The Increasing Role of IoT in Enhancing the Healthcare Sector
Adesh Chaurasia- Increasing Role of IoT in Enhancing the Healthcare Sector
The Internet of Things is one of the major and inventive technological advancements. Gradually, this technology is making its way to all sectors and playing a significant role in maximizing their efficacy. But the contribution of IoT in the healthcare sector and the potential that it has to revolutionize the healthcare system stand unparalleled today. The devices and applications of the IoT in the medical sector also referred to as the Internet of Medical Things have upgraded the sector to a great extent and are certainly going to shape its future as well.
The use of the Internet of Things in the healthcare sector is soaring today because it aids doctors, patients, and other healthcare staff by its capabilities to minimize delays in treatment, enhance the level of accuracy, reduce costs and increase the overall efficiency.
Let us look at some of the applications of IoT to understand their contribution to this sector better.
1) Pervasive Health Monitoring
Health tracking systems have been one of the most significant contributions of the IoT in this arena. There are a plethora of health tracking devices which include wearable like fitness bands and other wireless devices like glucometer which is used to measure the level of glucose in a person’s blood, heartbeat measuring bands, and handcuffs that give details about a person’s blood pressure. We all are aware that ‘prevention is better than cure’. These devices enhance health and safety by not just helping people track their day-to-day health conditions but also by helping a person lead a healthy lifestyle by reminding them about regular medical check-ups, exercise routines, and many other practices important for their health.
2) Remote Patient Monitoring
The Internet of Things has made it possible for doctors to monitor the health of their patients even when they are not in their vicinity. The devices gather information about a person’s health and forward it to the software so that the doctors can be updated about the changes in their patients’ health and intervene when needed. IoT also allows doctors to come up with the most effective treatment plan for their patients. A stunning development that comes to my mind is that of ‘connected inhalers’ that collect information from the surroundings of a patient and give the doctors idea about what triggered an asthma attack. Not only that, in times of clinical emergencies, these devices through their alert mechanism caution the patient’s family members and doctor.
Also Read:- Application of IOT in enhancing the healthcare system-The new age transformation
3) Help Hospitals to function better
With remote patient monitoring, IoT has undoubtedly improved the healthcare services provided by the hospitals and has made the hospitals smarter.
Furthermore, IoT has a crucial role to play when it comes to the management of the properties of hospitals like oxygen pumps, wheelchairs, and other medical equipment by enabling the authorities to track their real-time location. Apart from this application, IoT devices in healthcare facilities also help minimize the spread of infectious diseases by reminding people to wash and sanitize their hands before entering there. This has been even more helpful since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
4) Medical Research
Medical research paves the way for improvement in the healthcare sector. The health data collected by the IoT sensors and stored is extremely important for medical research. Without the use of IoT, it would have been a very difficult, time-consuming, and expensive task to gather the amount of data gathered by IoT. This data can be effectively used for statistical analysis, to find novel treatment methods and other innovations in the medical field.
Winding-up
It is certain that IoT cuts down the costs, prevents delays in diagnosis, and ensures improved and proactive treatment but there is a primary cause of worry when it comes to IoT is security. Io T-based applications and devices are prone to cyber attacks. Hence to increase the utilization of Io T-based devices in the healthcare system, it is imperative to put in place and enforce appropriate data security measures.
Also Read:-How has the business ideas and plans witnessed drastic shift over the years?
________________________________________________________________________________
Author- Adesh Chaurasia
He is an active learner, author and speaker when it comes to the subject of national development through scientific and relational ways. He presents his knowledge about his line of work in such a simple yet engrossing manner that it reaches out to the people so as to enhance their knowledge and put it to good use.
