According to Global News Wire, the Internet of Things in the Healthcare sector is expected to reach $155.8 billion by 2027, indicating rapid adoption of this technology. But there are many things you need to know before investing in IoT in healthcare. What is Internet of Things in Healthcare benefits? What are the challenges? Here are the answers and some usage cases that show what Connected Health Solutions can do:
Benefits of implementing IoT in Healthcare
There are several benefits to using healthcare mobility solution, including the following:
1. Better healthcare
Connected medical devices provide healthcare providers with the information to provide better care to their patients, especially concerning chronic diseases. Over 40% of Americans have at least one chronic disease, and a significant proportion of them manage two or more. These patients need lifelong care and are at risk of recovery over time.
Healthcare providers may use the information provided by connected health devices to look for early warning signs of recurrence. They may intervene before the patient’s condition worsens.
2. Better Research
Scientific research always benefits from more data. The data that IoT Health Devices collects can be used to study in-depth, especially information about how a particular drug, device or treatment works outside of traditional clinical settings.
3. Personal Attention
While healthcare professionals collect and analyse each patient’s health data manually, they cannot expect to collect enough to provide an individual approach for each patient. Healthcare IoT solutions can automate most data collection processes, allowing care providers to create detailed health profiles, and they can then tailor their treatment to the needs of each patient.
4. Cost Efficiency
Better Care IoT devices allow patients to get out of the hospital, and this greatly reduces their overall health care costs and keeps them productive for longer. It is estimated that remote patient tracking using IoT health devices could have an economic impact of up to $ 1.6 trillion per year by 2025.
Challenges to Face while investing IoT in Healthcare
There are three main Internet of Things healthcare challenges in resisting the adoption of collective smart devices:
1. Complexity
Connected health devices generate large amounts of health data daily for each patient. Healthcare institutes who have never used this type of technology can influence themselves with this stream of information.
A 2018 survey showed that 71% of medical device manufacturers believed that healthcare providers and physicians were unwilling to use the data provided by these devices.
2. Regulatory Framework
IoT devices are just beginning to become commonplace in healthcare. Many patients never have access to IoT devices and may have difficulty learning how to use them. Rules regulating the use of Connected Health Solutions sometimes prevent IoT implementation in healthcare. It would take an additional five years in the regulatory framework to reflect the full range of what medical devices can do.
3. Security
Protecting IoT devices is extremely difficult, but healthcare providers need to take all possible precautions to protect patient’s health data from cyber-attacks. This paradox has made many healthcare providers reluctant to adopt IoT solutions for healthcare, even if they are eager to find out what these techniques can do.
Applications in IoT Healthcare
IoT applications in healthcare are not only for healthcare organizations but also for patients! In short, the future of IoT healthcare depends on the performance the following functions:
- Reduce waiting time in the emergency room.
- Tracking of patients, staff and inventory.
- Increase in drug management practice.
- Ensuring the availability of complex hardware.
Now, you cannot achieve these benefits without different types of IoT devices in the healthcare sector. Some of the popular variants and applications of IoT in healthcare are as follows:
Hearing aids
Hearables are known as a new age hearing aid for hearing loss and lost contact with the real world. The way IoT-powered devices have changed the world with hearing aids solutions is commendable. The listening device is compatible with your smartphone, and you can sync your Bluetooth with the device. It also allows you to filter, parse and add layered features to real-world sounds.
Swallowable sensor
The marvel of true modern science is the swallowable sensor, a swallowing tablet-shaped sensor to monitor the drugs entering our body and warn the user/doctor in case of any irregularity. This sensor can be a boon for people with diabetes as it will help control symptoms and provide early warning for diseases. One of the main examples is protein health, which is used for better understanding, analysis and care.
Mood enhancers
A mood-enhancing tool that can help lift your mood throughout the day! It sounds fantastic, but it is not far from reality. “Mood-enhancers ” are a head-mounted variable that sends a low-intensity current to the brain to boost mood.
Computer Vision Technology
The AI with computer power has given birth to drone technology aimed at mimicking visual perception to make decisions based on it. This technology has also helped the visually impaired to navigate effectively.
Healthcare Charting
The IoT-powered device greatly reduces the manual work that a doctor has to perform during patient charting. The IoT sensor can measure all types of O.D. data, such as blood pressure, body temperature, etc., and can be charted by IoT in an application connected to measuring devices. This makes patient data easily accessible for review. Such an IoT application can save up to 15 hours/week of a doctor’s manual charting.
Cases of use – IoT in healthcare
According to a survey conducted in 2019, 88% of healthcare providers were considering investing in RPM technologies to support high-risk, long-sick patients outside of a hospital setting. Medical IoT devices are in their early stage of development, but they already have a bunch of impressive capabilities and a promising importance of healthcare information technology. The five current use cases for IoT in healthcare include the following:
- Gathering real-world data for post-market clinical follow-up
- Remote care facility
- Increasing patient compliance
- Moving health information to the cloud
- Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
Final thoughts
It is just beginning to see the full impact of IoT in healthcare. There is every reason to think that this technology will become an expected part of quality care in the years to come. Healthcare providers today must find solutions to operate an integrated medical IoT network in the hope of future-proofing their practice.
