The Internet of Things storm is already started to blow in and there is no area that is not going to be untouched by it. IoT in Healthcare is no surprise. Internet of Things is bound to revolutionize the world of healthcare in a big way. Let us explore the possibilities and the promise IoT in healthcare holds.
The hospital plays a key role in the healthcare ecosystem. In an onsite healthcare scenario as well as an offsite scenario like that of a home, health monitoring is a very important aspect. To add more adjectives and qualifying it more……timely remote monitoring.
1] Reactive Monitoring to Proactive monitoring
With IoT, the whole thing about monitoring is going to change from being reactive monitoring to proactive monitoring!!
Gone will be the days when the patient’s relatives or someone raising the alarm and going about calling a nurse or doctor if the patient’s situation worsens. Currently touted IoT-based monitoring would be able to monitor multiple parameters and may proactively raise alarms before it gets to a point where the situation has worsened and it becomes visible. Thus it would help healthcare in making preventive interventions possible.
2] Smart Healthcare for All
More and more IoT devices are going to be available and smart healthcare will be pervasive and cheaper and accessible
One classic example of how much these things are becoming reality – the new apple watch is speculated to carry an ECG monitor. Thus wearables are going to be in a position to monitor key parameters like Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, Sugar Levels, ECG, etc. These are going to be available in the public domain and these would be able to transmit data secure in open data formats using common means of communication like Wifi/Bluetooth/NFC.
3] Real-Time Data
Everflowing Real-time “Live” data, as well as history, would be available
With more of these devices becoming available the cost of these devices and the cost of monitoring is going to go lower. Moreover, the doctors are going to be getting more live health data instead of the sample data as it is now. Thus the doctors can now get to see daily basis how the Blood Pressure of a patient fluctuates and then may be able to adjust the dosage based on this data. Thus the entire patient engagement model changes now. The patient monitors collect data like an in-process metric.
4] Reliable Data
The data would now be reliable and “Real”
Thus no longer the doctor would need to ask – are you exercising regularly? are you regularly taking pills? (This is possibly a pillbox that sends out a message to the monitoring app every time a pill is taken out, there is even a concept of “smart pill” which sends a signal once in the stomach!! ). Thus there will always a data is ready for the reckoning. No longer one would be treated based on subjective data provided by the patient. Thus one can be more accurately checking whether patients are adhering to the course of treatment based on very objective data as well as a data source in the IoMT devices.
5] Personalized Healthcare
The entire healthcare landscape is poised for change with Personalized Healthcare!!
Now many are talking about smart homes enabled for personalized patient care and home monitoring. Thus the patient can be housed at the comfort of his home and a nurse could be posted. In case there are emergencies there can help moved in from nearby Healthcare stations. This would help reduce the need for large public hospitals and reduce the Government spends on healthcare. Additionally, this money can be put to use to provide better services.
Thus IoT is set to open up new avenues for Healthcare Industry, these in no way would lead to the replacement of the Doctors or Healthcare providers instead would enable and enhance their effectiveness!!
The future of Healthcare is no less than science fiction coming true…
Feel free to connect with us: https://www.quicsolv.com if you want to discuss or share your ideas. We provide IoT services as well as IoT solutions based on our ISaE framework.
