IoT in Healthcare
Affiliate Disclosure: “When you click a banner on our site we can earn money through an affiliation with that company.”
The Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized the way business is carried out, factories work, and services are rendered. The healthcare sector has not been left behind either. Medical professionals have been working hard to leverage IoT in enhancing the patient experience, as well as provide better working conditions and equipment for staff.
IoT will certainly help improve the quality of healthcare services rendered in any organization. It can free-up staff time, enable timely delivery of services. That being said, there are risks that come with IoT devices. Healthcare is a very sensitive practice. Extra care needs to be exercise while incorporating IoT into a healthcare system.
How Interconnected Medical Devices Can Improve Health Care
Interconnected medical devices allow patient information to be relayed instantly. The information is immediately accessible to those who need it. This information can help doctors attend to the patient in a timely fashion and more effectively.
Researchers, organizations, regulators and manufacturers and also easily access the healthcare information they need from hospitals instantly. This will ensure their operations are smooth and effective as well.
The inclusion of intelligent devices in healthcare aids in the collection and provision of more detailed knowledge of ailments and treatment outcomes. The knowledge can easily be shared among stakeholders in the medical fraternity. IoT devices are able to consolidate the knowledge faster and more efficiently than a human ever would.
Monitoring of patients has been traditionally carried out medical staff. IoT has enabled remote monitoring of a patient, allowing more privacy for the patient. The aspect also frees time for the medical staff and lowers healthcare costs. Also, IoT sensory devices will be able to maintain continuous monitoring of a patient. Medical staff, being human can’t be able to execute such close monitoring.
Risks Posed by IoT in Healthcare
As exciting as it sounds to have IoT integrated into healthcare systems, IoT is not devoid of shortcomings. One of the biggest risks of incorporating IoT into a healthcare system is that of infiltration. Cyber resilience of IoT systems is a big conversation right now. Although there are protocols and standards in place for ensuring the security of IoT systems, big corporations continue to suffer in the hands of hackers.
It would be catastrophic if criminal hackers were able to gain control of a healthcare system. IoT incorporation into the healthcare system is basically entrusting people lives to machines. There needs to be a guarantee that no unauthorized person can get into these machines.