This study explores the prospect of using AI-integrated smart medical textiles for real-time vital signs monitoring in hospital management and the broader healthcare industry. Smart textiles, which embed biosensors and conductive materials within wearable fabrics, have evolved from experimental prototypes into clinically relevant tools capable of continuously tracking physiological parameters such as cardiac activity, respiratory function, body temperature, oxygen saturation, blood flow, and muscle activity. The integration of artificial intelligence enables advanced signal processing, artifact suppression, predictive modeling, and real-time classification of health events, thereby transforming raw data into actionable clinical insights. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a total of 152 peer-reviewed articles were systematically reviewed, collectively cited more than fifteen thousand times, ensuring a comprehensive synthesis of technological, clinical, operational, and regulatory perspectives. The findings revealed that AI-enhanced smart textiles deliver accuracy comparable to conventional monitoring devices while offering advantages in comfort, mobility, and continuous data capture. Hospitals implementing these systems reported operational benefits such as reduced nurse workload, improved alarm management, and expanded monitoring coverage, alongside clinical gains including earlier detection of patient deterioration, reductions in adverse events, shortened lengths of stay, and decreased readmissions. International case studies highlighted adoption across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, while regulatory discussions underscored the importance of compliance with FDA, EMA, ISO, and IEC standards for successful deployment. Beyond inpatient care, the review identified applications in rehabilitation, chronic disease management, maternal and neonatal monitoring, occupational health, and telehealth integration, illustrating the adaptability of these technologies across healthcare contexts. Overall, the synthesis demonstrates that AI-integrated smart medical textiles represent a transformative innovation, offering both clinical and operational value, with strong potential to reshape hospital management and support the global transition toward more patient-centered, data-driven healthcare systems.
Karim et al. (2024) studied this question.