5 use cases of IoT in healthcare

Smart sensors and smart hospitals come to mind when we think about the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare. On the other hand, the solutions go beyond these. Healthcare spending on IoT solutions will reach $1 trillion by 2025, as shown by the fact that healthcare expenditure on IoT solutions will reach $1 trillion by 2025!

The Internet of Things (IoT) can help healthcare providers provide more personalized, accessible, and up-to-date healthcare services at a lower cost. Healthcare IoT has a wide range of uses, from remote health monitoring to provide real-time alerts.

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical items (or “things”) that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies that use the internet to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems. The sophistication of these devices ranges from simple domestic items to large industrial machinery. According to experts, more than 10 billion connected IoT devices will be joined by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025. Oracle has a network of device partners.

Five major uses of IoT in the healthcare sector

Remote Patient care

Various people live hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest hospital in many parts of the world. As a result, getting to a hospital in an emergency takes longer for them. Similarly, seeing patients with chronic diseases regularly becomes challenging for healthcare providers. Long commutes can be avoided with remote patient care provided by the Internet of Things.

Thanks to the link, healthcare professionals may be able to assist patients with prescriptions and drugs and analyze their biometrics using sensors and remote equipment. Patients may connect any wearable or portable device to the cloud and obtain real-time data updates, for example.

Face-to-face contact through the internet is also possible with some IoT devices. This can provide healthcare workers with the information they need to establish treatment strategies while the patients are going to the hospital, even if they didn’t have to go to the hospital to begin with! This assists in compiling a list of the patient’s most current health information for chronic patients.

Healthcare professionals may use charts and diagrams to show the information obtained.

Live video and audio streaming can be used to monitor a patient’s current state without needing to travel.

Emergency care

Emergency care outputs are determined by the timing, accuracy, and availability of contextual information. It also depends on the accuracy of the information received during the emergency call and when the patient is transported to a healthcare institution for immediate treatment. Furthermore, the entire process of collecting, storing, analyzing, and retrieving data throughout that period is time-consuming and exhausting.

IoT can help with data collecting, which may subsequently be accessed by emergency care workers such as paramedics or ER staff for faster and more effective medical treatment. This information may also be given to ER workers in real-time while the patient is on her way to the hospital, allowing hospitals to better prepare for the care.

Tracking inventory, staff, and patients

Businesses in the healthcare industry are concentrating on increasing labor efficiency and decreasing operating costs. This applies to small and large companies with considerable workers, patients, and inventories. Hospitals may use IoT devices in the form of wireless ID cards to restrict admissions, improve security, and evaluate overall staff performance. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacons and RFID tags may be utilized to track inventory and locate personnel in an emergency.

Combining IoT and RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) might also make asset tracking easier. This is the most cost-effective method of keeping track of equipment, prescriptions, and unrestricted resources, allowing employees to focus on patient care.

Augmented Surgeries

In the healthcare business, IoT has also found its way into operating rooms. Consider a network of linked robotic devices controlled by AI and can perform various tasks. The increased precision that robot-assisted surgeons can give is the focus of these procedures. In addition, connected equipment and IoT apps may significantly ease the work of medical personnel both before and after surgeries. In both cases, IoT sensors may be utilized to collect, transmit, and analyze data. This helps in recording even the tiniest details and, consequently, in the prevention of surgical complications.

Wearables

Wearable IoT devices might aid care teams in gathering information on a patient’s sleep habits, activity, heart rate, temperature, and other aspects. These devices can deliver real-time data to caregivers and patients. Consider the situation of a cardiac patient with a dangerously high heart rate. The nursing staff will get the signal immediately, allowing them to provide rapid and fast assistance to the patient. This might also benefit the remote health monitoring of older individuals who aren’t in the hospital but need to be monitored regularly.

wrapping

The Internet of Things holds much potential in healthcare and may be immensely beneficial to both healthcare providers and patients. It is intended to transform both patient care and organizational efficiency. As part of their intelligent hospital ambitions, some hospitals worldwide have already used the Internet of Things.

We at Idea Usher can assist you in implementing IoT in your industry; our professionals have years of expertise and knowledge to produce the most satisfactory solution for you and your company within the time frame you specify. To learn more about the development process, please get in touch with us.