Introduction

The IoT is set to bring changes in the healthcare industry within the next decades. As it has great potential and multiple applications, from remote monitoring to medical device integration.

As we know, The Internet of Things has already changed the world. It influences both the way we live and our daily work. Today, as the Internet is available and affordable almost everywhere, and Wi-Fi capabilities. Also, sensors are built into a wide range of devices and gadgets. The penetration of wearables and smartphones is soaring. All these facts are clearing a path for the IoT in the everyday lives of people and in numerous sectors of the economy, including healthcare.

Though other industries have adopted connected devices and the IoT more quickly, healthcare professionals watch these trends closely. Which can make their work more convenient, efficient and automated in the future.

IoT in Health Informatics

The Internet of Things or IoT, as it is more prominently known as across the world. It is nothing short of a phenomenon and revelation. With IoT bringing along a host of very attractive features like connectivity, safety, integration, analysis. Along with such rapid development, however, comes a strict necessity to keep up with the pace. The good thing is that all medical fields are either looking to or already go hand in hand with advanced technologies. From diagnostics to therapeutics, from paediatrics to complex surgery. Endpoint management as the most important being, the use of Artificial Intelligence. It is only a matter of time that Industries are attracting to this super technology, which changing their fortunes altogether.

Now, with IoT in Health Informatics, there has been a major shift in the way complex procedures have been simplified to the advantage of both, the patients as well as healthcare service providers. Despite the concept’s relatively young age, it’s already become closely entangle with healthcare. So much that it’s commonly coined as the Internet of Medical Things.

Example:

It would be mind-blowing to imagine what the future of health Informatics can be if IoT was expanding and investing in. So, let’s take an example of a patient who was notified about his visit to his doctor while simultaneously. Informing the doctor on the same because their calendars are connecting via the internet. As this patient is on his way, he encounters a bit of traffic and his car sends a text to the doctor notifying him that the patient will be late. We are talking about a technology that will optimize every fact and ideas of care and transform the way it is managing across the needs.

Significance of IoT in Health Informatics

The Internet of Things allows setting up a centralized network of interconnected devices that can generate and exchange data within a single framework. All the data can track and gather in real-time, which provides a passive accumulation of analytics materials. In terms of enhancement for medical facilities, this means that a regular hospital can be turned into a smart hospital.

Features:

IoT’s modest beginnings in healthcare can trace to the use of remote monitoring, smart sensors and medical device integration as well as activity trackers, wearable biometric sensors, glucose monitors, medication dispensers and smart beds. Technology that connects any device with a controllable switch to the internet and captures and monitors data on devices that are connecting to the cloud is sure to make an impact in healthcare.

The next decade may well see a revolution in the treatment and diagnosis of disease. The Internet of Things (IoT) has opened up a world of possibilities in medicine when connected to the internet. Ordinary medical devices can collect invaluable additional data, give extra insight into symptoms and trends, enable remote care. Generally, give patients more control over their lives and treatment.

Need of IoT in Health Informatics

1. Advancing Care Management:

IoT allows care teams to connect and collect various data points on personal fitness like heart-rate, temperature, sleep, and activity. Moreover, sensor-fed information can send alerts to patients in real-time. So, that they get event-triggering messaging like triggers and alerts for heart-rate. This leads to the improvement in workflow optimization and ensures that all the care management is done from the home.

2.Flawless Communication Exchange:

Transmission of medical data from one physician to another is extremely vital when it comes to interdepartmental consultations. With IoT devices, these communications can be stream. Resulting in authentic data being transferred and received in between physicians and thereby improving medical service.

3. Promoting Preventive Care: 

In this industry, the primary area of focus is prevention. Because health care expenses are projected to rise unmanageable in the future. The widespread access to high fidelity and real-time data on every individual’s health will transform healthcare by helping people live healthier lives.

4.Data sorting:

This is a very important activity that IoT can perform. A large amount of data gets transferring is usually to retrieve at the critical moment when it is required. IoT devices can help sort out data as per the categories required so that it can be accessed by the relevant physician.

5. To Enhance Patient Satisfaction & Engagement: 

IoT can increase patient satisfaction by optimizing surgical workflow. E.g., informing about patient’s discharge from surgery to their families. It can increase patient engagement by allowing patients to spend more time interacting with their physicians. It reduces the need for direct patient-physician interaction as devices connecting to the internet are delivering valuable data.

6. Drugs Management: 

Another critical area involved with the healthcare industry Management of drugs and medical equipment. With sensors which can attach to IoT devices, these can be easily monitored, especially, medical equipment

7. Faster Disease Diagnosis: 

IoT in healthcare is a major step forward which has facilitated continuous patient monitoring and real-time data, which helps in diagnosing diseases at an early stage.

8. Turning Data into Actions: 

Quantified health will be the future of healthcare as the heath that is measurable can be better improved. Thus, it is better to take the advantage of quantified health technology. We are aware that the data affects the performance, and so we need IoT for better outcomes with respect to objective measurement and tracking of health.

9. Cost Savings: 

Excessive travel. To and fro, for either patients or doctors could be greatly reduced, resulting in cost savings as IoT devices can help in real-time patient monitoring.

10. Error Reduction: 

IoT in Healthcare not only helps in efficient patient administration but also can prevent fraudulent data from being transmission, thereby helping establish an efficient and foolproof healthcare system.

Use Cases of IoT in Health Informatics

1. Smart Hospitals

The dissatisfaction with flawed, difficult-to-manage hospital infrastructures is a common issue of a vast majority of the planet’s countries (even the developed ones). Colossal loads of paperwork, long and frustrating lines, and working overload most nurses and doctors experience, this is where the problem stems.

Practically all such situations can turn around with the integration of IoT solutions. Huge, cumbersome paper registers can replace with an automatic centralized database. Which can additionally enhance in terms of reliability with blockchain and smart contracts; a single management system can receive submissions, help optimally control queues, and track staff members via their smartphones; all the equipment can also remotely monitor and manage (e.g., shut down in unprecedented cases).

Such innovations can help greatly reduce in-house costs for hospitals, preserve forests, and make both patients’ and medical staff’s lives easier. The overall productivity will also increase due to the automated smart solutions’ capability to immediately recognize health issues which would otherwise take months of live doctor diagnostics.

2. Fighting against Chronic Disease

Recurring health problems are never exciting, but big breakthroughs are being made in the treatment of such issues — and much of it is a direct result of the IoT.

There isn’t one innovation or device that’s helping treat chronic disease in the 21st century — it’s the combination of wearable tech, next-gen analytics, and mobile connectivity.

Utilities like Fitbit use the IoT to monitor personal health — such information can share with a doctor to help solve recurring issues.

A company called Health Net Connect recently established a population diabetic management program with a goal of improving the clinical treatment and reducing medical costs for patients — and they’ve already produced some exciting results.

3. Augmenting Surgeries

When it comes to healthcare, IoT has penetrated operating rooms as well. Think of connecting robotic devices, which are powered by Artificial Intelligence and are used to perform various surgeries. These operations are all about increased precision brought forth by robot-assisted surgeons. 

Moreover, connected devices and IoT applications can perfectly streamline the activities of the medical staff at both pre and post-operating stages. In both cases, IoT sensors can be used to collect, transmit data, and analyze it. This helps record the tiniest details and therefore, is useful in preventing surgical complications.

4. Remote Patient Care

In many parts of the world, residents live miles away from the nearest hospital. As such, when there is an emergency, it takes time for them to reach the healthcare facilities. Similarly, for healthcare providers, it becomes difficult to visit patients with chronic conditions frequently. The issue with time-consuming commute can solve with remote patient care powered by the IoT.

The connectivity can allow healthcare professionals to assist patients with prescriptions, medication, and also measure their biometrics using sensors and remote equipment. For instance, patients can connect any wearable or portable device to the cloud and update the data in real-time.

Some of the IoT devices can also facilitate face-to-face talk over the internet. This can provide healthcare professionals with the necessary information to prepare care plans while the patients are on their way to the hospital. Or even without them needing to visit the hospital in the first place! For chronic patients, this helps create a roster of the patients’ day-to-date health update.

The collected data can form charts and diagrams to be easily visualized by healthcare professionals.

Live video and audio streaming can be used to monitor patients’ present condition without the need for the commute.

5. Tracked Inventory Sensors

The World Health Organization conducted a study in 2003 to find out that about 50 % of prescribed medicines aren’t taken the right way or completely ignored. A prominent example of resolving this issue is the ingestible sensors solution developed by Proteus. These tiny sensors take place of a prescription and send a signal a receiving device upon dissolution in the stomach. An amazing advanced creation, Proteus’ ‘smart pills’ will surely help reduce the rates of incorrect, senseless consumption of highly important medical prescriptions. Now, this is what one can call a truly advanced drug management.

While being an advanced piece of medical technology, Porteus Smart Pills have the same tiny size as the actual pills.

There are also smart pills that feature tiny cameras, which allow conveniently visualizing the inside environment of one’s organism. PillCam from Medtronic is one example.

6. Virtual Monitoring of Critical Hardware

It is a given that all the modern healthcare facilities require state-of-the-art hardware and software to function. When these are not taken care of in the best possible manner, the hardware can pose various risks and threats. Think of power outages, system failures, or even cyber-attacks. Since no healthcare organization would want these mishaps to occur, they opt for the best IoT driven solutions. A case in point is that of e-Alert by Philips, which can virtually monitor critical medical hardware. If there is an anomaly in any equipment, the solution alerts the hospital staff, so that a failure can be avoided by preventive maintenance.

7. Reducing Emergency Room Wait Times

Few things are as dull and boring as a visit to the emergency room. Apart from the resulting medical expenses, emergency room visits can sometimes take hours to complete.

Thanks to some recent ingenuity and the IoT, at least one hospital — Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City — effectively slashed wait times for 50% of their emergency room patients who are in need of inpatient care.

It’s their partnership with GE Healthcare and new, IoT-driven software, known as AutoBed. It tracks occupancy among 1,200 units and factors in 15 different metrics to assess the needs of individual patients.

It’s a highly effective system that highlights some of the more innovative and exciting uses of the IoT.

8. Ensuring the Availability and Accessibility of Critical Hardware

Modern hospitals require next-gen software and hardware to function — some use to save or sustain human life. Like all electronic devices, this equipment is prone to numerous risks — from power outages to system failures — that could be a matter of life or death. A new IoT-driven solution from Philips, called e-Alert, aims to solve that problem.

Instead of waiting for a device to fail, Philips’ new system takes a proactive approach by virtually monitoring medical hardware and alerting hospital staff members if there’s a problem.

Philips recently unveiled the product through a collaborative effort with Open Market.

9. Pharmacy Management

The pharmacy business is worth millions of dollars and is quite complicating. Since there are several steps in transferring and managing the drugs from plant to storage facilities in a hospital, there are several preservation issues that may be associated with them.  IoT can help combine the best safety approaches and the latest technology to ensure faster drug delivery, safer operations, and better patient care.

For instance, take the example of smart fridges, which can use to store vaccines and keep them from getting damaged during handling, storage or transfer.

IoT-enabled pharmacies can ensure greater efficiencies and effectiveness in operations, error-free medical dispensing, security, and overall enhanced patient satisfaction.

10. Mobile Health

Also called mHealth, it’s the way of watching and taking care of one’s health via mobile can be a true life-saver for modern patients, practically all of whom use smartphones regularly. Mobile health is an emerging field that contributes heavily to both critical medical situations and regular treatment instances. As we’ve already mentioned in the ‘Remote patient monitoring’ section, mobile apps can serve as the management means for health tracking devices.

In the image above, this is only a small portion of startups who are trying to gain market share with their mobile app. Such apps can use as your full-blown healthcare hub where you can access valuable medical info. Analyze your organism behaviour trends, manage other body-inserted IoT sensors, and contact your doctor with a single tap.

This is an especially valuable solution for underdeveloped countries of the world where people can’t afford regular visits to hospitals yet, most probably, have smartphones. And governments, in turn, get a capability to see how the population is doing in terms of health, accumulating massive statistics.

There are many apps already available in the market, ranging in functionality and purpose:

• Medication management apps;
• Fitness apps
• Body, activity, & sleep tracking apps
• Pregnancy monitoring apps
• Individual health recording apps

Challenges of IoT in Health Informatics

• Generation of Tremendous Amount of Data by the Health Care
• Outdated Infrastructure Hinders the Medical Industry
• Possible lack of available memory
• Personal sensitive data security
• Difficulties with regular updates

Future of IoT in Health Informatics

Full-blown smart hospitals by 2020, mHealth as a regular, common thing on a global scale, and reduced physical visits to hospitals. This is only an approximate picture of the Internet of Medical Things success. With, as young as the concept is, it isn’t really regarding to be that novel by progressive hospitals of the now. Most of them are either implementing major IoT techniques and capabilities or already have enhanced parts that are in their calibration stage.

It is estimating that the install base of IoT devices in healthcare will be more than 161 million units by the end of 2020.

Conclusion of IoT in Health Informatics

IoT is changing the way the facilities are delivering to the healthcare industry. These technologies improve the product, causing a larger effect by bringing together minor changes. And even though there are, currently, downsides as well as advantages to the concept, things seem to go very well for this technological innovation.

Taking a closer look at the technical aspects, the role of IoT in healthcare is yet to explore at greater depths to improve gateways for information accessibility and analysis. IoT in healthcare is expecting to bloom and overcome its challenges to revolutionize the conventional healthcare models of the future.