The healthcare ecosystem is witnessing a huge transformation lately; propelled by improved care and patient outcomes as the critical drivers. Briefly put, organizations (providers, hospitals and all) are leveraging the potential of Internet of Things, to empower their people, patients to take control of their own health. In a subtle way, redefining the way people, sensors, apps, devices and wearables can interact with each other in a secure environment, and take the healthcare experience to the next level.
A recent survey by Forrester Consulting suggests 90% of the Healthcare IT departments are ready to adapt IoT based solutions. And, 52% of the surveyed respondents are already incorporating IoT technology.
With IoT as a powerful enabler, innovative apps and wearables are taking strong roots in the healthcare ecosystem; health bands, fitness devices, calorie meters, heart rate monitors, to name a few. Such healthcare devices are used by physicians to record patient’s biometric information as they deliver exceptional patient monitoring and management results on-the-go.
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Improved Patient Engagement
Closing Communication Gaps
Identifying Patients' needs and tailoring services to meet them
Improved Decision-Making by Consumers and Providers
A Reduction in Healthcare Cost
Hospitalized patients whose physiological status requires close attention can be constantly monitored using IoT-driven monitoring
This type of solution employs sensors to collect comprehensive physiological information and uses gateways and the cloud to analyze and store the information and then send the analyzed data wirelessly to caregivers for further analysis and review
It simultaneously improves the quality of care through constant attention and lowers the cost of care by eliminating the need for a caregiver to actively engage in data collection and analysis
In recent times, we have seen that people who are athletic want to record, track, and monitor data related to their fitness activities such as running, walking and swimming
The advent of IoT, necessarily as wearable technology, has made health supervision convenient for them
A person in the habit of running may wear on the wrist, on the arm or just carry in the pocket, a device that is capable of measuring the distance run, the time spent running, the calories burnt by running, or even analyze imbalance in strides or running posture
Such continuous availability of data allows the user to analyze and correlate many parameters for e.g. determining that he is not depressed on days when he runs for more than 20 minutes
Recent research from CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) shows that almost half of all American adults have chronic condition
Today chronic care has many shortcomings. It requires the ability to continuously monitor patient health
IoT bridges this gap by using devices that monitor a patient’s physiological conditions (such as BP for hypertensive patients, blood glucose levels and weight for diabetics patients etc)
The periodic data stored by these devices could be used to perform different analytics and thus resulting in better chronic care
Smart wireless pill bottles are currently being used by patients in pharmaceutical and research engagements
These bottles collect and send all adherence data in real-time which is used for analysis
If doses are missed, patients can receive customizable alerts and interventions - using automated phone calls, text messages, and more
Patient can record a voice message on watch with a click of button in case of urgent need and the message is routed through telephony network to respective doctor
Also, patients are actively monitored as and when required for there sleep pattern / fall detection automatically using onboard sensors in pebble watch. This helps doctor understand the patients problem and even do data analysis based on the records of similar patients
Doctor can even send personalized messages to group of patients; based on the disease / suffering) on a day to day basis that gets delivered as important notification or precaution or activity on a watch for patients to take care of
According to market researchers like Gartner and McKinsey, the IoT will “add $1.9 trillion to the global economy by 2020,” or it will have a “potential impact of $2.7 to $6.2 trillion by 2025”.
According to Intel, 31 billion devices and 4 billion people will be connected to the Internet by 2020. This implies to almost eight devices per person will be connected to the Internet in 2020.
New types of sensor technology, rapidly growing data analytics, and the new healthcare structures are formed due to the growing importance of IoT.
Google X Project is the use of nanotechnology for detecting cancer. This project aimed at developing the nano particles Pill, which when ingested will run through the bloodstream, detects any abnormalities that suggest the presence of cancer.