The need for IoT healthcare has increased because of an aging population, expensive medical services, and outdated healthcare infrastructure. Affordable and innovative health care is a future reality. The IoT allows us to change this industry fundamentally.
The Internet of Things (IoT) or the Internet of Everything (IoE) can be described as a network of interconnected devices. The IoT consists of the whole ecosystem of interconnected gadgets, but not of separate devices. These devices are equipped with different sensors and processors that let information be collected from surrounding environments and sent over the network. This process happens without any human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
The use cases of the Internet of Things are numerous – from smart thermostats and bulbs, to car trackers, and even health monitors. For instance, a thermostat can detect the temperature in a room and send data to the cloud. Then, the data can be sent to an application on the user’s device so that they can decide to either turn the temperature up or down through the app or manually. The system can also automatically perform necessary actions based on predefined user preferences with no human interaction. The latter option is named machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.
IoT devices make our life more comfortable and let us automate things that are routine. The next step is the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) which means penetration into other industries, including healthcare.
The adoption of IoT in healthcare is slower, but over the last 10 years, the number of IoT devices in healthcare has grown immensely.
Nowadays, IoT healthcare devices have been introduced in various forms like heart rate, temperature, and blood glucose level monitors on the market. Such devices collect important data and provide doctors with extra insights into symptoms and any human body problems. In such a way it becomes easier to identify issues before they become critical and deliver medical help earlier.
Life expectancy rises and the healthcare costs too and with the help of IoT, we can reduce the cost of healthcare services.
Among early applications of the medical IoT are smart beds, medication dispensers and smart Fridge for vaccines.
Nowadays, there are 3.7 million medical devices that collect and monitor health data. By 2021 the Internet of Medical Things market size will reach $136.8 billion worldwide.
The IoT and healthcare have created incredible solutions for many pressing problems. They reduce health costs and waiting time, and make healthcare and medical checks accessible to everyone from home.
I suggest you should take a look at this article to learn more about the most important facts about IoT healthcare. You will find out why the Internet of Medical Things is vital and what benefits it brings along.