IOT in healthcare
- 1. IOT in Healthcare Midhun P Abraham [email protected] Mobile: 7760611886 Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction.................................................................................................................. 2 Issues and challenges in Healthcare IOT .................................................................... 3 Current market for Healthcare IOT .............................................................................. 3 Healthcare IOT at present ........................................................................................... 4 Healthcare IOT startups............................................................................................... 5 Future of Healthcare IOT............................................................................................. 6 References .................................................................................................................. 6
- 2. Abstract The term “Internet” was coined when few experts realized that when computer systems were interconnected together, inconceivable benefits were obtained. It made people and organizations to be in contact anywhere anytime and information was made available seamlessly. Internet grew exponentially. By 2013, more experts had vision to uncover potential benefits in utilizing the Internet that will transform everyday life; rather than just interconnecting computer systems. That vision had to be nurtured with care to reality due to its complexity. The “Internet of Things (IOT)” is in the growth stage now. However technologically we advance, we will never miss out Healthcare. IOT paved a unique way to cater entire humanity, which is in proportionate to the motto of IOT: transform everyday life. This report highlights the milestones of IOT in Healthcare and its future. Introduction Internet is wholly dependent on human beings for information. We have to capture, store and interpret manually. Internet doesn’t have an independent thinking capability. Hence, there is a gap in accurate data capture. There is huge requirement in automated decision making and expert systems in sectors such as precision agriculture, healthcare, energy and transportation. These sectors are complex since their operations should be monitored all the time; the captured data should be precise and should be interpreted accurately whereby reducing human efforts. This is where IOT comes into picture. IOT helps us to track and count everything and reduce errors, waste, loss and cost. IOT will help us to know when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling. IOT is a conglomerate of smart devices, wireless technologies, sensors, micro- electromechanical systems (MEMS), Information Technology (I.T), Internet and more in pipeline. The sector which got quick reaction to IOT is Healthcare. At present, IOT has influenced in wearable medical devices, material and human resource management in hospitals and around-the-clock patient monitoring. Still there are more untapped functional areas which need to be upgraded via IOT but, there are some issues.
- 3. Issues and challenges in Healthcare IOT Privacy and security challenges in the network of Hospitals. Securing the devices (smart phones, laptops, workstations and medical devices). Lack of standards and protocols for communication and interconnectivity. Lack of efficient training for physicians, staffs and other hospital employees. Huge amount of information is generated. It is difficult to manage the workflow intelligently. Due to large number of medical device manufacturers, there is a lack of interoperability. Many IOT applied medical devices are still in developing stage. It takes time to be commercially available after regulatory screenings. At present Healthcare IOT has high implementation cost. It takes huge amount of time to integrate the traditional systems with latest technologies. The medical field is always facing challenges because of new health problems, new communicable diseases, drug resistance and more. The technology in Healthcare needs to be adaptable to these challenges. Current market for Healthcare IOT The global IOT market will grow to $1.7 trillion in 2020. Healthcare IOT will be worth $160 billion by 2020. Source: IDC and Forbes $117 billion opportunities for Healthcare IOT. Source: Forbes The sale of wearable wireless medical devices grew more than 100 million and exceeded $2.9 billion. Source: ABI Research 2016
- 4. Healthcare IOT at present Some of the current applications of IOT in Healthcare are: Telemedicine: Use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide clinical health care at long distances. Clinical Operations and Workflow Management: Healthcare sensors monitor patients. Radio-frequency identification (RFID), Real Time Location System (RTLS) and Admission-Discharge-Transfer system (ADT) helps in overall operations of the hospital. Connected Imaging: Connected Imaging enhances collaboration among radiologists, physicians, and technologists in different locations. Remote patient monitoring: Enables monitoring of patients outside of conventional clinical settings (e.g. in the home), which decrease healthcare delivery costs. Medication therapy management: Medication therapy management includes therapy review, documentation, follow ups and intervention plans.
- 5. Some examples of IOT medical devices: UROSENSE by Future Path Medical: UROSENSE automatically measures urine output and core body temperature (CBT) for catheterized patients. By monitoring these vital signs, care can be started early for heart failure, kidney injury, infectious disease, prostate tumors and diabetes. Medication Dispensing Service by Philips: The device alerts a patient (especially elder patients) when it’s time to take their pills. When the patient pushes the button, pre-filled cups with medication are dispensed. The device is synced to the user’s phone line, so messages are tracked if the person misses a dose. NIOX MINO of Aerocrine: The NIOX MINO is a hand-held device that takes routine measurements of Nitric Oxide (NO) in a patient’s breath, which can improve the management of asthma and other inflammatory airway conditions. The data that is collected can be synced with electronic medical record systems. Healthcare IOT startups Healthcare IOT startups are finding new applications and leveraging connected sensors to better diagnose, monitor, and manage patients and treatment. Some of those startups are: Awarepoint (San Diego, US): Provide location-tracking on patients and medical equipment in real-time using sensors. Beddit (Finland): Beddit has created products for tracking of sleep, heart rate and breathing without any disturbing wearable sensors; instead they use special sensor technology and sophisticated signal analysis algorithms. Cooey (Bangalore, India): Cooey is an end to end health monitoring IOT platform that intends to collect, store, analyze and provide insights of vital signs for patients. ProdIntel Technologies (Bangalore, India): ProdIntel have a product called “Sensor” which transmits the pulse, blood pressure, glucose level readings to centralized database.
- 6. Future of Healthcare IOT Healthcare IOT is promising and will witness wide span of growth and revenue in near future. Even though the technology is present now, it should be available to all at competitive prices and should be introduced in rural sector as well. Wearable connected devices can be designed for all discharged patients to monitor vital signs. Data will be sent to the consulting doctor and real time diagnosis can be done at real time. The monitor device is returned to hospital once the patient is fully recovered. Though this technology exists, it should become commercially viable to entire population. More connected house hold medical devices can be designed to improve quick diagnosis such as Internet-enabled thermometer which can send the readings of high temperature to doctor and determine whether or not an appointment is necessary. An aggregate storage device can be designed to store all the scan reports so that the patient doesn’t have to carry the hard copies when going for diagnosis. Huge amount of wastage and cost is reduced. The data can be shared online between physicians and technicians. After all, Healthcare sector and Food sector are the prime factors of life. All the current applications of Healthcare IOT can be integrated with standard protocols so that everyday life of everyone can be transformed; which is the motto of IOT. References 1. “Internet of Things (IoT): A Vision, Architectural Elements, and Future Directions” - Jayavardhana Gubbi, Rajkumar Buyya, Slaven Marusic and Marimuthu Palaniswami. 2. http://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/ 3. http://www.forbex.com/ 4. http://www.financialexpress.com/