There has been a lot of buzz around the IoT. Its already seen and observed that what IoT can do to transform the way we live. Talk about smart homes, improved security, smart sensors etc., IoT has played an important role in enhancing users lives. The best part of the technology is that it has made a big impact on the healthcare industry as well.

Needless to say, IoT is the real-time connection and communication among all sorts of available objects, gadgets, wearables, and devices. Considering its impact in the healthcare industry, it has the ability to reduce costs, boost productivity, and improve healthcare quality. In fact, the healthcare industry has started to realize IoT potential and have started to invest hugely in the domain of connected healthcare.

Fact Alert: A survey forecasts that the field of IoT will climb to $117 billion by 2020.

When the number is this surprising, then you can guess the potential that IoT carries for the healthcare industry. There are numerous benefits of IoT when imposed in the healthcare industry but today in this blog we are going to talk about the top 4 ways IoT can help your healthcare business. So, if you are from any healthcare business or planning to start a new one, this blog is worth a read.

1) Remote Patient Monitoring

Before IoT or any other technology, there used to be long queues, waiting, non-availability of complete documents, equipment etc. in the hospital. However, there is no such situation like this today. In fact, IoT has dramatically revamped the way hospital management used to work.

Let's consider a few instances to understand more:

· IoT has enabled doctors to remotely monitor patients. The technology enables patients to book an appointment with doctors and have a consultation with them despite the challenge of demography. · This reduces the cost for patients in a big way and save not just money but also time. · For hospitals, it cuts down the cost of in site patient consulting · IoT also helps doctors to fetch patient's history from the database and both doctor or patient does not need to carry documents with them all the time. · IoT is a big support in case of an emergency for patients. They can easily consult a doctor at any point of time without any delay thus increasing the chances of saving lives. · Wearable health devices monitor patient’s health like diabetes, BP, pulse rate, heart rate, stress level etc. on regular basis and data is recorded for doors observation in the future.

2) Hospital Management

If you think that it's only the patients who have the maximum benefit of IoT, then you are about to get surprised. IoT is helpful in monitoring hospital management. It has minimized the manual and laborious task into an automated system and given a relief to the hospital management.

Few to mention here are: · Safety and security of hospital assets · Manage and track hospital assets like staff members, equipment, patients and more · Real time location tracking of important and expensive equipment · Monitor day to day activities in the hospital · Track the occupied beds and send alerts when the bed is vacant for other patients to shift · Real-time tracking of hospital drugs in inventories

Although, IoT makes Hospital Management easy, you must need the support of a reliable IoT application development company with experience in creating application architecture with accurate data model. Unless you have a precise data model, you won’t be able to gain relevant information.

3) Telesurgery

The breakthrough of IoT has paved way for telesurgery or remote surgery. This has increased the horizon of the healthcare industry and has empowered doctors and patients immensely.

· Through telesurgery, doctors can perform minor surgeries without actually being present at the location of surgery. · The distance barrier is being covered by technologies like robotics, high-speed data connections, and expert hospital management staff. · Patients now no longer need to leave their local hospital and travel afar to avail the benefit of expertized surgeons from around the world. · For instance - the da Vinci Si surgical robot helps surgeons with unparalleled precision and control, hence facilitating the approach to performing complex surgical procedures.

4) Devoted treatment

It has been observed that In the US, there lies a large section of patients who do not adhere to medications, which eventually costs them to suffer consequences that incur approximately $105 billion annual expenses.

While this is a surprising fact but there are instances where doctors get to know that patients have not been following the practice of timely medication dosage. While this cause major health issues, it also costs huge money since medicines are really expensive.

· The IoT solution helps such patients through a wireless pill bottle that reminds people with medication-dependent conditions to stick to their prescribed treatment. · This device triggers an electronic nudge that alerts patients via call, text or blink whenever it’s the time to take their medicine. · Latest IoT solution is smart pills which allow patients to track the ingestion of the medication on their smartphone. They can also allow smart pills access to their caretakers to check the information through a web-based portal.

You can hire a dedicated technology team to build the solution for you. However, make sure to avoid these 10 common mistakes companies do while hiring a technology team.

Conclusion

Summing up the entire blog, there are more than above-stated ways through which IoT can help the healthcare business. It's too early to say that there is a limited scope of IoT in the healthcare industry since it has been now experimented and used in various other ways. IoT in the healthcare industry has been big support as it has made the process flow and communication between patients and hospitals extremely easy and effective.

Author

Siya Carla is the Solution Consultant at Finoit Technologies, a leading custom software development company which provides unique web design and mobile app development services. By creating interactive mobile apps for 450+ customers across the globe, Finoit enjoys a great reputation as a prominent mobile app development company.