IoT Trends in Healthcare That Will Dictate the Future

IoT Trends in Healthcare That Will Dictate the Future

Internet of things (IoT) is causing a mass outrage in almost every industry and professional sectors. The Healthcare industry is one industry vertical which has been blessed with life-changing tech innovations. IoT has proven to be a critical driver for effective modern medicine. The drive towards improving diagnoses, patient care, and outcomes continue to push forward, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is now accelerating things even further. According to MarketResearch.com, the healthcare IoT market is slated to be at $117 billion by 2020.

IoT technology is ensuring steady and productive interactions among devices and people. Many modern medical miracles have been accomplished by placing IoT devices at, near or even inside of patients. IoT-enabled devices made remote monitoring possible to ensure patient’s safety even after treatment is done and empowering physicians to deliver superlative care. Let us take a look at the IoT Trends in Healthcare Industry that will dictate the future:

1. Tracking Doctor, Patients, Equipment & Inventory Management

Hospitals involve colossal loads of physical paperwork, documentation, long queues of patients and are difficult to manage. Also, the work overload of most of the doctors and nurses is high. These are a very common issue of a vast majority of the hospital (even the most developed one) and the dissatisfaction rate is ever-increasing high. All such situations can be fixed by the integration of IoT solutions. Huge paperwork can be replaced by a centralized database; a single management system can receive appointments and control queues. Staff members (doctors and nurses) can be managed and tracked via smartphones, with appointment details, alerts, and reporting.

Some hospitals are already using connected video cameras, BLE ID cards and wristbands helping them to manage admissions, prevent unauthorized access and measure the performances. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are particularly proving excellent in healthcare industry. Hospitals use BLE to see the live location of their staffs & inventory- devices supplies and even medicines, see if their staff meets specific requirements (like the time intervals when they sanitize their hands)

These can greatly reduce in-house costs for hospitals and make both patients and medical staff lives easier thereby increasing productivity.

2. Remote Medical Assistance

IoT-enabled devices have capabilities of automatically monitoring a patient’s conditions remotely, control how and when the medications being taken, enroll patients for a planned check-up and more. As these can be done remotely and automatically, can observe and take readings of patients, and alert the personnel and the responsible medical units of any discrepancy in the patterns. A recent research revealed, there will be 50 million-plus people remotely monitored by the end of the year 2020. These IoT applications can work for all age groups and different types of medical conditions. For instance, for elderly patients, it can generate an alert in case of emergency and they can stay safe in their homes. In remote maternity care, doctors can monitor vitals or anticipate an impending unfavorable condition. On top of that, people with mobility issues and living in remote locations with a lack of healthcare facilities can receive much needed medical assistance thanks to these IoT devices.

3. Mobile Health

Mobile health, also known as mHealth is the way of tracking and taking care of one’s health via smartphones. This is a blessing and proving to be life-saver for the patient especially in critical conditions and for underdeveloped countries of the world where people cannot afford regular hospital visits.  Mobile applications are already proving great for both personal health tracking and for doctors remotely. These apps can be used as your full-blown healthcare hub, you can access your medical history and prescriptions, analyses your health conditions, manage IoT sensors inserted in body, contact and consult doctor, share reports, fix appointments and much more while sitting at your home.

Conclusion

IoT in healthcare solves a myriad of problems. Patients, Doctors and, Staff, can all benefit from the unlocked capabilities of devices, new treatments and accurate results, and safer medicines. Hospitals can provide remote monitoring, streamline personnel and asset management. Even though it is too early to witness the truly connected smart hospitals, once fully adopted, IoT will be life-saving, health-improving fruit of the massive technological progress.