IoT in Healthcare Industries: Examples Applications and Future

The technology and hardware available in today’s market, has seen many innovations over the recent years. Processors and memory modules have gotten faster, internet connectivity and coverage has increased.

And there are more advanced iterations of computers and digital devices today than ever before. In short, the tech industry is booming and it’s bringing a serious level of transformative changes to other industries and sectors.

One such example, is IoT in healthcare. Short for ‘Internet of Things,’ IoT refers to how everyday digital technologies or machines converge with the internet and allow them to exchange data, collect valuable information and process it.

As it stands today, the healthcare industry is touted as one of the fastest growing segments of the entire IoT market. So, we know that the integration of IoT in healthcare sector isn’t a new phenomenon.

It’s been an ongoing process for several years – with many in the industry benefitting from its use across various fields. It has some really important benefits for medical professionals and patients.

And as you’ll see, it is reshaping the landscape for healthcare, similar in many ways to how it has been transforming other major industries. 

Decoded: IoT Applications in Healthcare and Medicine

Owing to the benefits advanced by modern technology, the world has witnessed a major shift in how healthcare is delivered in the recent years.

Many new ways of detecting diseases and conducting operations or surgeries have made the life of millions of patients easier across the globe.

IoT in healthcare, in some ways, is only the natural way of progression for digital technologies and medicine to converge. 

Let’s take a look at some of the more important applications of IoT and smart fitness technologies. And how they are changing the doctor-patient dynamic:

✔️ In the Monitoring of Patients

Much of a doctor’s role in improving a patient’s condition and relieving them of their medical issues, boils down to monitoring or keeping track of various changes.

These changes can be something as simple as their body temperature or sleep patterns to even crucial events such as fluctuations in heart rate and blood pressure, hormones, etc. 

Similar to IoT in oil and gas, IoT in healthcare technology, through smart devices has enabled doctors to prescribe patients with health trackers which can be worn at all times.

These are used to collect accurate records of a person’s health and the type of changes a doctor will be interested in analyzing. 

During a follow up or in case of a future medical issue, this data can be collected and provided to the patient’s doctor so that they can judge from the data themselves.

In many cases, this type of data collection has enabled the continuous monitoring of patients with chronic conditions. As IoT in healthcare allows doctors to intervene early-on, in case it is required. 

✔️ In Ensuring Medicine Doses

 In many cases, it has been observed that often patients forget to take their prescribed medications in whatever condition they are facing. They might take a reduced dose, have the dose at the wrong time or miss/skip it all together.

This might not appear to be a very important problem to be addressed, but over time, it can have seriously debilitating effects on the patient. And in many cases, not even the doctor might be aware of what’s happening. 

IoT in healthcare, again, through smart devices such as medicine dispensers and personalized pill bottles/medicine storage can help ensuring that patients receive their medicine on time.

It will help by not only reminding the patients about when they should be taking it, but account for skipped doses and recurring mistakes. 

This is an important application of IoT in healthcare as in the event of problems with a patient’s medicine doses, one can be assured that the doctor or caregivers are duly notified.

This would help in treating patients better and without having to unnecessarily swap out medicines for alternatives. As it will eliminate the occurrence of missed doses, allowing the medicines to work as intended while adhering to the treatment plans. 

✔️ In Powering Medical Devices

 Medical devices in the hospital space are not just important, but crucial for providing a lot of the healthcare needs a patient has.

These medical devices could relate to monitoring a patient’s current status such as MRI machines and scanners to even providing life-saving healthcare such as infusion pumps and ventilators. 

These medical devices have been around for many years, and as tech has evolved, also seen certain upgrades in the medical field. 

 IoT in healthcare has upgraded many of these medical devices to be smart and come equipped with various IoT capabilities right out of the box.

This includes outfitting the devices with sensors and remote monitoring capabilities which were previously missing in such devices.

As such, these smart medical devices can now function a lot better and collect data while at it. 

 Medical devices enabled by IoT in healthcare have been important in transmitting the data it has collected to healthcare providers such as doctors and nurses. In keeping records, which is important in medicine as well as for monitoring.

Additionally, it can also signal any repair work if needed, any requirement for calibrations and report what components are faulty in case of an error. 

✔️ In providing remote healthcare

 Quality healthcare is hard to find. It’s even harder to access, if a patient is unable to make the journey or stays too far to appear for appointments and regular checkups.

This has been an issue for people across various countries, and it is not usually restricted for those living in rural areas or in the countryside. And tends to crop up even in cases where a person might require a consult from specialists instead of their local physicians.

Remote healthcare is one more crowning application of IoT in healthcare industry that has helped bridge this gap between patients and their doctors.

There is a vast array of digital technologies such as computers and smartphones to software leveraging the camera and the components on them that works to that effect – bringing people closer online to their doctors. 

IoT in healthcare therefore sees patients relying on telemedicine services enabled by video and audio connected devices. This allows patients today to get online consultations from the professionals that they trust, regardless of how far they are connecting in from.

It has allowed for even remote areas to stay connected with medical experts over long distances, even if not just for regular checkups online. 

✔️ In managing resources and inventory

Inventory management for all types of medical facilities, ranging from clinics to hospitals and more is a crucial facet of the healthcare industry.

So is managing resources which ranges from healthcare personnel to staff and equipment, refills and the restoration of exhaustible assets. Any slowdowns or failures can cause the institution to cut down on their operations and affect both patients and the medical facility. 

In the recent years, hospitals have stepped up with their use of IoT in healthcare to track their resources and in managing their inventories.

They can check and see which medical equipment is currently in use, what supplies are running low or need refills, which essential medicines and tools, etc. are at a risk for being exhausted.

In addition to that, they are using IoT devices to monitor their staff and schedules of various personnel including doctors to optimize their operations. 

This has allowed for IoT in healthcare industry to help hospitals improve their efficiency rates by reducing shortages and having the equipment ready when required.

Its applications are reducing wait times for patients, ensuring that they have adequate staff to tend to their needs and is helping medical professionals in improving their patients’ experiences. 

✔️ In enabling preventive health measures

Preventive health measures are important in a variety of ways for patients, irrespective of what stage they are of managing their medical health and issues.

It can simply relate to limiting one’s exposure to bad environmental conditions and lifestyle factors that can deteriorate their health.

Or, it can also relate to managing chronic health conditions and diseases that a patient has learnt to live with in their daily lives. 

IoT in healthcare enables preventive health measures by not just through smart devices such as sensors detecting pollution and allergens for patients.

But by also enabling better clinical trials that helps medical professionals record important facts about treatments and their efficacy – which helps them research and manage their patients better. 

Not just in sensors detecting pollutants and allergens, but smart inhalers and EpiPens have been enabled by IoT in healthcare – which include functions to help medical services locate a person in case they are having an asthma attack or an anaphylactic reaction.

Patients with chronic issues such as diabetes have learnt using smart glucose meters which track their blood sugar levels – which can send alerts to the relevant folks in case it drops too low. 

Benefits of IoT in Healthcare and Leading Examples

IoT technology, whether in powering smart devices or enabling new medical functions, has paved the way for more proactive healthcare solutions.

One that is driven by data and is a lot more accurate and well researched than traditional routes of tracking medical developments and results.

As we have delved into the applications of IoT in healthcare, such as AR in pharma, let’s take a look at some of the benefits that these bring to the medical field:

✔️ Dynamic Patient Care

Traditional routes of patient care have worked quite well for doctors, and though no one’s suggesting any major changes to them – IoT in healthcare has created room for a more dynamic approach to patient care.

Doctors and medical professionals across the board have noticeably improved their practices owing to the information and monitoring of patients made possible using IoT devices. 

Real-time data on the status of a patient’s health has been an important step in this direction. The main benefit from this is that not only doctors have been able to adjust their course of treatment as required.

But have also helped patients in addressing health problems which could have further aggravated if not for analyzing the data on the patients.

This has led to overall better outcomes for patient care. Just like private blockchain in healthcare for better security.

✔️ Reducing Costs

Healthcare costs are an important part of the industry which must be addressed over time so that life-saving as well as quality of life medical care becomes accessible.

IoT in healthcare has remarkably helped in reducing costs and it’s expected to save the industry almost $150 billion by 2025. Over time, it is reducing the requirements for in-person medical consults.

Helping to manage resources and inventory, keeping medical devices in top shape, and more – all of which saves time and money. 

✔️ Higher Efficiency Levels and Safety

With the eventual upgradation of healthcare practices and routines with IoT capabilities and devices, another major benefit to the industry is how IoT in healthcare has improved safety and efficiency.

This stems from the fact how IoT devices are primarily automating important tasks for medical professionals.

Also, by monitoring and analyzing data on the patient’s condition, the healthcare providers are free to focus on other day to day operations within the facilities. 

With increased tracking of patients and data collection, safety has also seen a huge boost with IoT in healthcare allowing both patients and equipment to be monitored in real time.

Features of IoT such as predictive maintenance of the tools and equipment is preventing machine failures – thereby allowing a higher and safer degree of medical care. 

These are some of the core benefits enabled by the use of IoT devices and capabilities in the industry. Now, let’s take a look at some of today’s leading examples of medical facilities and healthcare providers that are benefitting from IoT in healthcare:

✔️United Healthcare

As a healthcare company, United Healthcare has been using IoT in healthcare capabilities to keep a track of the medical equipment.

Various tools and equipment such as wheelchairs or defibrillators are monitored by this company in this manner so that they aren’t lost or stolen.

Additionally, it also helps ensure that these tools are available for use when required. 

✔️Sutter Health

Medication errors are a problem that needs addressal in the healthcare sector and Sutter Health has found a solution for it using IoT in healthcare.

They use a smart system that uses IoT devices to deliver prescribed medication to respective patients. This helps to ensure that patients comply with what they’re prescribed without any hiccups.

Plus, it’s also quite accurate as the traditional means are concerned. 

✔️Da Vinci Surgical System

Surgery, like many fields in medicine has also seen significant improvements from tech and machine upgrades. IoT in healthcare has enabled the development and use of the Da Vinci Surgical System which uses surgical robots.

These robots help surgeons work accurately, assisted by live data-feeds while operating. 

✔️Johns Hopkins Hospital

As a teaching hospital based in Maryland, the Johns Hopkins Hospital also hosts a biomedical research facility that is integral to many of its operations on gathering data in the field.

As such, they use IoT in healthcare and devices to keep a track of their facility – its environment, the conditions, the quality of the air, humidity and temperature, etc. 

✔️Medtronic

As a medical device company, Medtronic leverages IoT in healthcare to make smart insulin pumps for patients who suffer from diabetes.

Insulin therapy can be tricky to get used to as a diabetic, especially if one has just been prescribed this and their smart insulin pumps help rectify this.

The device can be monitored by the patients’ healthcare providers and this lets them gauge its effectiveness and safe usage levels. 

These are some of the leading examples from the medical industry that are leveraging modern solutions powered by IoT in healthcare today.

They offer various benefits to both doctors and patients, with the use of IoT in poised to improve patient outcomes by more than 10% by 2025. 

Telemedicine and Beyond: Future of IoT in Healthcare

Having learnt the applications, benefits along with some of the leading examples of IoT in healthcare. We can see that the future of IoT in the medical sector is indeed quite promising.

Maybe not as revolutionary as AR shopping for PWD, but still quite as interesting, here are some applications that we can see happening in the future enabled by IoT capabilities and devices:

✔️ Personalized Medicines

IoT devices may be utilized for gathering data on individual patients' health issues, such as genetics, lifestyle, and surroundings. This information may be utilized to create tailor-made treatment programs that are suited to the particular needs of each patient.

✔️ Remote Surgery 

IoT gadgets can be utilized to remotely operate surgical robots. This might make surgery more accurate and less intrusive, as well as allow surgery to be performed in remote regions.

✔️Virtual Reality

AR fitness has been taking off for quite some time. And similarly, the use of virtual reality is currently being employed to teach doctors, relieve pain, and assist patients with rehabilitation.

Surgeons, for example, can utilize a virtual environment to simulate operations on an animated patient before conducting the operation on an actual person.

This can lead to even more VR healthcare solutions in the future coupled with IoT capabilities.

✔️ Drug Delivery

IoT devices may be utilized to regulate and precisely distribute medicine to patients. This may aid in improving patient compliance and lowering the chance of drug mistakes.

✔️Augmented Reality

During surgery, augmented reality is utilized to deliver real-time knowledge to medical professionals.

During surgery, for instance, practitioners can utilize augmented reality to view the location of the circulatory veins and nerves. Improving upon AR/VR in healthcare industry.

The potential for IoT to advance and improve healthcare is limitless. IoT provides several chances to improve healthcare delivery and patient care, ranging from remote monitoring of patients and videoconferencing to asset control and predictive analytics.

It's an exciting adventure for health care providers, patients, and developers alike.

If you want to explore the transformational impact of IoT in healthcare, we welcome you to contact us at EDIIIE.

Our team is committed to developing new solutions that use IoT technology to improve patient outcomes and expedite healthcare operations.

And outfit healthcare practitioners with the skills they need to thrive in today's healthcare environment.