The Internet of Things (IoT) has triggered a digital revolution in diverse industries with healthcare being one of the areas most significantly impacted. The IoT refers to the interconnected devices communicating and transferring information over the internet with each other. The IoT in healthcare industry has offered a variety of possibilities for service improvements: enhanced patient care, streamlined hospital workflows, lower costs, and promoted self-management of health by the patient. The purpose of this blog is to survey all aspects of IoT affecting healthcare, documenting the changes and the challenges it introduces.
Introduction to IoT in Healthcare
IoT in healthcare refers to a connected ecosystem of devices, sensors, and software that send, receive, and analyze health data in real time. Connected devices include traditional wearable devices, such as smart watches, new biosensors, and advanced medical-grade, connected devices found in hospitals. All this technology is being leveraged to enhance the monitoring of a patient’s health and enable timely interventions.
The emergence of IoT in healthcare allows for remote patient monitoring, personalized medicine, and more efficient management of hospital systems, workflows, and resources, transforming healthcare delivery.
How is IoT used in a specific application area of healthcare?
1. RPM or Remote Patient Monitoring
Remote patient monitoring has developed into one of the most popular IoT use cases in healthcare. Wearable devices monitor and transmit a patient’s vital signs (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels). Smartwatches (which may include ECGs), biosensors, or connected glucose monitors allow healthcare providers to track a patient’s health conditions in real time. Remote monitoring of healthcare conditions adds the benefit of continuous monitoring of chronic neurological complaints or exacerbations of other medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) while reducing hospital visits.
For example, suppose a patient suffering from chronic heart disease wears a connected device. His heart rate, oxygen levels, and physical activity, and the data from the device are sent to a cloud-management program. This analyzes his heart rate against the average metabolic function. If his heart rate transitions to an unexplained or abnormal pattern, an alert is sent to his healthcare provider. This reminds them to check in with him and provide an intervention to possibly mitigate a heart attack event.
2. Smart Hospitals
Smart hospitals incorporate IoT devices into their infrastructure in order to promote operational and patient care efficiency. Many different IoT platforms can act as enablers for hospital administration by making bed occupancy more efficient; or software that tracks medical equipment within the hospital.
For example, you could attach RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags to medical equipment to monitor the location and movements of important equipment. Thereby ensuring that the right equipment is always available for the healthcare providers when needed. Smart beds with wireless sensors can autonomously adjust to ensure patient comfort and even flag a nurse when the patient needs assistance.
3. Telemedicine
Telemedicine has been growing quickly, enabled by IoT. This allows physicians to monitor patients in a fully remote option, with no need for in-person visits. Telemedicine platforms allow doctors to conduct consultations, assessments, and even treatment – all from a distance.
For example, a connected thermometer or hypertension cuff may relay that information to the physician during the telemedicine consultation and allow personalized treatment without the patient having to leave his or her home.
4. Medication Management
IoT devices may also act to support adherence to a patient’s prescribed medications. Possible applications could include smart pill dispensers or connected medication bottles. They can identify the participants’ medicine times and notify caregivers or healthcare providers about missed doses.
For example, there is a completely connected smart pill box that alerts a patient when a dose is due, then a sensor records the dosage as taken. If the patient misses a dose, reminders or alerts can be sent to them or the healthcare team.
5. Wearables and Fitness Trackers
Consumer-grade wearables, such as a fitness tracker or smartwatch, have become more advanced with the capability to track health metrics, not just fitness trackers. These devices today are used not just for fitness but also as a protective care coordination device for the ease of observing, tracking, and gaining health insights from tracking health information on the user’s daily exercise, sleep, and vital signs.
Example: A wearable fitness tracker can measure heart rate variability and sleep quality and alert the person wearing the device or their healthcare provider to the onset of stress or sleep disorders, facilitating early medical intervention.
What are the benefits of IoT in Healthcare?
The growing prevalence of IoT in healthcare provides numerous benefits, including:
1. Improved Patient Outcomes
Real-time monitoring and analytics allow for the quick recognition of abnormalities that could necessitate further medical investigation. This level of proactive care through IoT is likely to improve patient outcomes and could be particularly important to patients with chronic diseases.
2. Improved Patient Engagement
IoT places patients in a position to play a more active role in health intervention. Devices that allow patients to monitor their own health metrics and mobile health applications can support health accountability and public health adherence.
3. Enhanced Operating Efficiency
IoT improves hospital management in a number of ways, including tracking and maintaining equipment maintenance schedules and managing staff schedules more efficiently. By improving administrative and workflow efficiencies, hospitals can reduce operational costs and improve the overall patient experience.
4. Cost Reduction
IoT can aid in reducing expenditures relative to patient care, including cost reduction by reducing hospital readmissions and enabling remote patient monitoring and more efficient hospital operations. Ideally, this will reduce costs for both healthcare providers and patients. Especially for managing chronic diseases, which continue to be a major burden on an already overwhelmed healthcare system.
What will be the issues in IoT Healthcare?
Despite its numerous benefits, IoT in healthcare creates serious issues that need to be resolved before its adoption is widespread.
1. Data Security and Privacy
The increasing implementation of connected devices in the health settings creates questions concerning data security and patient privacy. Health care data is sensitive, and compromised data would have severe consequences for patients involved in breaches. Areas for particular attention in data security issues are encryption, secure data transmissions and policy, such as HIPAA specific to patient data privacy.
2. Interoperability
There are a variety of devices used in health care settings. Most of these devices are manufactured by a variety of manufacturers. It limits the effectiveness of the IoT interconnectivity when some degree of interoperability among devices is paramount. Additionally, devices need to communicate appropriately with necessary health care systems including electronic health records (EHRs).
3. Data Overload
IoT devices are generating massive amounts of data, and healthcare organizations must have the means to utilize and analyze relevant data. If data are not appropriately organized and filtered, healthcare providers will not be able to act on appropriate information; they will drown in data and may miss what is important.
4. Regulatory Compliance
The healthcare sector has many regulatory requirements. The healthcare-related machines that fall under the IoT umbrella will also be subject to regulations. Manufacturers and healthcare organizations will need to comply with safety and efficacy. Compliance can pose challenges to healthcare organizations and manufacturers, including medical device regulations, data protection regulations, and other healthcare regulations.
What is the future of IoT in healthcare?
As IoT continues to develop, here are some trends shaping healthcare futures:
1. Artificial Intelligence and IoT (AIoT)
AI and machine learning are poised to be plugged into IoT devices to help analyze the wide widths of data coming from healthcare IoT devices. AIoT might mean predictive analytics, tailored treatment protocols, or tasks that have been routinely done by healthcare personnel can be automated.
2. 5G Connectivity
5G rollout will enhance IoT in healthcare. Using 5G IoT will mean faster data downloads, shorter latency periods, and more devices connecting to one another. This will be crucial for actions like remote surgery, which will have to use real-time data with minimal delay.
3. Blockchain for Data Security
Blockchain technology can be an important component of IoT healthcare applications by increasing data security. If patient data were organized on a decentralized blockchain as tamper-proof records, some of the concerns surrounding breaches and the stability of patient relationships could be addressed.
Conclusion
IoT in the healthcare space is more than just one method to increase patient care, cut costs, and optimize healthcare operations. IoT in healthcare may mean technological solutions for remote patient monitoring to smart hospitals, curtaining data to be more patient-focused environments in hospitals. However, challenges that have been recognized, such as avoidance of data security risks, ease of critical telemedicine interoperability, or earnest indications of regulatory concerns, must be resolved for IoT to continue to evolve in a productive manner.
Additionally, IoT is not only revolutionizing healthcare but also significantly impacting other sectors, such as IoT in Supply Chain and Logistics, driving efficiency and transparency across industries. The future of IoT in healthcare, especially with the advancement of technologies, seems a positive and healthy opportunity. Therefore, the future looks to be more connected, and actualized effort, for not just patients, but the overall patient-centered healthcare system.
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