Pandemic is a word that we are not likely to forget for a while. If there was one thing that the pandemic made us all realize—it was the need to better our healthcare system. In this blog, we discuss the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare.
What is the problem?
When was the last time you saw a doctor? Booking medical appointments is sure a pain, is it not? And that’s not even the biggest problem when it comes to healthcare. The increasing medical costs, the lack of access to medical resources, and the growth of the elderly population with chronic diseases are just some that top the list. All these put a strain on the healthcare system.
Is there a Solution?
IoT is a solution, of course! How? Here’s a rather simple explanation:
Before the Internet of Things (IoT), if you were a patient, you’d have to book an appointment, and your interactions with the doctor were limited to visits. Sometimes, there were tele and text communications. But there was no way for your doctor to continuously monitor your health and make the needed recommendations.
However, things have changed with IoT. It provides a seamless platform to facilitate interactions between you and your doctor. IoT-enabled devices make remote health monitoring possible. It empowers not just you to keep track of your health but also helps your doctor deliver superlative care.
IoT is the answer when it comes to decreasing the strain on existing healthcare systems and providing tailored services to improve one’s health.
Why use IoT in Healthcare?
IoT has a major impact on reducing healthcare costs significantly and improving treatment outcomes. Discussed below are some of the benefits of IoT in healthcare.
Reduced Costs
Costs are incurred every time you’ve to go to the hospital. There are costs for appointments with doctors, hospital stays, and readmissions.
IoT enables patient monitoring in real-time. This technology-driven setup means that unnecessary visits to the doctors are cut down, and better-quality resources are used. This also improves allocation and planning, consequently reducing costs across the system.
Improved Treatment
IoT devices collect vast amounts of real-time data. They do not just collect data from multiple devices but also report and analyze that data. This cuts down the need to store raw data and also saves healthcare professionals from manually analyzing data originating from multiple sources and devices.
All this can happen over the cloud-based platforms, with the professionals only accessing final reports with graphs. It then enables them to make evidence-based informed decisions to provide better treatment.
For example, patients can use wearables and other home monitoring equipment embedded with IoT. Based on the data from those IoT devices, doctors can keep track of patients’ health effectively. They can also track patients’ adherence to treatment plans or any need for immediate medical attention.
With IoT, healthcare professionals can be more watchful and connect with patients proactively. Data collected from IoT devices can help them identify the best treatment process for patients.
Faster Diagnosis
Before the introduction of IoT, the diagnosis of diseases was possible only after having a physical examination in the hospital. More often than not, patients remained at the hospital throughout their diagnosis and treatment process. This made it time-consuming.
Things have changed with IoT. It is now possible for miniaturized devices such as smartwatches to diagnose various diseases and monitor health. Continuous patient monitoring and real-time data help diagnose diseases early or even before the disease develops based on symptoms.
IoT-based medical devices collect the required information and update the rigorousness of health constraints. IoT devices and medical parameters related to sensor readings help identify diseases within the correct timeframe, unlike traditional methods that take longer.
Proactive Treatment
The traditional healthcare system is reactive. On the other hand, IoT-based healthcare systems are proactive and preventive. The use of IoT applications in healthcare allows for the automated capture and exchange of rich information between patients, medical professionals, and hospitals, allowing intelligent, high-quality medical services to be rendered
IoT allows doctors to monitor patients’ health remotely and around the clock with wearables and sensors. Because IoT is supported by cognitive computing, which helps healthcare professionals make sense of a continuous stream of health data.
With IoT, people can monitor their health parameters alongside their physicians. When they start taking care of their health more proactively, that actually reduces their risk of developing bigger problems.
IoT devices are altering the course of healthcare. Not only does the data gathered from wearables improve the health of the person wearing them, but that data can also improve outcomes for everyone.
Improved Drug Management
Doctor’s prescriptions are rather difficult to track, don’t you think? It is overwhelming to remember which medicines to take, in what quantities, and at what time.
With IoT devices, drug management becomes relatively easy. The devices keep track of drug regimens and ensure you stay on schedule.
An example is an app-integrated-automatic pill dispenser that sorts and dispenses your medications according to your prescribed schedule and sends you dosage reminders via phone notifications. In addition, this also orders refills for you and delivers them directly to your door.
Better Asset Management
Large quantities of medical items and human intensive working processes make it rather difficult for traditional healthcare systems to provide timely and accurate inventory management and forecasting.
With IoT devices, there are automated workflow systems that require minimal manual interaction. From replenishing medical amenities to placing orders—everything can be done automatically.
In addition to that, data collected can also be analyzed to predict future demand.
For example, IoT technologies like RFID and WSN track various healthcare-related assets such as infusion pumps, blood bags, and medical waste. They also monitor the conditions of such assets, such as temperature, humidity, acceleration, and orientation.
Using IoT-enabled devices not only increases the visibility of the location and demand characteristics of assets, but also benefits many other aspects of asset management, such as preventive maintenance, shelf-life estimation, and identification of products with high deterioration potential.
Simultaneous Reporting & Monitoring
IoT is transforming the healthcare industry as more and more patients and medical professionals use IoT devices. From remote patient monitoring and data collection technologies to wearables and even ingestible sensors, IoT-enabled technologies enable the possibility of developing novel and non-invasive clinical support systems.
IoT devices combine sensing, processing and communication. Connected devices, either worn on the body or embedded in living environments, make it possible to gather rich information to evaluate the physical and mental health condition of the patient by collecting body temperature, blood pressure, and sugar level, among others. This information is then presented in the form of reports to healthcare professionals, who can then make better decisions.
The readings can also be utilized to recognize the health state of the patient and as an alert system against the emergency health condition.
Fewer Errors
In healthcare, many errors are attributed to manual input. Because IoT software automates many manual processes, there is less opportunity for human error.
IoT devices automate the transfer of accurate medical device data and eliminate manual data entry that too often results in errors. With an increasingly aging population, patient fragility can compound the effect of even minor mistakes.
Connected medical devices provide physicians with accurate data, enabling them to correctly diagnose diseases, recommend proper procedures, and prescribe the right medications. In addition, it frees up healthcare professionals, giving them more time to devote to their patients and improving the medical professional-patient relationship.
To sum it up
The healthcare industry innovates using the Internet of Things (IoT). So much so that the market for IoT medical devices is expected to reach US$ 94.2 billion by 2026. And if you want to explore the potential for the internet of things in healthcare, get in touch with Aerion Technologies and CRINNAC for a free consultation TODAY!
Remember, this is not an exhaustive list of benefits that IoT brings to healthcare:
- Reduced costs
- Improved Treatment
- Faster Diagnosis
- Proactive Treatment
- Improved Drug Management
- Better Asset Management
- Simultaneous Reporting & Monitoring
- Fewer Errors
