Increasing dependency of the healthcare industry on IoT innovation

Internet of things (IoT) is the most commonly used term to define devices that can be connected to share information over a standardized network. These devices are physical objects that have sensors and embedded microchips. They uniquely address and connect, thus enabling the transfer of information. This can include things like wearables, washing machine, dishwasher, coffee maker, mp3 player, and much more.

Today, technology has made the world’s objects “smart”. We have smart washing machines, smartwatches, and smart lights just to name a few. These objects are interactive and can impact the way we live our lives and the way we work. They have overall made our lives easier and a lot more comfortable--all thanks to the low-cost connectivity and advancement in technology.

IoT has various applications and consists of an infinite number of use cases for each applicable industry. For example - home automation, sustainability management, automated vehicles, medical and healthcare systems, transport systems, etc. The healthcare industry is one of the major industries that are growing exponentially. It also has an ever-increasing demand for IoT devices. Gone are the days of paper and pen; having to call to book an appointment or waiting for the receptionist’s acknowledgement to confirm it. Now we can simply ask our smart speaker to book an appointment. All you need to do is add the voice app feature into it. This goes further than booking appointments. We can also monitor and track our health parameters just by wearing a smartwatch. The embedded sensors can help monitor SpO2 levels, pulse rate, blood pressure, and sleep.

A Wider Perspective

Key parameters for the application of IoT in the medical field include various sensors, imaging devices, artificial intelligence, digital data processing and more. IoT’s capability to process and transfer health information with the help of Internet capability helps booming healthcare monitoring services to a large extent. In this process, patient data is stored in the cloud where it is processed and monitored and if there is an issue with a patient detected, an alert is raised by an alarming service. This alarming service will send a notification to the healthcare professional’s mobile device. He/She can check the patient’s records and take immediate action. This is called ‘real-time monitoring’. It can help save human lives from serious health problems such as asthma and heart attacks. Smart wearables like smartwatches or asthma monitoring technology can enable smooth delivery of user data by connecting it via phone.

Use of IoT for patients as well as physicians

IoT has become a support system for patients, and physicians in the medical field; especially during the Covid-19 pandemic all by using enhanced and innovative sensor technology. Healthcare systems have become more dependent on IoT technology as it has led to better care and medical systems and created intelligent systems to manage and store patient’s records digitally.

Because of this digital transformation, use of IoT devices, and cloud computing services, Covid-19 cases, healthcare professionals have been able to easily handle it. Enhanced sensor technology is also helping medical professionals to perform surgery more precisely. Technology has also introduced various new devices to ease patient care such as strain sensor wearables which can measure the respiration rate of the user and save time by immediately sending updates to the applicable doctors; Triax proximity trace to detect proximity between user and address social distancing factor; smart thermometers to measure fevers from a distance and maintaining records by connecting them to a mobile device; and finally improving the digitization of medical processes more holistically.

Ultimately, the increasing dependency of healthcare systems on IoT innovation lies in providing high-quality data processing, improved monitoring, risk-factor identification, and connectivity with great accuracy and perfection. Technology is allowing healthcare professionals to respond to serious patient health issues which has a positive impact all over the world.