If you stay current with technology news, you have certainly heard of the Internet of Things. If not, in a nutshell, the term essentially refers to any item or the capability of any item to be equipped with a sensor (e.g. in healthcare). This sensor would be able to collect data, and send it to another sensor or databank, and also be capable of taking action based on data recorded.
As far as healthcare is concerned, the IoT is not being utilized anywhere near its potential. There are devices and monitors in use now, but they are primarily personal use items such as fitness trackers and such.
There are an infinite number of uses for IoT in healthcare. There is the potential to improve patient care, facilitate research, streamline physician workloads, and from the administrative end of healthcare, save large amounts of time and money.
Any device that monitors a patient can be fitted with sensors. Sleep apnea machines, pacemakers, oxygen concentrators, and glucose monitors can all be equipped with sensors that would enable data to not only be collected but also interpreted and prompt the device to take appropriate action. For example, if a patient is on oxygen and suddenly requires an increase in O2 due to falling sat levels, the sensors in the concentrator can alert the physician and/or emergency personnel. It is estimated that hospital readmissions could be reduced as much as 67% using technology such as this.
Even equipment that does not normally monitor or measure stats can be adapted to do so. Imagine a hospital bed that monitors patients during sleep, providing sleep apnea data or measuring heart rates and pulse ox readings. Better yet, in the hospital setting, the bed, or possibly the patient’s id bracelet, would allow hospital staff at any given time to locate a patient’s whereabouts.
From a strictly administrative perspective, medical equipment could monitor inventory levels of required supplies and place an order. This is huge in terms of hospital costs. The man hours required maintaining and ordering inventory would be significant. Also, it would eliminate the habit of hospitals of overstocking supplies due to the fear of running out unexpectedly.
Healthcare always appears to be the one industry that consistently lags behind all others. If electronic medical records and data were ever streamlined into a universally accessible system, the impact of the IoT and its data would be immeasurable. Allow your imagination run away with the incredible possibilities. For example, how great would it be to have your prescription bottle notify the pharmacy you have just taken the last pill and a refill is required? This is not fantasy, this is sure to be a reality in the near future.
Whatever the case, we are sure to see an explosion of growth in this sector and the availability of the IoT in an increasing number of devices.
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