According to Brandessence research, IoT in healthcare will exceed $10 billion by 2024. In addition to these technologies, other important factors impact this growth forecast. With the advent of ultra-fast 5G wireless, AI+, and Big Data, the IoT is slowly gaining traction and evolving. The Healthcare industry becomes more connected nowadays. IoT is a powerful technology creating a revolution. IoT and 5G wireless in healthcare could revolutionize remote monitoring and treatment. The IoT will benefit patients’ health and healthcare workers’ productivity.
What is the Role of IoT in Healthcare?
First, let’s see how IoT in general works since this will help us understand the IoT in Healthcare. Devices with sensors that can interact with the physical world via the Internet. Health practitioners can input patient data and gather data from IoT devices. An effective Internet of Things Healthcare example is continuous glucose monitoring.
Each of these devices is capable of communicating with the others. Sometimes, these actions can even save lives or provide timely help. If an older person falls down, an IoT healthcare device can call a healthcare facility. A healthcare IoT device would collect passive data and send it to the cloud for doctors to review. Analyze the patient’s general health status, and determine if emergency assistance is needed.
IoT in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities
IoT holds enormous potential for revolutionizing healthcare. It’s also important to know some pitfalls connected to IoT healthcare devices.
1. Data Security
IoT in healthcare faces a major security problem. The medical industry values data privacy because medical histories are confidential. Malicious actors and sensitive information exposed may access the company’s software. In contrast, a skilled medical software developer can effectively protect your future IoT-enabled app from any malicious actions.
IoT in healthcare must focus on data security to avoid such issues. Additional costs are certainly involved with such a necessity. The GDPR and the CCPA protect patient data on IoT-connected healthcare applications. Complying with the regulatory requirements will not only prevent sensitive data. Furthermore, it will help you avoid paying heavy fines.
2. Integration of Protocols
Several different IoT medical devices are connected through IoMT. The healthcare industry relies on many devices with different protocols. Thus, it creates a flexible ecosystem. In terms of communication protocols and standards, there is no single solution. Consequently, IoT integration in the healthcare industry is slow and limited.
HIPAA and HITECH compliance is crucial when creating medical software. Numerous rules and regulations are associated with processing patients’ personal information. An IoT company with in-depth expertise can facilitate such compliance and assist you.
3. Data Overload
IoT medical devices collect and process a lot of information. This can lead to a lack of accuracy and data overload for doctors. Internet of Things healthcare applications can generate a great deal of information. It helps in making treatment decisions difficult.
The advantages of IoT in Healthcare
Increasingly, the Internet of Things is used in healthcare. As a consequence, such a solution offers several important advantages. To gain a deeper understanding of the value of healthcare IoT, let’s discuss them in more detail.
1. Health Monitoring
A smart device can track a person’s health condition. IoT can transmit an emergency alert to a doctor if a patient suffers from asthma or heart failure. With Apple Watch, a Fall Detection System is integrated with IoT technology. In case of a fall, an alert is displayed. AppleWatch can also call emergency services in another instance. Also, emergency contacts receive a message.
2. Improved patient experience
IoT in hospitals assists doctors in communicating with patients and improves the system. Customer loyalty is gained as a result of improving patient experience. As a result of IoT in healthcare, the US reduced waiting times for 50% of their emergency patients. Despite having approximately 1,100 beds, the hospital admits 59,000 patients each year. AutoBed’s primary function is to match patients with available beds. The hospital can efficiently fulfill its goals by using IoT devices in healthcare.
3. Drug Management
A key benefit of the Internet of Things in healthcare is better drug management. With IoT technology, you can control how much medicine you take. Monitoring the dose and tracking treatment effectiveness is possible for doctors. The Internet of Things also reminds patients to take their medication. If a patient fails to take medicine on time, it may be possible to notify a family member.
4. Healthcare Automation
IoT medical devices help automate routine, administrative, and manual tasks. A medical IoT application can analyze a large amount of data. It creates different metrics for determining how patients’ health is improving. Diagnostic errors can be reduced by automating the data collection process.
5. Preventive Healthcare
Heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases cause a lot of deaths. Analytic capabilities of IoT allow for more personalized treatment and care to patients. Wearable or smart IoT devices can monitor patients with chronic diseases. A doctor can see the first symptoms of the disease if they have all that data at their disposal. We have only examined the most common benefits of IoT. They believe the Internet of Things can enhance patients’ well-being through modern technology. It can assist physicians in their work through IoT-enabled medical devices.
IoT Applications in Healthcare
What are the best ways to use IoT in healthcare? We will examine three examples of the Internet of Things in healthcare below.
- Streamlining patient information remotely during an emergency or even at home.
- Devices that can perform self-maintenance. With IoT medical devices, medical personnel and manufacturers can communicate with each other. It can detect low thresholds.
- Healthcare can communicate directly with home patients and the elderly using IoT.
- The Internet of Things in healthcare can be viewed as a “primitive” form of telemedicine. Through video cameras and other electronic actuators, IoT enables remote observation of patients.
It’s All About IoT in Healthcare
IoT is not a stand-alone technology in healthcare. Changing healthcare facilities in a meaningful way requires combining IoT devices and networks with other technologies. In addition to data, high-speed communication, ensuring security, and compliance with laws, IoT will revolutionize the healthcare industry. Healthcare IoT will benefit from 5G’s ultra-low latency speeds and mobility. Through AI-driven solutions, data lakes gathered from multiple devices can make sense of each other. Using Big Data strategies, AI algorithms will analyze data in real time. It helps in making critical health decisions. With virtualization, hospitals can reduce or eliminate outdated infrastructure. Healthcare will continue to evolve with IoT and medical ERP software. IoT will soon completely transform how healthcare is approached, and make it inseparable.
