N., & Gritzalis, D. (2014). Smart home solutions for healthcare: privacy in
ubiquitous computing infrastructures. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.723.4834&rep=rep1&type=pdf
6. Bhagyashree, W. & Nikose, A.A. (2016). Mobile health care computing for better health monitoring.
GRD Journals, 1(7). Retrieved from
http://www.grdjournals.com/uploads/article/GRDJE/V01/I07/0029/GRDJEV01I070029.pdf