IoT in Healthcare: Benefits, Challenges and Applications

There have been numerous technologies going around that have created a buzz in the healthcare industry. As we have technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Augmented Reality. Hence, you see their applications in every sphere or sector, albeit some of those are just overhyped or mere gimmicks.

But the Internet of Things (IoT) is the most flourishing technology, and IoT in healthcare has bought in myriad applications that are more than just gimmicks and are quite useful in reality.

In addition, there is a huge demand for IoT developers apart from just the healthcare sector. Businesses across various industries, including healthcare, are pouring in investments in IoT app development. Let’s have a look at the progress of IoT in the healthcare industry.

The stats have said it all. For businesses based on healthcare and professionals working in the medical sector, the time is ripe to work on implementing IoT-based applications in healthcare. But before I tell you how to implement IoT in healthcare, let’s understand the current state of IoT in the industry.

It is not tough to say that the healthcare industry is in huge despair. With the increase in population, healthcare services have been costlier than ever. Hence, basic healthcare has gone beyond the reach of people. It has created havoc on the lives of needful, who are in general need of aid healthcare. As a result, the situation is getting worse with each passing year.

I guess Yes! To make healthcare easily accessible with the right diagnosis and treatment, there is a huge possibility of redundant costs as medical diagnosis forms a huge part of hospital bills. This can be taken care of with IoT in the picture. Hence, the right diagnosis done through interconnected IoT applications will also lessen the need for hospitalization.

Want to explore IoT App Development for your next project? Hire Expert IoT Developers Here!

---

Real-time monitoring via connected devices can save a million lives in the event of a medical emergency like heart failure, diabetes, asthma attacks, etc. With the real-time monitoring of the condition in place by means of a smart medical device connected to a smartphone app, connected devices can collect useful medical and health-related data.

The connected IoT device collects and transfers health data such as information about blood pressure, oxygen, and blood sugar levels, weight, and ECGs. The data is stored in the cloud and can be shared with an authorized person as per the sharing access authority.

In addition, The said person could be a physician, an insurance company, a participating health firm, or an external consultant, and it will allow them to look at the collected data regardless of their location and time!

IoT can help in automating healthcare and patient healthcare workflow through healthcare mobility solutions. IoT in healthcare enables interoperability, machine-to-machine communication, information exchange, and data movement that makes the delivery of healthcare services extremely cost-effective.

Hence, this technology-driven setup can bring down costs by cutting down unnecessary visits and utilizing better quality resources. Thereby improving the process of allocation and resource planning.

For healthcare professionals, managing a vast amount of data is not as easy as it sounds. Data collected in real-time through IoT-enabled mobile devices can be analyzed and segregated through mobility solutions powered by IoT.

---

Real-time tracking and alerts in life-threatening situations can turn into a savior to safeguard a critical patient’s health with constant notifications and real-time alerts for proper monitoring, analysis, and diagnosis. Healthcare mobility solutions powered by IoT enable real-time tracking, alerting, and monitoring.

This permits hands-on treatments, better accuracy, and apt intervention by doctors hence improving the complete patient care delivery results.

It is a terrible situation for a patient looking for medical assistance, yet being unable to connect to a doctor due to hindrances such as location and lack of knowledge. The problem has got its fixture in the IoT-enabled mobility solutions that can help patients with proper medical assistance on the go.

Patients can take medical prescriptions right at home through healthcare delivery chains connected to patients through IoT devices.

One of the most significant challenges faced by IoT is Data Security and Privacy. IoT-enabled mobile devices capture data in real-time, but most of them lack adherence to data protocols and standards.

There is significant ambiguity regarding data ownership and regulation. Hence, the data stored within IoT-enabled devices are prone to data thefts and it makes the data more susceptible to cybercriminals that can hack into the system to compromise personal health information.

Some examples of misuse of IoT device data are fraudulent health claims and the creation of fake IDs for buying and selling drugs.

The integration of multiple types of devices causes hindrance in the implementation of IoT in the healthcare sector. The reason behind this hindrance is that device manufacturers haven’t reached a consensus regarding communication protocol and standards.

This results in a scenario where every manufacturer creates its own separate ecosystem of IoT devices that do not work with the devices and applications of competing manufacturers. In such a situation, there is no synchronous protocol that could be followed for data aggregation. This non-uniformity slows down the process and reduces the scope of scalability of IoT in healthcare.

Due to the non-uniformity of data and communication protocols, it is difficult to aggregate data for vital insights and analysis. IoT collects data in bulk and for proper data analysis, the data need to be segregated in chunks without overloading with precise accuracy for better results. Moreover, the overloading of data might affect the decision-making process in the hospitality sector in the longer run.

You might not be surprised to see this point here.  Costs are one of the greater challenges when planning to consider IoT app development for healthcare mobility solutions. However, the costs are completely worth it if the IoT implementation is one that solves a genuine problem.

While you will spend a significant amount of money and resources in developing an IoT application, the returns will be equally huge when your business saves time and manpower, all while improving the business processes, generating more revenue streams, and creating more business opportunities through IoT.

---

IoT applications in healthcare are meant not just for the healthcare institutions, but for the patients too! In a nutshell, IoT in healthcare does the following:

Now, these benefits cannot be realized without the various types of IoT devices leveraged in the healthcare sector, some of the popular types of IoT devices are as follows:

Hearables are touted as the new age hearing aid for people who have suffered hearing loss and have lost interaction with the real world. The way IoT-powered devices have transformed the world with hearing aid solutions is commendable.

Hearables are compatible with your smartphones, you can sync your Bluetooth with the device. It also allows you to filter, equalize and add layered features to real-world sounds.

One of the prominent examples of Hearables is Doppler Labs.

A genuine modern science marvel, Ingestible Sensors are well, ingestible pill-sized sensors that get inside our bodies to monitor the medications and warn users/doctors in case of any irregularity. These sensors can be a boon for diabetic patients as it would help in curbing symptoms and provide an early warning for diseases.

A mood-enhancing device that can help in enhancing your mood all throughout the day! It might sound fictitious but it is not far from reality.

Thync and Halo Neurosciences are already working on mood elevator sensors. “Mood-ables” are head-mounted wearables that send low-intensity current to the brain to elevate mood.

Computer Vision Technology along with Artificial Intelligence has given rise to drone technology which aims to mimic visual perception to enable decision making based on it.

Drones like Skydio, use computer vision technology to detect obstacles and navigate around them. This technology has also greatly helped visually impaired people to navigate effectively.

IoT-powered devices reduce much of the manual work. For instance, a doctor has to use IoT devices during patient charting. Here, IoT sensors can measure all types of od data such as blood pressure, body temperature, etc., and chart it all into an app connected to measurement devices through IoT.

In addition, it makes the patient’s data readily accessible for review. Such an IoT application could save up to 15 hours/ week of a doctor’s manual charting.

---

In Conclusion, we know that IoT has clearly changed the game of the healthcare industry. Healthcare is one of the most critical industrial sectors unaffected by every major technology except for the Internet of Things. In addition, IoT app development has changed the way facilities and services are delivered in the healthcare sector.

So, if you want to jump into this transition, hire IoT developers, set up a project, and take a step towards building the future of healthcare. Moreover, there are many leading IoT development companies that have been providing a pool of  IoT development services but there are only a few who deliver as per client requirements and expectations.