You are most likely familiar with the Internet of Things (IoT) in practice today. IoT is the concept of connecting various everyday devices to the Internet and using the Internet to synchronize, manage, and activate them. Amazon Alexa is one of the most well-known examples of IoT.
This industry is quite big and prosperous and potentially for years to come. The IoT's total annual revenue worldwide is expected to reach more than $621 billion in 2030. So, as it seems, the Internet of Things is here to stay and influence many areas of our lives, healthcare included.
What's more — it can massively improve the healthcare industry, making it easier for both doctors and patients to provide and receive high-quality treatment. Keep reading to discover how to leverage IoT in healthcare.
Defining IoT and Its Importance in Healthcare
The Internet of Things in healthcare is about using internet-connected medical tools and software to share data with healthcare systems. This, in turn, makes it easier to analyze information transferred from medical devices.
The IoT for healthcare was first implemented in the 1990s—everything started with basic telehealth and remote patient monitoring. By the early 2000s, technological advancements allowed the creation and use of wearable health devices and smart medical equipment. Now, IoT is changing healthcare by offering personalized treatment, real-time data analysis, and monitoring patients from afar.
Advanced AI and machine learning allow us to detect diseases early and create personalized treatment plans. Combining IoT with technologies like 5G and blockchain helps us make data transmission safer and more efficient. IoT also has the potential to shape health research and help manage public health, making healthcare better for everyone.
How IoT Facilitates Processes in Healthcare
The IoT and healthcare can collaborate in so many ways. The most common of them are:
- Clinical practices. IoT devices help healthcare teams work more efficiently by automating record-keeping and sharing real-time data. This helps improve accuracy and patient outcomes.
- Tracking and monitoring. Patients with chronic conditions can use wearable devices and apps to keep track of their vital signs, medication, and lifestyle habits. Due to that, they can manage their health better and improve their quality of life.
- Health risk assessment. IoT data analysis helps healthcare providers identify potential health risks and patterns. This allows them to take preventive measures and offer personalized interventions to improve patient outcomes.
- Care for chronic patients. IoT applications in healthcare share data seamlessly with healthcare providers to ensure consistent care for chronic patients. It leads to reduced risk of errors and improved patient satisfaction.
- Research studies. IoT data is valuable for research as it offers insights into clinical trials, treatment effects, and novel therapies. Researchers can gather real-time data to advance medical knowledge and improve patient care.
- Service metrics. Healthcare providers can use IoT data to measure service metrics like waiting times and patient flow. This helps identify areas for improvement and enhances the patient experience.
- Evaluate staffing patterns. IoT data analysis allows healthcare organizations to determine the best staffing levels and optimize resource allocation, in turn ensuring efficient patient care.
Assessing the Present State of IoT in the Healthcare Sector
The modern healthcare industry is seeing more and more applications of IoT in healthcare. New tech innovations, along with government support, are making this happen.
These days, IoT devices for healthcare work in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and even people's homes. Things like fitness trackers and smartwatches are becoming increasingly popular and help patients monitor their fitness and health in real time.
Ingestible sensors help monitor medication and vital signs. Computer vision tech is also used to catch early signs of diseases like cancer.
As you can see, IoT nowadays is making healthcare better and cheaper. Remote patient monitoring and telemedicine allow patients to receive care from their homes, reducing hospital visits. What's more, the research conducted with IoT devices leads to better patient treatments and outcomes.
Exploring the Benefits of IoT in Healthcare
From all of the above, you probably see that the benefits of IoT in healthcare are quite significant. Still, let's focus on the main ones a bit more.
Simultaneous Reporting and Monitoring
Nowadays, there are lots of smart health devices like fitness bands, heart rate monitors, and blood pressure cuffs. All of these gadgets give patients real-time updates about their health, tracking ECG, blood oxygen level, and sleep cycle, predicting menstruation/ovulation, etc.
This can be especially important for older people, who strive to stay on top of their health daily. Smart health devices can help by letting them know about any problems before they happen. What's more, they can alert the patient and their family if something seems wrong with their health.
Cost-Effectiveness
Looking for ways to optimize healthcare costs these days can be more important to organizations than it might seem. Health spending in the US alone is forecasted to grow to a total of $4.9 trillion this year. Naturally, healthcare institutions are searching for solutions that can help them save costs.
Using the IoT healthcare applications can help achieve that in the following ways:
- Such devices can conduct remote diagnostics, which means that patients don't always have to go to the hospital for check-ups. This, in turn, saves on the costs of arranging hospital visits and maintaining facilities and lowers hospitals' spending on staffing.
- IoT devices gather real-time data and send alerts about any changes in a patient's health. This means doctors can quickly spot any problems and take action, preventing serious illness and making treatment more efficient — and therefore cheaper.
- Such devices can also help with logistics, like delivering medicines and medical supplies. Drones and other tools might soon transport these items faster and cheaper than traditional methods. This could save money on transportation costs.
Data Analysis and Contribution to Research
Medical research can take a long time, but IoT can help speed things up. Researchers can use IoT data on medical conditions for statistical analysis. This saves time and money, making bigger and better research and treatments possible.
What's more, such IoT sensors can help to optimize the work of research labs. Labs need smart monitoring devices that can keep an eye on everything from temperature to CO2 levels. If something unusual is detected, the right people are alerted right away.
Tracking
These days, doctors and nurses can use wearables and other home monitoring devices to keep track of their patient's health. These devices have IoT sensors that help doctors monitor patients' medical conditions effectively. Thanks to them, they can plan treatment schedules and quickly respond to patients who need immediate medical attention.
The Internet of Things also makes it easy to keep records of each patient's medical history, current needs, and future care. This technology uses high-quality sensors to collect data from different devices and monitor even small health changes. Due to that, healthcare professionals can stay informed about their patients and communicate with them proactively. IoT also helps identify the best treatments for patients and offer them the right information when they need it.
Remote Assistance
The Internet of Things grants opportunities for remote patient monitoring and telemedicine. This, in turn, allows healthcare professionals to deliver care and support to patients from a distance.
With the help of things like video consultations, virtual visits, and remote monitoring devices, patients can access medical expertise and resources without the need for in-person appointments. This is especially important for people living in areas or countries that lack access to high-quality medicine.
Transparent Insurance Claims
Healthcare policies are constantly evolving, and so IoT connectivity is becoming especially important. Why? One of the few reasons is insurance claim regulation. In some cases, people try to claim they have health issues just to get more money from their insurance. This can cost the insurance company a lot of money.
However, with the IoT, insurance companies can use data from health monitoring devices to check if these claims are true, spot fake claims, and only give insurance to people who really need it. This helps keep insurance fair for everyone.
Challenges of the IoT in Healthcare
Using the Internet of Things in healthcare is beneficial — but it can also be complicated. Just like any relatively new niche, this one has its challenges that need to be addressed.
Data Security
Patient safety is the most important thing, and connected devices that share health data in real time are vulnerable to hacking. If the devices aren't secure enough, patient privacy is at risk.
Some IoT devices don't have sufficient security measures or comply with data protection rules. This makes it easier for cybercriminals to hack into systems and steal sensitive health information. What's more, as such devices become more common, it gets harder for companies to agree on how to share and protect data.
Because of this, many healthcare organizations have reported attacks on their IoT devices. Hackers use their data to make fake health claims and create fake IDs. Therefore, developers must make sure IoT hardware and software are secure.
Device Integration
Using different types of devices together can make integrating IoT technology in healthcare difficult. They may rely on various ways to connect and communicate with each other. Such challenges are especially pertinent for integration with legacy healthcare systems and apps.
Even the best companies responsible for medical device integration can struggle to make everything work smoothly. Without a thought-through system for data sharing, it can be difficult to make all these devices work together.
Data Overload
Another challenge of using IoT in healthcare is dealing with all the data coming from connected devices, especially when there are a lot of them. When too much data comes in from monitoring multiple patients' health all the time, the system might not be able to handle it all.
Cost Concerns
Costs can become a big challenge when it comes to using the Internet of Things in healthcare. Whenever a new technology is introduced (and IoT is relatively new), the costs can increase quickly. Healthcare organizations have to pay a lot for IoT devices and systems, and they often pass those costs on to patients.
This is a challenge, especially in countries where healthcare is already expensive. What’s more, this could also mean that people living in less developed countries might not be able to afford such healthcare at all.
How Can Jetbase Help You Implement IoT in Healthcare Products?
With 10+ years of experience in the development market, we know how to approach different industries, including healthcare. Over these years, we've delivered various solutions to clients, from a web-based app for remote patient monitoring to a medical care app for mobile.
With our industry expertise, we can quickly find the right solutions for your business and help you integrate the latest technologies, such as the Internet of Things, into your existing projects.
If you're looking for a reliable and experienced partner in software development, Jetbase can become one for you. Don't hesitate to reach out to us to discuss your project.
The Future Outlook of IoT in Healthcare
Looking ahead, there are many exciting possibilities for IoT in healthcare applications. But what are they, and how can we prepare for them?
- Personalized medicine. Tailoring treatments to fit each person's genetic makeup using IoT technology has a lot of potential. At the same time, it brings up important questions about privacy and ethics. Figuring out how to balance personalized care with protecting people's rights is a tough challenge that requires careful thought and action.
- Integration with emerging technologies. IoT doesn't work alone these days. It's closely connected to other new technologies like AI and blockchain. When these technologies are combined, they could completely change healthcare — however, we need skilled professionals to make it happen.
- Overcoming regulatory issues. Dealing with regulations is tricky, especially when they're slow to catch up with new technology. The goal is clear in this case: we need to keep innovating while making sure patients stay safe and rules are followed.
- Increasing role of policymakers and healthcare providers. It's essential to have policies that support innovation while also protecting patient privacy and making sure everyone can access care fairly. Healthcare providers must be ready to use these new technologies in their work, ensuring they help patients without complicating things.
- Growing IoT healthcare community. Being part of this community is important for anyone interested in this field. Attending webinars and conferences and joining professional groups can help you learn and connect with others. Keeping up with the latest research is also essential for those who want to stay ahead of trends and technologies.
Conclusion
The Internet of Things is a vast industry that can influence a lot of spheres of our lives, including healthcare. The application of IoT in healthcare can help ease both doctors' and patients' lives in so many ways, from making medical help more accessible and affordable throughout the globe to enhancing the quality of medical research. The implementation of this technology, however, also comes with its own risks, such as data security concerns and regulatory issues.
Knowing that it's important to approach IoT integration after carefully considering all that's written above and with a reliable partner in mind. Jetbase can become such a partner for you. Book us for a free call to find out how we can help you take your business to a whole new level.
