case study of health care in iot

IoT in Healthcare: Applications and Use Cases

5G Is Here Learn what it means for your enterprise Download PDF The growth of IoT into nearly every business arena from medical devices and healthcare applications to industrial IoT (IIoT) is amazing to behold. Our series highlighting the range of use cases for the Internet of Things illustrates how IoT products and services are being deployed around the globe, by industry. This article focuses on the range of IoT use cases in healthcare today, supporting patients, doctors, medical staff and first responders in achieving better outcomes. Why is IoT in healthcare a fast-growth industry? There are a number of reasons, including the capability of connected devices to monitor health vitals, route data, provide alerts, administer medications and automate critical processes. The medical industry is adopting Internet of Things technologies in everything from medical wearables to patient monitoring and pharmaceutical temperature monitoring in order to improve accuracy, promote efficiency, reduce costs, meet compliance requirements and enhance health and safety. In fact the term "healthcare IoT" or HIoT has been coined to describe this market niche. Digi solutions support development and deployment of a broad range of products and applications in this space.

Let's take a tour of some examples of IoT in medical and healthcare, including Digi customer case studies that help to demonstrate the breadth of IoT applications in healthcare patient support. You can find more examples of applications for a range of industries in the  Customer Stories  section of the Digi site.    

IoT in Healthcare - Promoting Hygienic Hospitals and Clinics

• Contact tracing
• Pathogen detection
• Thermal detection (elevated temperature)
• No-touch sanitation dispensers
• Automated hand hygiene 
• Hygiene monitoring
• Workspace and floor sanitation
• Air quality sensors
• Biometrics scanners
• Vital signs monitoring
• Remote patient communications
• Instrument sterilization
• Medication dispensing

Here are a few examples of how Digi customers have built healthcare applications supporting sanitation and hygiene.  

Floorbotics

Clean Hands Safe Hands

Get to Market Faster and Avoid Costly Mistakes: New FDA Guidance for RF Wireless Medical Devices

BOS Technology

IoT Wearables: Health Monitoring, Injury Reduction and Contact Tracing

With advances in Bluetooth technology, and the need for immediacy in feedback, wearables are an enormous growth area for IoT in healthcare. In this section, meet some of the Digi customers who are designing wearables for wellness, ergonomics, contact tracing and patient/doctor connectivity.  

Kinetic Wearables

Kinetic Updates for Contact Tracing

Additional worker safety concerns surfaced with the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the close environments of industrial workplaces. Reducing worker virus transmission and quickly and accurately identifying potential risks have become key priorities in keeping industrial employees safe and operations open. “When Covid infections among industrial workers began forcing facility shutdowns, we saw a need to better leverage smart technology to connect essential employees and help protect them from illness,” said Bansal.   

Related content:  Watch the Kinetic video

Lasarrus wearables for physical therapy.

"In the era of COVID-19, fewer patients or clinicians want to have in-person patient encounters," said co-founder Nelson Emokpae. "We’re recognizing that the LASARRUS WearME can play an important role in fighting the pandemic from a telehealth perspective. First, patients can wear our device from home and enable the clinician to quickly obtain a complete physiological assessment. That will improve patient outcomes without exposing them to unnecessary risk."

Download our Reliable Connected Health Brochure

Learn how industry-leading Digi solutions are purpose-built for today’s connected medical devices.

Download PDF

IoT in Patient Care and Pain Medication Management

Related content: Learn about the secure, scalable Digi ConnectCore 8 module family

Medical iot: 3d imaging technology.

Pharmaceutical Temperature Monitoring and Compliance

IoT Use Cases in Emergency Response and Critical Communications

Related white paper: Mission Critical Communications for Traffic Management

Iot in telemedicine, remote surgery, robotics.

Related blog post:  How 5G Will Impact the Future of Healthcare

  More IoT Applications and Use Cases In addition to IoT use cases in healthcare, you can find more IoT use cases and examples in these blog posts:

• IoT Applications for Retail
• IoT Applications in Smart Cities
• IoT Solutions for Transportation
• IoT Applications for Precision Agriculture
• Digital Signage IoT Applications
• Connected Vehicle Use Cases
• IoT Applications in Supply Chain
• IoT Drones: How the Use Cases are Changing

 How to Connect with Digi:  

• Contact us to start a conversation about your IoT development or deployment plans.
• Sign up for our newsletter to keep up with the latest content and new product introductions.
• Connect with us on LinkedIn , Twitter , or Facebook .

Note: This post was initially published in February of 2019, and was updated in July of 2021.

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IoT in healthcare: a review of services, applications, key technologies, security concerns, and emerging trends

• Published: 27 February 2024

Cite this article

• Gousia Nissar 1 ,
• Riaz A. Khan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3355-4099 1 ,
• Saba Mushtaq 2 ,
• Sajaad A. Lone 1 &
• Ayaz Hassan Moon 1  

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The healthcare industry is experiencing a transformative impact from the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, characterized by technological advancements, enhanced economic efficiency, and positive social implications. Through the seamless connection of healthcare providers, patients and medical devices, healthcare services are delivered with improved effectiveness and precision. This transformation empowers individuals to actively engage in their own healthcare management and has the potential to revolutionize medical treatments and preventive care, ultimately improving overall wellbeing on a global scale. In this context, this article provides a comprehensive literature review focused on IoT-based healthcare technologies. It systematically evaluates the existing research in a chronological manner, emphasizing the advancements and trends in the field. The study explores the evolution of IoT healthcare over time and assesses the healthcare services, applications, and industry trends associated with IoT-based healthcare solutions. Furthermore, the paper thoroughly analyzes the specific IoT security and privacy features required for smart healthcare, including security requirements , privacy and security , attack taxonomies , and threat models from a healthcare perspective. Additionally, the paper explores how innovative technologies like cloud computing, Blockchain, big data, ambient intelligence, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can be leveraged in the smart healthcare environment. Finally, we discuss the challenges and open issues associated with IoT-based healthcare systems and provide avenues for future research based on the identified gaps.

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Acknowledgements

This work is fully supported and funded by Jammu Kashmir Science Technology and Innovation Council (JKST&IC) India, under the project titled “ A Lightweight Security Mechanism for IoT Based Healthcare Systems ”.

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Nissar, G., Khan, R.A., Mushtaq, S. et al. IoT in healthcare: a review of services, applications, key technologies, security concerns, and emerging trends. Multimed Tools Appl (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-024-18580-7

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-024-18580-7

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Internet of things for sensing: a case study in the healthcare system.

1. Introduction

2. related work, 3. s-band sensing and data processing, phase calibration, 4. data classification, 4.1. support vector machine for data classification, 4.2. k-nearest neighbor algorithm, 4.3. random forest algorithm, 5. experimental setup, 6. results and discussion, 6.1. classification results, 6.1.1. results obtained using svm, 6.1.2. data classification using knn and rf, 6.1.3. results obtained using svm, knn, and rf classifiers, 7. conclusions, acknowledgments, author contributions, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Shah, S.A.; Ren, A.; Fan, D.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, N.; Yang, X.; Luo, M.; Wang, W.; Hu, F.; Rehman, M.U.; et al. Internet of Things for Sensing: A Case Study in the Healthcare System. Appl. Sci. 2018 , 8 , 508. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8040508

Shah SA, Ren A, Fan D, Zhang Z, Zhao N, Yang X, Luo M, Wang W, Hu F, Rehman MU, et al. Internet of Things for Sensing: A Case Study in the Healthcare System. Applied Sciences . 2018; 8(4):508. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8040508

Shah, Syed Aziz, Aifeng Ren, Dou Fan, Zhiya Zhang, Nan Zhao, Xiaodong Yang, Ming Luo, Weigang Wang, Fangming Hu, Masood Ur Rehman, and et al. 2018. "Internet of Things for Sensing: A Case Study in the Healthcare System" Applied Sciences 8, no. 4: 508. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8040508

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IoT in Healthcare: Benefits, Use Cases, Challenges, and Future

• IoT in Healthcare:...

Internet of Things for Healthcare

How iot works in healthcare, iot devices in healthcare, benefits of iot in healthcare., challenges of iot in healthcare., why the internet of medical things is the future of healthcare , future of iot in healthcare.

Healthcare IT solutions will be a greater priority among IoT service providers once the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 slow down. Although remote sensing medical devices have existed for over more than two decades, and telemedicine has already been around for a while, the underlying technology has evolved 100x through the years. No more doctor visits. Today we have an interconnected network of intelligent devices capable of making decisions, work as groups, and send information to the cloud — Internet of Things. 

In this article, we will take a closer look at Internet of Things (IoT) for Healthcare. 

• Internet of Things for Healthcare.

What exactly is IoT and why it is important in healthcare? 

• IoT in healthcare examples .
• IoT Devices in Healthcare.
• Future of IoT in Healthcare.

Let's get to business.

The market of IoT in healthcare is predicted to exceed $10 billion by 2024, according to a Brandessence market research . This growth forecast is also impacted by other important technologies. IoT is slowly getting traction and evolving alongside the new ultra-fast 5G mobile wireless, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big Data. Combing this powerful technologies with the Internet of Things will likely revolutionize the healthcare industry. IoT in healthcare using 5G wireless and AI could, for example, completely transform the way patients are monitored and treated remotely.

Still, IoT will not only help with the patient’s health, but also improve the productivity of the healthcare industry workers. 

In a nutshell, IoT is the concept created around the idea of full ubiquitous computing, which is the processing of information linked with external activity or objects. Ubiquitous computing involves connecting electronic devices with microprocessors and sensors to talk to each other. IoT is a ubiquitous network except that all of those electronic devices have access to the Internet.  

IoT in the healthcare industry is a great example of this omnipresent computing. For example, hundreds of intelligent electronic devices can be set up in a hospital to monitor patients’ health status 24/7, talk to each other, make decisions, and upload information to a healthcare cloud platform.

IoT in Healthcare Examples

How IoT can be used in healthcare effectively? Let’s explore three workable Internet of Things healthcare examples below. 

• Sensing and uploading up-to-date patient information to the cloud in emergency situations, from the ambulance or even from home. 
• Medical devices capable of performing self-maintenance. IoT healthcare devices will sense their own components, detect low thresholds, and communicate with medical personnel and manufacturers.  
• IoT and wearables can help home patients and elderly communicate directly with a healthcare facility.  
• Telemedicine can be considered a “primitive” form of an Internet of Things in healthcare example. With IoT, a patient can be observed and in some cases treated remotely through video cameras and other electronic actuators. 

To understand how the Internet of Things in Healthcare works, let’s see how IoT works in general. As discussed above, an IoT unit can be considered as a device with a sensor that can interact with the physical world and send information to the Internet. 

In healthcare, these devices can gather different patient data and receive inputs from health practitioners. An Internet of Things Healthcare example is continuous glucose monitoring for insulin pens that works effectively for patients with diabetes. 

All these devices are able to communicate with each other and in some cases take important actions that would provide timely help or even save a life. For example, an IoT healthcare device can make intelligent decisions like calling the healthcare facility if an elderly person has fallen down. After collecting passive data, an IoT healthcare device would send this critical information to the cloud so that doctors can act upon it — view the general patient status, see if calling an ambulance is necessary, what type of help is required, and so on. 

Thus, Internet of Things Healthcare can greatly improve not only a patient’s health and help in critical situations, but also the productivity of health employees and hospital workflows. 

How IoT helps in healthcare — Process 

Let’s explore an IoT healthcare workflow example:

• A sensor collects data from a patient or a doctor/nurse inputs data. 
• An IoT device analyzes the collected data with the help of AI-driven algorithms like machine learning (ML). 
• The device makes a decision whether to act or send the information to the cloud. 
• Doctors, health practitioners, or even robots are enabled to make actionable and informed decisions based on the data provided by the IoT device. 

Although not all IoT devices should have a sensor, they at least need to have a radio and a given TCP/IP address to enable communication with the Internet. As long as a device has access to the Internet, it can be considered an IoT device. 

So, every smartphone is an IoT device. A smartphone with the right set of healthcare apps can help you detect diseases and improve your health. Some examples of these are skin cancer detection apps that use your camera and AI-driven algorithms to map moles on your skin. Other examples would be sleep, yoga, fitness, and pill management apps. 

Still, smartphone is a smartphone. Monitoring healthcare is not its primary application. A dedicated healthcare IoT device can do significantly more.  

• Smartwatch. Wearables sold at consumer electronics stores come with a sensor and Internet connection. Some of them (like iWatch Series 4) can even monitor your heart rate, control diabetes, help in speech treatment, aid in improving posture, and detect seizures. 
• Insulin Pens and Smart CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring). These devices can monitor blood glucose levels and send the data to a dedicated smartphone app. Patients with diabetes can use these devices to track their glucose levels and even send this data to a healthcare facility. 
• Brain Swelling Sensors. These tiny sensors are implanted within the cranium to help brain surgeons keep track of severe brain injuries and avoid further deathly swelling. They measure pressure on the brain and are able to dissolve by itself in the body without further medical interference.
• Ingestible Sensors. Prescribed medication is swallowed with a tiny digestible medical sensor that sends a small signal to a wearable receiver on the patient, which, in turn, sends data to  a dedicated smartphone app. This sensor can help doctors ensure patients take their medication at all times. 
• Smart video pills. A smart pill can travel through a patient’s intestinal tract and take pictures as it travels. It can then send the collected information to a wearable device, which in turn would send it to a dedicated smartphone app (or straight to the app). Smart pills can also help visualize the gastrointestinal tract and colon remotely. 

IoT in the healthcare industry has countless benefits. However, the most important is that treatment outcomes can be significantly improved or maximized, as the data gathered by IoT healthcare devices is highly accurate, enabling informed decisions. 

Health facilities and practitioners will be capable of minimizing errors because all patient information can be measured quickly and sent to a board of doctors or a healthcare cloud platform. AI-driven algorithms running on these IoT devices could also help make intelligible decisions or suggestions based on existing data.

Another great benefit of IoT in healthcare is reduced costs. With IoT in healthcare , non-critical patients will be able to stay at home while various IoT devices monitor and send all important information to the health facility — meaning less hospital stays and doctor visits.

With detailed information received from lots of IoT devices, health facilities will also be able to improve their disease management. They’ll have more data in real-time coming in than ever before. Still, this entails a number of challenges.

Although IoT in healthcare provides many great benefits, there are also some challenges that need to be solved. The Internet of Things Healthcare solutions cannot be considered for implementation without acknowledging these challenges. 

• Massive inputs of generated data. Having thousands of devices in a single healthcare facility and a thousand more sending information from remote locations — all in real-time — will generate huge amounts of data. The data generated from IoT in healthcare will likely make storage requirements grow much higher, from Terabytes to Petabytes. If used properly, AI-driven algorithms and cloud can help make sense of and organize this data, but this approach needs time to mature. So, creating a large-scale IoT healthcare solution will take a lot of time and effort.
• IoT devices will increase the attack surface. IoT healthcare bring numerous benefits to the industry, but they also create numerous vulnerable security spots. Hackers could log into medical devices connected to the Internet and steal the information —  or even modify it. They can also take a step further and hack an entire hospital network, infecting the IoT devices with the infamous Ransomware virus. That means the hackers will hold patients and their heart-rate monitors, blood pressure readers, and brain scanners as hostages.
• Existing software infrastructure is obsolete. IT infrastructures in many hospitals are obsolete. They will not allow for proper integration of IoT devices. Therefore, healthcare facilities will need to revamp their IT processes and use new, more modern software. They will also need to take advantage of virtualization (technologies like SDN and NFV), and ultra-fast wireless and mobile networks like Advanced LTE or 5G. 

IoT in healthcare industry can improve components, such as medical gadgets or services. It can also enhance healthcare applications, such as telemedicine, patient monitoring, medication management, imaging, and overall workflows in hospitals.It can also create new ways of treating different diseases. 

The Internet of Things for healthcare will not only be used by hospitals or facilities, but also by surgical centers, research organizations, and even governmental institutions. 

IoT in healthcare industry does not stand alone. All IoT devices and their networks need to be combined with other technologies to help healthcare facilities transform in a meaningful way. As mentioned before, IoT will revolutionize the healthcare industry but it also needs data, high-speed communication, and proper security and compliance. 

5G will provide the ultra-low latency speeds and mobility that the IoT in the healthcare industry needs. In turn, AI-driven solutions will make sense of the data lakes gathered from a collection of devices. Big Data strategies will use such AI algorithms to analyze data in real-time and make critical health decisions. Virtualization will help to reduce or get rid of old infrastructure in hospitals. 

IoT along with medical ERP software help healthcare evolve, and this evolution will only continue. Sooner than later, healthcare and Internet of Things will become inseparable, completely transforming how we approach our healthcare.

We, at Intellectsoft, empower companies and their healthcare workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Are you and your organization ready to shift the mindsets and get the most out of innovations? Talk to our experts and find out more about the topic and how your business or project can start benefiting from it today!

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IoT in Healthcare: How Connected Devices are Shaping the Medical Field

Healthcare is becoming smarter in front of our eyes. This is most evident in the field of IoT in healthcare, where, in recent years, we have seen the emergence of technological innovations such as smart hospitals , medical devices for real-time data analysis, and feature-rich wearable health trackers. But the IoT development doesn’t even think to stop there.

Forecasts for the IoT healthcare market project surge from $128 billion in 2023 to an impressive $289 billion by 2028. That’s huge and tells us that IoT attracts large investments that further fuel innovation in this sphere. Considering the global aging population, the demand for IoT medical devices that monitor patient vitals will only grow. So it would be a big mistake not to seize the opportunity. To help healthcare organizations realize the potential of the Internet of Things, in this article, we will cover what it is, how it impacts healthcare, its benefits, and challenges.

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Table of Contents

What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of devices embedded with IoT sensors and connected to the Internet to interact with each other. These devices collect, process, and exchange vast amounts of data with other systems or devices to optimize operations, enhance user experiences, and enable real-time decision-making.

IoT in healthcare, also known as IoMT solution or Internet of Medical Things, takes this concept and tailors it exclusively for the medical field. So, it’s a network of medical devices, software, and tech solutions that can monitor patient health, manage treatments, and even assist in surgical procedures. Also, IoT devices in healthcare are often designed with industry standards in mind, which adds to the accuracy, reliability, and compliance with health regulations. 

They range from wearable health monitors that track vital signs like heart rate and blood oxygen levels to more complex systems. For instance, smart hospital beds can adjust themselves to improve patient comfort and prevent bedsores.

The Transformative Impact of IoT in Healthcare

The ability of IoT medical devices to gather and analyze massive amounts of real-time data holds huge potential for refining healthcare practices and bringing medicine closer to patients. IoT replaces part of the visits to the doctor with telemedicine solutions and online consultations, saving time and costs. Patients don’t need to go to the hospital without special necessity and spending hours in queues. Instead, they can easily and conveniently get consultations and treatment online and even do medical tests remotely. 

Due to IoT technology, doctors and medical personnel can view and analyze patient reports, ongoing treatments, and medical histories to provide more personalized and effective care. 

Generally, all sorts of patient monitoring systems equipped with IoT sensors continuously track health conditions and provide real-time health status. If certain parameters go beyond the norm, they can communicate with other devices to take necessary actions that would help save someone’s life. At the same time, this data is sent to the cloud so that doctors can swiftly respond to an emergency situation and provide timely care.

Besides improved patient outcomes, the application of IoT in healthcare increases the productivity of medical staff and streamlines hospital workflows. Modern IoT applications help better manage patient data, schedule appointments with physicians, and automatically send health notifications and reminders to patients. So, the game-changing impact of IoT in healthcare is real and beyond doubt.

Applications of IoT in Healthcare

IoT reshapes traditional, old-fashioned treatment practices, offering new approaches and opportunities to remove shortcomings in the healthcare system, like outdated processes, supply chain inefficiencies, and lack of interoperability. We’ve picked the most impactful IoT applications in healthcare capable of driving positive changes in the sector.  

Smart Medical Devices

Patients suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, or hypertension can enjoy the benefit of IoT in healthcare through wearable devices that monitor corresponding health metrics. These devices, ranging from fitness trackers and smartwatches to temperature and smart blood pressure monitors, collect essential data such as oxygen levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. This information offers insights into how lifestyle impacts their condition, helping individuals make healthier choices. Upon detecting irregular health indicators, wearables alert users to potential problems and recommend how to deal with them.

Glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs, and other home-based IoT devices, for example, can automatically record readings and send this information to healthcare providers. This real-time data enables doctors to alter treatment plans and make medication adjustments, often without the need for an in-person visit.

IoT healthcare companies continuously work on improving devices to make them more accurate and user-friendly so that patients of all ages can easily introduce them into their daily lives.

Hospital Operations and Asset Management

IoT helps medical personnel spend less time on management and routing tasks. Asset tracking is an area that can benefit a lot from applications of IoT in the healthcare industry. IoT-enabled devices monitor the location and status of basic supplies and expensive medical equipment like wheelchairs, defibrillators, and portable monitors. Although it might seem mundane, knowing the status and location of items can minimize costs and efficiency losses, especially when staff are overburdened and unable to find the necessary equipment. IoT can save time, resources, and potentially lives when deployed properly.

Energy management that is more sustainable and efficient is possible thanks to IoT. Imagine how much energy and operational costs hospitals can save with smart sensors and meters that control lighting, heating, and air conditioning systems in real-time. In doing so, healthcare facilities can help create a greener healthcare infrastructure.

Managing patient flow, especially during peak times, is not an easy task, but IoT can help here, too. Hospitals can better manage patient admissions by using IoT devices for patient flow optimization, minimizing waiting times and overcrowding, which improves patient experience.

Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring

Smart connected devices can constantly monitor patients’ vitals, such as heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, and more, outside the hospital setting. This is a true relief for chronically ill patients who now don’t need to visit hospitals frequently for routine checkups. Most of their follow-ups, as well as the continuous oversight over their health conditions, can be well managed remotely.

While nothing can replace face-to-face experience, doctors can track patient’s conditions through remote patient monitoring tools and provide medical advice through video consultations. A continuous flow of relevant information allows for personalized care plans, as physicians can adjust treatments based on the received data. Telemedicine solutions offer convenient online consultations for those living in remote areas and elderly patients while also easing the load on healthcare facilities.

Medication Management

Adherence to prescribed drug regimens can mean the difference between recovery and relapse. This challenge has been addressed by an IoT application in healthcare: wearables and devices that remind patients to take their medications on time. For example, smart pill bottles have sensors to track when the bottle is opened and send patients notifications if they miss a dose. Caregivers can also receive alerts on a patient’s missing dose to provide timely support and ensure the continuity of care. By analyzing the patient’s compliance history, doctors can understand the effectiveness of prescribed drugs and adjust treatment plans.

IoT in Healthcare: Real-life Examples

IoT in medical services allows for improving customer experience and saving time. So, it’s not surprising that many companies invest in IoT technology to develop software and devices to bring even more convenience, simplicity, and accessibility to the sector. We have selected the IoT in healthcare examples that have found wide use and made patients’ lives comfortable. 

• Kinsa Smart Thermometers collect information on individuals’ temperature and send it to a mobile app via Bluetooth. The application keeps the history of temperature records and can thus help identify health trends and potential outbreaks. 
• Inspiren’s iN Ecosystem . This system intends to improve patient experience and their stay in the hospital. It uses a network of sensors, analytics tools, computer vision, and other technology to track various factors such as room visits by staff, patient movement, and even the time since the last interaction with a healthcare professional. Thus, their IoT-based ecosystem helps create more responsive and attentive care experiences.
• Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System is an IoT device that provides real-time glucose level monitoring for diabetes management. It consists of a small sensor that measures and wirelessly sends glucose readings to a smart device, alerting users to potential episodes of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia that require quick corrective actions.

Challenges of IoT in Healthcare

Developing devices with sensors to boost the quality of care, medical adherence, and patient experience is a high-tech solution to very human problems. It can provide doctors with unparalleled insight and help deliver timely care, but this comes with the challenges healthcare organizations should be aware of before adopting the IoT solution.

Data Security . Cybersecurity challenges in using IoT in healthcare are very relevant and sharp. Medical patient information is highly confidential, and its transmission over the Internet increases the risk of breaches. As the number of connected devices that gather and exchange data grows, so does the risk of data leakage. That’s why healthcare organizations should build high protection of patient records to strengthen IoT security in healthcare, which can be achieved by implementing the following security measures:

• Encrypt information 
• Implement secure communication protocols
• Set different levels of access to information
• Use multi-factor authentication

Interoperability . One of the biggest problems in healthcare is siloed data that hinders comprehensive patient care. Plus, many IT infrastructures are running on legacy systems that complicate seamless integration with modern digital solutions and consequently the information exchange between different platforms. As a result, hospitals can’t benefit from IoT solutions without standardized data-sharing protocols. One viable way to solve this issue is the FHIR standard , which helps achieve data interoperability and easy information sharing.

Ethical Concerns . As IoT technology and its use cases spread, it makes ethical considerations difficult. While IoT devices simplify patients’ lives and reduce the need for in-person visits, their data can be easily collected and analyzed by third parties. Healthcare organizations should establish clear policies so patients understand how their data is used and stay informed about what information is being collected. This way, patients can enjoy the benefits of IoT while hospitals ensure their privacy is upheld.

Regulatory Landscape of IoT in the Healthcare Industry

The healthcare sector is highly regulated. When deploying IoT medical devices, hospitals should ensure their solutions comply with different regional and international regulations connected to patient data protection, medical device certification, and healthcare standards.

FDA Guidelines

The FDA has been striving to strengthen the cybersecurity of IoT devices in healthcare since 2005. Recognizing the growing usage of medical devices, the FDA’s most recent draft guidance expects security across the entire product lifespan. 

So, manufacturers should now be able to protect and address any vulnerabilities of their products from initial design to post-market surveillance to ensure proper device functionality and patient safety. They must submit detailed plans and prove that the device can be updated, patched, and protected from any potential security issues. As manufacturers implement stronger security controls into their devices from the start, healthcare organizations and patients can gain confidence in the security of IoT devices.

International Regulations

Most countries have rigorous regulatory and approval processes for IoT in healthcare before devices enter the market and can be used by hospitals and patients.

In the EU, the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) requirements mandate consideration of IoT medical device cybersecurity. Every medical equipment manufacturer seeking to market products in Europe must meet those requirements to ensure their devices are safe, function as expected, and are protected from security threats. The Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) regulatory body publishes detailed guidance documents to direct manufacturers on how to meet all the requirements of MDR and IVDR, specifically regarding cybersecurity measures.

IoT in Healthcare: Future Trends 

The impact of IoT in healthcare is already huge and is expected to grow even more in the coming years. As connected devices become more sophisticated and widely adopted, the future of IoT in healthcare is bright and will bring even more transformative changes to the sector. Let’s take a glimpse at what trends we can expect to see in the near future. 

Healthcare data analytics

With more data being generated by IoT devices, hospitals will realize the growing need to analyze this information as soon as possible so that decisions can be made based on the most relevant information. That’s why we will see an increased demand for real-time analytics platforms that can help healthcare organizations turn large volumes of patient data into actionable insights. Big data analysis and machine learning algorithms are widely applied to empower better medical decisions.

AI-Integrated IoT Healthcare Systems

When it comes to combining AI and IoT in healthcare, chances are together they will improve the way doctors approach diagnostics and disease detection. One of the key powers of AI in diagnostics is the ability to analyze a great deal of patient health data gathered by IoT devices quickly and with high precision. Traditional diagnostic methods rely on human interpretation, which can be prone to errors. With such valuable diagnostic capabilities at the early stages of diseases, doctors can intervene earlier to prevent disease progression before it becomes a serious health-threatening issue.

5G’s Impact on Healthcare IoT

5G can bring advancements in remote patient monitoring, communication with doctors, and telemedicine due to high-speed, low-latency Internet connection. This technology provides faster access to health information, improves telehealth services, and supports remote surgeries enabled by high-quality video streaming. IoT devices, such as an internal defibrillator, can immediately alert ER cardiologists to be ready for an incoming patient, with complete information received by the device. 

IoT in the Healthcare Industry: Final Thoughts 

IoT has already deeply penetrated the medical industry through monitoring systems, smart wearables, and medical devices. The application of IoT in healthcare allows medical employees to reduce costs, improve treatment outcomes, and rely on technology for monitoring patient’s health status. The examples of existing IoT in the healthcare market are vast, and its diversity and impact are only set to grow in the future. Medical practitioners who embrace IoT today will win tomorrow. 

So, if you want to join this shift to more connected healthcare, our team of experts can help. We’re a healthcare software development company offering a pool of IoT software development and IT consulting services that deliver as per client requirements. Contact us today to be among the first to benefit from IoT. 

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IoT Case Studies in Healthcare

Discover the latest case studies in healthcare and explore how the healthcare industry is leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance patient care and streamline operations. Our case studies showcase real-world examples of businesses using IoT to monitor patient health, improve medical equipment maintenance, and enhance patient experiences. With IoT, medical providers, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Browse through our selection of IoT cases to see how innovative technologies are transforming the medical and healthcare industry and improving the lives of patients and providers alike. Or why not explore IoT case studies from other industries?

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8 west: from silver surfers to search and rescue, connected wearables put safety first, the danish heart association: digital monitoring of defibrillators, cardilink: delivering lifesaving connectivity when it’s needed most, m2cloud: creating the next generation of pharmaceutical supply chains in south korea, amber: weathering the coronavirus storm in the caribbean, more iot cases and examples, 15 iot examples for business applications, get a free consultation.

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7 Amazing Use Cases of IoT in Healthcare

Table of content:.

Introduction

When we think of IoT in healthcare, we mainly tend to think of smart sensors and smart hospitals. But the solutions go beyond these. It is evident from the fact that spending on IoT solutions in healthcare will reach $1 trillion by 2025!

IoT promises to help healthcare organizations in providing personalized, accessible, and up-to-the-point healthcare services at a lower cost. From remote health monitoring to transmitting real-time alerts, there are several areas where healthcare IoT finds its use.

7 Exciting IoT Use Cases in Healthcare

Let’s look at some of them to get a better perspective:

Remote Patient Care

In many parts of the world, residents live miles away from the nearest hospital. As such, when there is an emergency, it takes time for them to reach the healthcare facilities. Similarly, for healthcare providers, it becomes difficult to visit patients with chronic conditions frequently. The issue with time-consuming commute can be solved with remote patient care powered by the IoT.

The connectivity can allow healthcare professionals to assist patients with prescriptions, medication, and also measure their biometrics using sensors and remote equipment. For instance, patients can connect any wearable or portable device to the cloud and update the data in real-time.

Some of the IoT devices can also facilitate face-to-face talk over the internet. This can provide healthcare professionals with the necessary information to prepare care plans while the patients are on their way to the hospital. Or even without them needing to visit the hospital in the first place! For chronic patients, this helps create a roster of the patients’ day-to-date health update.

The collected data can form charts and diagrams to be easily visualized by healthcare professionals.

Live video and audio streaming can be used to monitor patients’ present condition without the need for the commute.

Emergency Care

Emergency care outputs are based on the time, accuracy, and the availability of contextual information. Moreover, it also depends on the quality of the data received during the emergency call and the information collected while the patient is being transported for immediate care at the healthcare facilities. Also, the entire process of collecting, storing, processing, and retrieving the data during that time is laborious and time-consuming. IoT can help in collecting data accurately, which can be accessed by emergency care staff such as paramedics or staff in the ER for quick and better medical assistance. This data can be also be transmitted to ER staff in real-time while the patient is on her way to the hospital – allowing the hospitals to be better prepared for the care.

Tracking of Inventory, Staff, and Patients

Healthcare organizations are all about increasing the efficiencies of their workforce and reduce operational costs. This is true for both small and large institutions that include several staff members, patients, and inventory. Using IoT devices in the form of wireless ID cards, hospitals can manage admissions, increase the security, and measure the overall performance of the staff. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacons and RFID tags can be used to track the location of the inventory and also trace the staff members in case of any urgency.

Moreover, IoT and RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) together can facilitate asset tracking. This is one of the most inexpensive ways to keep track of the equipment, drugs, and free resources, who can then spend more time on patient care.

Must Read: How IoT Is Transforming Healthcare

Augmenting Surgeries

When it comes to healthcare, IoT has penetrated operating rooms as well. Think of connected robotic devices, which are powered by Artificial Intelligence and are used to perform various surgeries. These operations are all about increased precision brought forth by robot-assisted surgeons. Moreover, connected devices and IoT applications can perfectly streamline the activities of the medical staff at both pre and post-operating stages. In both cases, IoT sensors can be used to collect, transmit data, and analyze it. This helps record the tiniest details and therefore, is useful in preventing surgical complications.

Virtual Monitoring of Critical Hardware

It is a given that all the modern healthcare facilities require state-of-the-art hardware and software to function. When these are not taken care of in the best possible manner, the hardware can pose various risks and threats. Think of power outages, system failures, or even cyber-attacks. Since no healthcare organization would want these mishaps to occur, they opt for the best IoT driven solutions. A case in point is that of e-Alert by Philips , which can virtually monitor critical medical hardware. If there is an anomaly in any equipment, the solution alerts the hospital staff, so that a failure can be avoided by preventive maintenance.

Pharmacy Management

The pharmacy business is worth millions of dollars and is quite complicated. Since there are several steps in transferring and managing the drugs from plant to storage facilities in a hospital, there are several preservation issues that may be associated with them.  IoT can help combine the best safety approaches and the latest technology to ensure faster drug delivery, safer operations, and better patient care.

For instance, take the example of smart fridges, which can be used to store vaccines and keep them from getting damaged during handling, storage or transfer.

IoT-enabled pharmacies can ensure greater efficiencies and effectiveness in operations, error-free medical dispensing, security, and overall enhanced patient satisfaction.

Must Read: Key Challenges with Enterprise IoT Applications

IoT devices, in the form of wearables, can let the care teams collect numerous data points about the patient’s sleep patterns, activity, heart rate, temperature,  and so on. These wearables can offer real-time information to caregivers and patients. Think of a situation in which a heart patient has an elevated heart-rate. The wearable will immediately transmit the signal to the nursing staff and allow them to provide immediate and timely assistance to the patient. This can also help in remote health monitoring of elderly patients who are outside the hospital premises but need constant monitoring.

IoT in healthcare has tremendous potential and can prove to be immensely beneficial for healthcare providers and patients. It is set to transform patient care and organizational efficiencies. Several hospitals around the world have already leveraged the power of IoT under their smart hospital initiatives. At Pratiti, we have helped several healthcare organizations with the design and development of their smart healthcare software development solutions.

Connect with us  to know how we can help you improve patient care, reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and empower decision-makers with actionable insights at the point of care.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is iot used in healthcare.

Remote monitoring in the healthcare industry is now possible thanks to IoT devices, which have the ability to keep patients safe and healthy while also enabling healthcare providers to provide improved treatment. As communication with doctors has gotten easier and more efficient, it has also boosted patient interaction and satisfaction. Furthermore, remote monitoring of a patient’s health helps to shorten hospital stays and avoid re-admissions. IoT in healthcare has a big impact on lowering healthcare expenses and improving treatment outcomes.

What are the Advantages of IoT in Healthcare?

The advantages of internet of things in healthcare applications lies in remote use cases. For example, in the event of a medical emergency, real-time remote monitoring via connected IoT devices and smart notifications can detect illnesses, treat diseases, and save lives.

Smart sensors monitor health status, lifestyle choices, and the environment to suggest preventative steps that will limit the occurrence of diseases and acute states.

Medical data accessibility allows patients to receive high-quality care while also assisting healthcare providers in making the best medical decisions.

What are the Challenges of IoT in Healthcare?

Although there are numerous advantages as seen in internet of things in healthcare examples, there are also challenges.

Healthcare providers are frequently tasked with ensuring the security of several sites as well as vast data repositories.

Moreover, moving an entire facility to a new system and practice takes time, and the initial investment and installation costs can be prohibitive, particularly for smaller healthcare facilities and rural clinics.

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Internet of Things in Healthcare: Applications, Benefits, and Challenges

Ubaid Pisuwala

HealthTech expert and Co-founder of Peerbits

• Last Updated on October 18, 2023
• 14 min read

You've likely heard about the Internet of Things - the concept of connecting everyday devices and objects to the Internet.

But did you know that IoT is revolutionizing healthcare?

Just look at these stats and you'll know:

The IoT healthcare market is projected to grow from $128 billion in 2023 to $289 billion by 2028. That's a growth rate of almost 18% per year!

From monitoring patient vitals in real-time to tracking medical assets, IoT is enabling doctors and providers to deliver better, more proactive care.

In this post, we'll explore exactly what IoT is, the current IoT healthcare applications, the major benefits it brings, and key challenges too.

Read on to learn how IoT is transforming modern healthcare and changing the future for the better.

• What exactly is IoT, and Why is it important In Healthcare?

In simple terms,

“IoT, or the Internet of Things, is a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with sensors, software, and network connectivity that enables them to collect and exchange data.”

These devices are connected through the internet and create an IoT system that allows them to interact with one another and with other internet-enabled devices and services.

We can consider an IoT healthcare facility as a collection of ubiquitous computing that mainly deals with external activities.

Now you will say, why is IoT important in Healthcare?

So, in healthcare, IoT-based healthcare systems collect a variety of patient data and get inputs from doctors and medical professionals. Continuous glucose monitoring for insulin pens is the best example of this.

All these devices can communicate with each other and take important actions that would provide timely help to save someone’s life. After collecting the data, an IoT healthcare device would send this critical information to the cloud so that doctors can act upon it.

From this, we can say that the potential application of IoT in healthcare can improve a patient’s health, healthcare employee productivity, and hospital workflow.

• How IoT Helps In Healthcare — Process

Here is the detailed workflow of IoT healthcare:

• A sensor collects data from a patient, doctor or nurse inputs data.
• AI-driven algorithms like Machine Learning (ML) are used to analyze the collected data.
• The device decides whether to act or send the information to the cloud.
• Doctors or health practitioners can make actionable and informed decisions based on the data provided by IoT healthcare solutions.

Read More: Discover how IoT revolutionizes the healthcare industry

• What is the current state of IoT in healthcare?

The healthcare industry is beginning to see a surge in the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The rapid development of new innovative technology with various government-integrated facilities is driving market growth.

As we have already discussed above, the healthcare IoT market is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2028) of 17.8%, leading to a market volume of US$289.2 billion by 2028.

Some other key statistics on the current state of IoT in healthcare include:

• The services segment held a 59% revenue share in 2022.
• The hospital segment has garnered a 35% revenue share in 2022.
• Asia Pacific region is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18.50% from 2023 to 2032.

Here is a Market Share of IoT in Healthcare, by Region:

Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and even patients' homes are starting to integrate IoT devices into healthcare processes. Wearables such as fitness trackers and smartwatches are some of the most commonly used IoT devices in healthcare. They allow patients to track their fitness levels and monitor their health conditions in real time.

Ingestible sensors are being used to monitor medication adherence and patient vital signs, while computer vision technology is helping to identify early warning signs of diseases like cancer.

IoT technology is improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. IoT in remote patient monitoring and telemedicine are enabling patients to access care from their homes, which reduces the need for hospital visits and readmissions. Research facilitated by IoT devices is leading to new treatments and improved patient outcomes.

• Benefits of IoT in Healthcare

The benefits of IoT in different industries are numerous, and the healthcare industry is no exception. Here are some of the top advantages of IoT in healthcare.

Simultaneous Reporting and Monitoring

According to the report of Research and Markets , the projected growth of the Global RPM (Remote Patient Monitoring) systems market to over $175.2 billion by 2027 indicates that there is a significant and growing demand for remote patient monitoring technologies.

Remote health monitoring via connected devices can save lives in the event of a medical emergency like heart failure, diabetes, asthma attacks, etc.

With real-time monitoring of the health condition in place by means of a smart medical device connected to a smartphone app, connected medical devices can collect medical and other required health data and use the data connection of the smartphone to transfer the collected information to a physician or to a cloud platform.

Center of Connected Health Policy conducted a study that indicates that there was a 50% reduction in 30-day readmission rate because of remote patient monitoring of heart failure patients.

The IoT device collects and transfers health data: blood pressure, oxygen and blood sugar levels, weight, and ECGs.

These data are stored in the cloud and can be shared with an authorized person, who could be a physician, your insurance company, a participating health firm or an external consultant, to allow them to look at the collected data regardless of their place, time, or device.

End-to-end Connectivity and Affordability

IoT can automate patient care workflow with the help of healthcare mobility solutions and other new IoT technologies, and next-gen healthcare facilities.

IoT in healthcare enables interoperability, artificial intelligence machine-to-machine communication, information exchange, and data movement that makes healthcare service delivery effective.

Connectivity protocols: Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, Z-wave, ZigBee, and other modern protocols, healthcare personnel can change the way they spot illness and ailments in patients and can also innovate revolutionary ways of treating across different healthcare fields.

Consequently, technology-driven setup brings down the healthcare cost, by cutting down unnecessary visits, utilizing better quality resources, and improving the allocation and planning.

Data Assortment and Analysis

The vast amount of data that a healthcare device sends in a very short time owing to their real-time application is hard to store and manage if access to the cloud is unavailable.

Even for healthcare professionals to acquire data originating from multiple devices and sources and analyze it manually is a tough bet.

IoT devices can collect, report and analyze real-time information and cut the need to store the raw data. This all can happen overcloud with the providers only getting access to final reports with graphs.

Moreover, healthcare operations allow organizations to get vital healthcare analytics and data-driven insights which speed up decision-making and are less prone to errors.

Tracking and Alerts

On-time alert is critical in chronic conditions. Medical IoT devices gather vital signs of any disease and transfer that data to doctors for real-time tracking, while dropping notifications to people about critical parts via mobile apps and smart sensors.

Reports and alerts give a firm opinion about a patient’s condition, irrespective of place and time.

It also helps healthcare providers to make well-versed decisions and provide on-time treatment.

Thus, IoT enables real-time alerting, tracking, and monitoring, which permits hands-on treatments, better accuracy, apt intervention by doctors and improves complete patient care delivery results.

Remote Medical Assistance

In the event of an emergency, patients can contact a doctor who is many kilometers away with a smart mobile app.

With mobility solutions in healthcare, the medics can instantly check the patients and identify the ailments on-the-go.

Also, numerous IoT-based healthcare delivery chains are planning to build machines that can distribute drugs on the basis of patient prescription and ailment-related data available via linked devices.

IoT will Improve the patient’s care In hospital . This, in turn, will cut on people’s expenses on healthcare.

IoT healthcare applications can also be used for research purposes. It’s because IoT enables us to collect a huge amount of data about the patient’s illness which would have taken many years if we collected it manually.

This data thus collected can be used for statistical study that would support medical research.

Thus, IoT doesn’t only save time but also our money which would go into the research.

Thus, IoT has a great impact on the field of medical research. It enables the introduction of bigger and better medical treatments.

IoT is used in a variety of devices that enhance the quality of the healthcare services received by patients.

Even the existing devices are now being updated by IoT by simply using embedding chips of smart hospital devices. This chip enhances the assistance and care that a patient requires.

• Challenges of the IoT in Healthcare

Some key challenges to address for IoT healthcare include:

Data Security & Privacy

One of the most significant challenges in healthcare that IoT poses is data security & privacy. IoT security devices capture and transmit data in real-time.

However, most IoT devices lack data protocols and security requirements.

In addition to that, there is significant ambiguity regarding data ownership regulation with electronic devices.

All these factors make the data highly susceptible to cybercriminals who can hack into the system and compromise the Personal Health Information (PHI) of both patients as well as doctors.

Cybercriminals can misuse patient’s electronic health records to create fake IDs to buy drugs and medical equipment which they can sell later.

Hackers can also file a fraudulent Insurance claim in a patient’s name.

Integration: Multiple Devices & Protocols

Integration of multiple devices also causes hindrances in the implementation of IoT in the healthcare sector. The reason for this hindrance is that device manufacturers haven’t reached a consensus regarding communication protocols and standards.

So, even if a variety of devices are connected; the difference in their communication protocol complicates and hinders the process of data aggregation.

This non-uniformity of the connected device’s protocols slows down the whole process and reduces the scope of scalability of IoT in healthcare.

Data Overload & Accuracy

As discussed earlier, data aggregation is difficult due to the use of different communication protocols & standards. However, IoT devices still record a ton of data. The data collected by IoT devices are utilized to gain vital insights.

However, the amount of data is so tremendous that deriving insights from it is becoming extremely difficult for doctors which ultimately affects the quality of decision-making. This will eventually lead to patient safety issues.

Moreover, this concern is rising as more devices are connected which record more and more data.

Surprised to see cost considerations in the challenge sections?

I know most of you would be; but the bottom line is: IoT has not made healthcare facilities affordable to the common man yet.

The boom in Healthcare costs is a worrying sign for everybody, especially the developed countries.

The situation is such that it gave rise to “Medical Tourism” in which patients with critical conditions access healthcare facilities in developing nations which costs them as little as one-tenth. IoT in healthcare as a concept is a fascinating and promising idea.

However, it hasn’t solved the cost considerations as of now. To successfully implement IoT app development and to gain its total optimization the stakeholders must make it cost-effective otherwise it will always remain out of everyone’s reach except the people from the high class.

Applications of IoT in Healthcare

The rise of IoT is exciting for everybody due to its different scope of use in various sectors. In Healthcare it has several applications. Here are some remarkable IoT applications in healthcare:

• Reducing emergency room wait time
• Tracking patients, hospital staff, and inventory
• Enhancing drug management
• Ensuring the availability of critical hardware

IoT has also introduced several wearables & devices which has made the lives of patients comfortable. These devices are as follows.

Hearables are new-age hearing aids which have completely transformed the way people who suffered hearing loss interact with the world.

Nowadays, hearables are compatible with Bluetooth which syncs your smartphone with it. It allows you to filter, equalize and add layered features to real-world sounds. Doppler Labs is the most suitable example of it.

Ingestible Sensors

Ingestible sensors are genuinely a modern-science marvel. These are pill-sized sensors which monitor the medication in our body and warn us if it detects any irregularities in our bodies.

These sensors can be a boon for a diabetic patient as would help in curbing symptoms and provide an early warning for critical health issues. Proteus Digital Health is one such example.

Moodables are mood-enhancing devices which help in improving our mood throughout the day. It may sound like science fiction, but it’s not far from reality.

Thync and Halo Neurosciences are already working on it and have made tremendous progress. Moodables are head-mounted wearables that send low-intensity currents to the brain which elevates our mood.

Computer Vision Technology

Computer vision technology along with AI has given rise to drone technology which aims to mimic visual perception and hence decision-making based on it.

Drones like Skydio use computer vision technology to detect obstacles and to navigate around them.

This technology can also be used for visually impaired people to navigate efficiently.

Healthcare Charting

IoT devices such as Audemix reduce much manual work which a doctor has to do during patient charting.

It is powered by voice commands and captures the patient’s data.

It makes the patient’s data readily accessible for review. It saves around doctors’ work by 15 hours per week.

Insulin Pens and Smart CGM

These devices are used for the real-time monitoring of blood glucose levels and data sharing over a dedicated mobile app. Patients with diabetes can use these devices to track their glucose levels and even send this data to their doctor and the relevant medical staff.

Smart Video Pills

A smart pill travels through a patient’s intestinal tract to take its clear-cut picture. It can then send those pictures to a wearable device that is connected with dedicated medical applications. Smart pills are also helpful to visualize the gastrointestinal tract and colon remotely.

Future of IoT in Healthcare

The impact of IoT on the healthcare industry has been significant, and its potential for the future is exciting. As the healthcare sector becomes increasingly digitized, IoT will play a crucial role in shaping the industry's future.

Here are some IoT future predictions in healthcare:

• Personalized healthcare: IoT devices will allow for real-time collection of health data, which can then be used to create tailored treatment plans for individual patients. This will lead to more effective treatment and better outcomes for patients.
• Remote patient monitoring: With IoT, patients can be monitored remotely, allowing healthcare providers to keep track of their conditions and intervene when necessary. This will result in fewer hospital visits and readmissions, which will ultimately reduce healthcare costs.
• Predictive maintenance: IoT devices will help healthcare providers predict equipment failures and maintenance needs, ensuring that they can provide uninterrupted care to patients.
• Telemedicine: Telemedicine services will be enabled by IoT devices, allowing patients to consult with doctors remotely. This will be especially useful for patients who live in remote areas or have mobility problems.

IoT has become a vital aspect of healthcare. It has brought numerous benefits such as remote medical assistance, real-time tracking, and data analysis, but it also has its fair share of security issues in IoT .

Despite this, IoT applications continue to expand, and wearables, ingestible sensors, and smart video pills are among the leading technologies. The use of IoT in healthcare has the potential to enhance patient outcomes, reduce costs, and promote preventative care. Therefore, IoT is an important tool for healthcare professionals to provide better care for patients.

Ubaid Pisuwala is a highly regarded healthtech expert and Co-founder of Peerbits. He possesses extensive experience in entrepreneurship, business strategy formulation, and team management. With a proven track record of establishing strong corporate relationships, Ubaid is a dynamic leader and innovator in the healthtech industry.

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Home › IoT Insights › Revolutionising healthcare: The impact of IoT in hospitals

Revolutionising healthcare: The impact of IoT in hospitals

The new IoT-enabled hospitals are creating greater opportunities for high-quality care, efficient operations and solving long-standing problems. This article is an exploration of how IoT is transforming healthcare , aimed at providing doctors and health executives with knowledge of new technologies. However, if you own any technology, then this article provides a glimpse of how you might soon put your technology to work to your advantage.

The role of IoT in healthcare

IoT implementation within the healthcare sector involves an internetwork of medical devices that pull and transmit data to improve medical service levels. These gadgets include wearable health trackers, smart beds and monitors , each of which plays a significant role in the doctor-patient relationship as well as in improving the overall management of a hospital.

• Enhanced patient monitoring

Monitoring patients in order to ensure their health and safety is probably the most important benefit of IoT in healthcare. Wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers can monitor heart rate, blood pressure and glucose levels, for instance, and send this information to doctors or other healthcare providers, who can then intervene as needed.

For example, individuals living with a chronic condition, such as diabetes, can be monitored via a wearable monitor that transmits real-time glucose readings to their doctor, so that if blood sugar is dangerously high or low, a doctor can be contacted immediately, which could potentially save the life of the patient.

• Improved patient outcomes

For patients, IoT devices can help improve clinical outcomes and contribute to more accurate diagnoses by monitoring and providing highly personalised indications and treatments. Sensor readings and connected devices can track recovery.

Hospital beds fitted with sensors can measure the patient’s movement, weight and vital signs and then adapt automatically to maximise comfort and recovery. If the occupant attempts to get out of bed, the smart bed will notify the nurse before anything bad happens.

• Streamlined hospital operations

IoT technology has the potential to simplify almost all hospital operations, reduce costs and improve efficiency. Connected devices could monitor important indicators of equipment, automate some routine activities, manage inventories and predict equipment malfunctions before they occur.

Example: IoT-enabled inventory systems that track medical supplies and medications can be used by hospitals to manage stock levels. These systems allow easy tracking and can automatically reorder supplies when stocks run low.

Comparing IoT solutions for healthcare

IoT has had a major impact on using connected technologies in healthcare environments. There are many types of services for hospitals and other healthcare systems on the market today, here are some of the main ones:

• Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

With RPM devices , patients can be tracked even when they are not in the hospital or clinic. Health-related data can be collected from patients and then sent to healthcare providers, who can assess the data in real time.

• Reduces hospital readmissions
• Enhances patient engagement
• Provides continuous health data
• Requires reliable internet connectivity
• Potential privacy concerns
• Smart hospital management systems

These are large-scale applications that integrate a multiplicity of IoT devices in order to optimise hospital operations, such as asset tracking, wellbeing, predictive maintenance, energy management and others.

• Optimises resource utilisation
• Reduces operational costs
• Enhances patient experience
• High initial investment
• Complexity in integration with existing systems

• Wearable health devices

Wearable devices like smartwatches, fitness trackers and biosensors collect health data from patients continuously. They are particularly useful for managing chronic diseases and monitoring elderly patients.

• Promotes proactive healthcare
• Increases patient independence
• Provides real-time health data
• Data accuracy can vary
• Limited battery life

Key considerations for implementing IoT in healthcare

Putting the huge advantages of the IoT in healthcare into action, however, is not as straightforward as it seems . Here are some key factors to keep in mind:

• Data security and privacy

Safeguarding patient data must be of paramount concern. If an IoT device or system will be handling patient data, the health sector should ensure that the devices and systems meet the requirements of telehealth regulations such as the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data should be heavily encrypted, and authentication precautions should be robust and enforced.

• Interoperability

IoT devices need to be wired together with existing hospital systems to ensure that they can interact with hospital-wide systems – most of all, the electronic health record. It is key to ensure the interoperability of devices and between various systems and different platforms, as this is what will make them work.

• Cost and ROI

The up-front cost of IoT technology can be high. The return on investment (ROI) for hospitals ultimately includes costs such as reduced operational expenses and improved patient outcomes.

The application of IoT in hospitals has led to the enhancement and simplification of different aspects of healthcare. IoT provides various advantages, including remote patient monitoring and optimum nursing staff assistance. Assistive technology in healthcare will further improve as technologies get better. This will make IoT another important study in the field of informatics. With the proper implementation and consideration of IoT, hospitals will excel in progression, providing better care while reducing cost and risk at the same time.

Article by Magda Dąbrowska, editor at WeKnow Media

Comment on this article via X:  @IoTNow_  and visit our homepage  IoT Now

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, a case-study to examine doctors’ intentions to use iot healthcare devices in iraq during covid-19 pandemic.

International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications

ISSN : 1742-7371

Article publication date: 9 November 2020

Issue publication date: 25 November 2022

Several countries have been using internet of things (IoT) devices in the healthcare sector to combat COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to examine the doctors’ intentions to use IoT healthcare devices in Iraq during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposed a model based on the integration of the innovation diffusion theory (IDT). This included compatibility, trialability and image and a set of exogenous factors such as computer self-efficacy, privacy and cost into the technology acceptance model comprising perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and behavioral intention to use.

The findings revealed that compatibility and image of the IDT factors, have a significant impact on the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and behavioral intention, but trialability has a significant impact on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and insignificant impact on behavioral intention. Additionally, external factors such as privacy and cost significantly impacted doctors’ behavioral intention to use. Moreover, doctors’ computer self-efficacy significantly influenced the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and behavioral intention to use. Furthermore, perceived ease of use has a significant impact on perceived usefulness and attitude, perceived usefulness has a significant impact on attitude, which, in turn, significantly impacting doctors' behavior toward an intention to use.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of the present study are the retractions of the number of participants and the lack of qualitative methods.

Originality/value

The finding of this study could benefit researchers, doctors and policymakers in the adaption of IoT technologies in the health sectors, especially in developing counties.

• Healthcare devices
• Technology acceptance model
• Innovation diffusion theory

Alhasan, A. , Audah, L. , Ibrahim, I. , Al-Sharaa, A. , Al-Ogaili, A.S. and M. Mohammed, J. (2022), "A case-study to examine doctors’ intentions to use IoT healthcare devices in Iraq during COVID-19 pandemic", International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications , Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 527-547. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPCC-10-2020-0175

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The Impact of IoT in Healthcare: Global Technological Change & The Roadmap to a Networked Architecture in India

Satya prakash dash.

Founding & Former Head Strategy, Partnerships DBT-BIRAC &, Member, The Board of Directors Venture Center, Pune, India

The digitization of data including health data (referred to as Internet of Things-IoT in Healthcare) and its usage in delivery of healthcare has been growing rapidly across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a pivot for exponential growth of IoT in healthcare. Several rapidly evolving technologies are converging to influence the trajectory of IoT in healthcare. There are several challenges in technology development, healthcare delivery as well as issues related to privacy of data, digital divide, role of government and other stakeholders, behaviour and adoption by medical doctors and hospitals. The review article provides an overview of the emergence of IoT in healthcare globally, the intricacies of different factors impinging its current status and recommends policy intervention for an optimal roadmap of IoT in healthcare in the Indian context.

Introduction: The Advent of New Technologies, Internet Of Things (IoT) and Convergence

The last two decades have seen extraordinary speeds of technological revolution in the realms of science, including biosciences, and engineering. There has been tremendous progress in the development of molecular biological tools, optical and imaging tools such as tomography, additive and subtractive manufacturing, new fabrication technologies, robotics, sensor technologies, miniaturization of semiconductor chips and of energy storage, increase in computational power and parallel processing, storage of data on semiconductor chips and growth of telecommunication networks. There is also rapid convergence of many of these technologies into what is euphemistically called as the 4th Paradigm of Science 1 , 2

In this context of rapid technological change, several parallel factors have led to the advent of what is referred to as Internet of Things (IoT). These include massive improvements in mobile computing and parallel processing powers of hand held devices, improvements in “near field communications” (NFCs) such as Bluetooth™ low energy technology, evolution of Rapid Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and finally the increase in storage capacity—both on an integrated circuit (chip) as well as in large big data clouds such as that provided by Amazon and Google. The laws of economies of scale including the principles of plentitude have created a seamless integration which has evolved into a network of “connected computing devices or things” across the world that are identifiable by a unique identity. This network is referred to as “Internet of Things” (IoT) 3 , 4 .

From Lipsticks to Smart Everything

The term IoT was first coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999. By the late 1990s, the dot com boom was taking place and researchers such as Neil Gershenfeld at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were using terms such as “Things That Think” to describe research into the use of sensors on everyday things 4 – 6 . Kevin Ashton worked at Procter & Gamble (P&G) and realized that the bar codes in products provided insufficient information for inventory management. He proposed to P&G to initiate a research project with MIT to use RFID tags on consumer products such as lipsticks to help track their movement; their usage would ultimately provide market intelligence including inventory management 5 , 6 . However, it is to be noted that dating the emergence of IoT could be tracked back to John von Neumann’s architecture on computing back in 1945 7 .

IoT has impacted a multitude of areas and has given rise to what is popularly called “smart everything” including “smart homes”, “smart devices & electronics”, “smart automobiles” including driver less cars. IoT’s impact on the healthcare industry has increased over the years.

IoT and Healthcare

The growing trend in healthcare worldwide is preventive, predictive, personalized and participatory and underlying these trends is the increasing digitization of healthcare 8 . IoT in healthcare refers to a network of connected medical devices that are able to not only generate, collect and store data but also connect with a network, analyse the data as well as are able to transmit data of various kinds such as medical images, physiological and vital body signatures and genomics data 8 – 12 . Increasingly a newer term called Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) to describe connected medtech products is being used. For purposes of this paper, the terms IoT, digital health and IoMT will be used interchangeably.

The IoMT sector is growing at a tremendous pace and is estimated to touch US$158 billion by 2022 from US$41 billion in 2017 8 . The recent COVID-19 crisis will hasten the process of hyper growth of this sector.

The IoMT sector has been broadly segmented into the following categories viz 8 .

• Telemedicine and remote consultation
• Consumer healthcare including wearables
• Connected Imaging
• In-patient Monitoring
• Hospital Operations and workflow management

Telemedicine: From NASA’s Mercury Program to COVID-19

The history of telemedicine dates back to the advent of telephony. Lancet in 1879 mentioned the possible use of telephone to reduce the burden of in-person medical consultations 13 , 14 . Interestingly, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) played a crucial role in the further development of telemedicine especially during the Mercury space program and conducted remote health monitoring pilots called the Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care (STARPAHC) project 13 , 14 .

The adoption of telemedicine grew rapidly in the early 2000s as remote monitoring of chronic patients was increased leveraging internet connectivity and video transmission technologies especially mobile telephony and voice over internet protocols (VoIP). Over the past few decades there also have been refinement of data collection protocols especially patient data that has led to development of Electronic Health Records (EHR) that capture the history of patient’s medical history including medications, immunizations, symptoms and current diagnosis which is shareable 8 , 15 .

Telemedicine is an enabler in providing remote care especially in geographically remote areas. It also gained pace in providing home care for senior citizens as well as patients with chronic conditions. As the societal median age of the developed world has shifted towards an older population, the relevance of telemedicine has increased and will continue to increase. Indeed, a new term as “hospital in a home” is gaining ground alluding to the increasing care being provided at home settings remotely. It has also been noticed that use of telemedicine and EHR has improved the quality of General Practitioner-patient consultations 8 , 12 , 15 .

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown the usefulness of telemedicine consultation in breaking the cycle of infection spread and easy access to consultation. It has been estimated that there has been a ten-fold rise in teleconsultation in the USA in response to the pandemic 16 . The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an advisory guideline for use of telemedicine 17 . This spurt in usage of telemedicine has also been seen in other countries such as China and Italy to name a few 16 .

Consumer Healthcare and Wearables: Real time health data

The consumer healthcare or the wearable segment of IoT started gaining pace as consumer wellbeing devices were developed such as Fitbit™ and Apple Inc.’s smartwatches. These wireless enabled devices could count steps, estimate calories consumed, monitor heartbeat and other cardiac physiology, monitor sleep and provide feedback that is continuous and on-demand. These physiological data could also be transmitted to the cloud and eventually to the care giver for consultation and clinical decisions 8 , 12 . Many of these features were incorporated into mobile phones as the processing capabilities of mobile phones increased in geometric progression over the last decade. With time, more sophisticated remote monitoring devices were developed such as AliveCor™ that can measure ECG data and received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, later Apple Inc. also developed and integrated a similar wearable ECG in its Apple watch-4 18 .

The Digitization of Critical Care and Digital Pathology

Rapid digitization is taking place in the hospital environment. Many major firms are developing platforms such that multitudes of devices in a hospital can be connected. For example, Philips’ Healthsuite, which is an open platform, allows medical devices to share data to a platform which can then process and do analysis of the data that can then be retrieved by healthcare workers including clinicians and nurses (in their mobiles or desktops) amongst others and play a role in informing clinicians’ decisions 8 . Philips has also developed an eICU program that combines audio-visual technology along with predictive analytics and data visualization to lay down a centrally monitored intensive care in hospitals (from 50 to 500 ICU beds) through connected devices that provide real time data that helps intensivists and their team provide rapid integrated care across a hospital system 19 .

Another area of IoT is networked data generated and captured from medical devices in critical care settings, diagnosis and monitoring of patients in hospitals such as from CT and MRI scanners, X-ray and mammography devices with integrated HER and imaging outputs that can aid in faster clinical decisions 8 . Digital pathology is the term used to describe actionable information generated using artificial intelligence algorithms on images of diseased tissues including wounds, tumours and other disease conditions 8 , 11 . Several leading medtech companies such as Philips have brought digital pathology products to the market for example Philips’ Intellisite™ is the first whole slide imaging product that received US FDA approval 20 . In another example that illustrates how medtech firms are combining capabilities, GE and Roche diagnostics have partnered to provide clinical insights to oncologists through development of dashboards that combine GE’s healthcare imaging and Roche’s capabilities in biomarker, tissue pathology and genomics data and to help clinicians make treatment decisions 8 . Similarly, other global firms such as Siemens have digital pathology products and new medtech companies such as Proscia are building digital pathology technology for oncology.

Making Hospitals Smart-Management of Hospital Assets and Workflows

Hospitals can be viewed as asset and information intensive organisations. Another use case example of IoT enabled devices and hospital assets such as beds is tracking the utilisation of hospital assets in real time as well as hospital inventory management increasing the efficiency of operations 8 .

Other emerging areas where IoT is starting to create impact is prosthetics, implanted medical devices such as hip joints, defibrillators, nerve stimulators, robotic surgeries to name a few 8 .

Global Challenges and Issues of IoT in Healthcare

As IoT becomes an indivisible part of healthcare several challenges that cut across geographical lines are emerging. Chiefly they relate to the issues of interoperability, cybersecurity, data privacy and regulation as outlined in sections 9–11.

Interoperability

Interoperability is one of the biggest challenges faced by the medtech industry as new products are being developed on heterogenous platforms, especially the standards for data collection, storage and transmission used by health systems, including hospital information systems (HIS). Interoperability can be broadly defined as “the ability of two or more systems to exchange information and use the information that has been exchanged” 21 . Interoperability can be further classified into the following 21 .

• technical interoperability that includes data exchange between two systems for e.g. USB to the laptop,
• syntactic interoperability that specifies format and structure of the data which is specified by standard setting organizations such as Health Level 7 International (HL7) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR),
• semantic interoperability that covers the diversity of usage of medical terminologies, ontologies and nomenclatures. There are standard domain specific nomenclatures laboratory observations (Logical Observations Identifiers Names and Codes, LOINC), medicines (Identification of Medicinal Products, IMDP), genes (HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, HGNP) and phenotypic abnormalities (Human Phenotype Ontology, HPO) 21 . Navigating interoperability issues will be one of the key issues as IoT in healthcare presence deepens across the world 21 .

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and Ownership

Voluminous amount of data especially personalized data is being generated by networked medical devices. This data then is stored in systems and exchanged amongst different stakeholders including healthcare providers (both public and private providers) such as hospitals, payers and insurance companies and researchers 8 , 10 .

There are concerns about data privacy and security especially since patient identifiable data about health and wellbeing is collected by the IoT enabled devices. One of the underlying policy debates is the ownership of the patient’s data and its ethical use as well as the patient’s (or individual’s) right to erase personal information from a database 22 , 23 .

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) brought one of the earliest regulations on data management and privacy in 1996 called the The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) with privacy and security rules 22 . The HIPAA security rules cover the healthcare providers, insurance companies and clearing houses and aims to protect the privacy of individuals’ health information (called protected health information, PHI) while being flexible to allow for new technologies to improve the quality of health care and delivery 22 . Additionally, the rules provide procedures for covered entities to assure confidentiality, integrity and availability of PHI 22 .

Cyberattacks and ransomware are continual risks that health systems face globally. One can imagine how critical care within hospitals especially ICU care, surgeries and many other procedures could get negatively impacted by cyberattacks. In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack severely disabled the National Health Service (NHS) in England in which NHS staff were unable to access patient information and data thereby impacting critical services 23 . Similarly, in the USA cybertheft of 80 million health insurance records occurred in 2015 23 .

These security concerns have led to US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology instituting a cybersecurity framework in 2018 that has taken on-board stakeholders from the US government and private players to collaborate to safeguard and improve healthcare cyber assets across the country 23 .

Medtech Software and Digital Health Regulation: Software as a Medical Device

While the issues of standards regarding data and cyber security have been mentioned earlier in the article, one of the areas that is rapidly evolving is Medtech device regulation especially in the software domain. As networked devices take centre stage in the digital healthcare space, software and its quality, efficacy and robustness become important since digital healthcare like many other fields are being strengthened to take decisions and these will invariably impact patient’s health. The US FDA especially the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has provided the stewardship in regulating medtech products for many decades throughout the product development journey including product registrations (510 K) and post marketing surveillance 24 , 25 .

FDA has issued a Digital Health Action Plan outlining its efforts in the digital health sphere 24 . Additionally, it is developing a Digital Health Software Precertification Pilot Program that will facilitate the development of "a more streamlined and efficient regulatory oversight of software based medical devices ” 24 . US FDA has started classifying “Software as a Medical Device” (SAMD) and cites the definition used by International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) that states “software intended to be used for one or more medical purposes that perform these purposes without being part of a hardware medical device” 24 . It has also partnered with IMDRF to form a working group on SAMD and has developed quality management systems and a framework of clinical evaluation for SAMD 26 .

As one can imagine, software development is a rapidly evolving field and regulators have to constantly keep pace with changes. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have impacted software development especially in the realm of “adaptive software” which learn from data being generated by the device as well as make clinical decisions such as in digital pathology including detection of cancer and cardiovascular disease. FDA has issued a discussion paper on impact of AI & ML on software real life modifications and its premarket review 27 .

The Indian Healthcare Scenario

The advent and integration of Western medicine in India took place during the nineteenth and twentieth century and the architecture of the public health system was inherited from the British era with a tiered approach of tertiary, secondary and primary healthcare system. Over the last seven decades since independence, the healthcare ecosystem in India has grown to be one of the largest sectors in the country.

The market size of Indian healthcare is expected to grow to US$372 billion in 2022 from US$280 billion in 2020 with more than 74% in the private health system and out of pocket (OOP) payments 28 .

The public healthcare system is a tiered structure with Sub Centres, Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs). Many PHCs and Sub Centres in rural India are resource starved leading to increasing pressure on CHCs and tertiary health centres such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). One also has to be mindful that many areas of India are remote and access still remains a challenge especially in mountainous areas as well as rural areas in the hinterland. While there has been growth in the healthcare infrastructure, which is indeed growing, however, India has historically invested anywhere between 1 and 1.5% of its GDP on healthcare with current estimates of around 1.6% (1). There are growing disparities in healthcare delivery between rural and urban India. Health data indicates that there is one doctor available for every 1445 Indians, while the WHO recommendation is for one doctor per every thousand population. Almost 2/3rd of the total number of doctors are located in the urban areas while the rural population in India is 66% of the total population of India 12 , 29 .

The disease burden in India reflects the health burdens of the developing world (with high incidences of infectious diseases such as TB and malaria) as well as the developed world (with growing incidences of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardio-vascular diseases). Indicators for maternal and child health, malnutrition, stunting, low birth weight babies have improved but still are a concern.

In the last few years, the Government of India has brought a slew of measures to alleviate the healthcare situation in India. Government has provided its green signal in continuation of the National Health Mission (NHM) and a budget of US$4.8 billion has been allocated to NHM in the 2020–21 budget. Other measures such as the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which aims to cover 100 million households (500 million Indians) with insurance through subsidized paperless health payments for procedures that are also linked to a Unique Identification number such as Aadhaar.

Health policy makers understand that there is a need for infusion of technology in the healthcare sector to make it more productive, widen the net to increase access and augment the last mile delivery 12 , 29 .

The Indian Landscape of IoT in Healthcare: Building IT Strengths and Regulatory Oversight

IoT has made rapid strides in India. Telemedicine especially remote monitoring started making its mark in the early 2000s through initiatives by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and healthcare providers such as Narayana Hrudalaya that is part of Narayana Health (NH), which runs several hospitals across India. In 2003, NH & ISRO had partnered to provide tele-consultations in cardiac care which had provided consultations to more than 50K patients 30 .

The Information Technology (IT) Act 2000 provided early oversight to the telemedicine sector in India, however it lacked any clear guidelines for data privacy, security and confidentiality. Some initial guidelines were recommended in 2003 by the IT Ministry. Other oversight measures followed such as the Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data information) Rules 2011 and the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011 31 , 32 . Additionally, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) notified Electronic Health Records (EHR) standards in 2013 and further revised it in 2016 33 . In March 2020, just before India went into a national lockdown for COVID-19, MoH&FW in partnership with Niti Aayog released guidelines for telemedicine (titled Telemedicine Practice Guidelines) that touched upon the behavioral and ethical aspects of consultation between a registered medical practitioner with patients through video, voice, text messaging and social platforms. It outlined the responsibilities for medical practitioner as well as guidelines on e-prescription 34 .

In 2018, Niti Aayog unveiled the National Health Stack that has laid down the architecture of building health IT systems in India. This was further consolidated in the form of the National Digital Health Blueprint (2019) and recently in August 2020, the Government of India launched its National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) 35 .

In the last two decades, the IT infrastructure of India has grown including mobile telephony networks and access to the digital cloud. Several big private hospital chains have digitized their health records and have created EHR systems 36 .

An example of digital transformation in hospital systems is the Narayana Health (NH) group of hospitals that is globally known for providing affordable healthcare at scale. NH has aimed to develop a home-grown hospital information system (called NH-Atma) over the next few years which will be entirely cloud based and cover the entire NH network. Similarly, NH has developed a data analytics platform called NH-Medha to crunch and extract information which will not only improve hospital’s efficiencies but also aid in clinical decisions. NH has also developed an in-house messaging platform (NH-Kaizala) to facilitate better communication amongst health staff 37 .

NH has partnered with the government to operationalise e-Health centres that have cloud connectivity integrated with EHR, a unique identification system and diagnostic services. NH has operationalized nine e-Health centres spread over various states including Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat and, in the year 2016–17, these centres have cumulatively conducted more than 17,000 tele-consultations 37 .

Focusing on screening and alleviating conditions in chronic diseases such as diabetes, NH instituted an online diabetic management and care system in 2018 and had previously launched another diabetes outpatient application (called CURA in 2016) with the belief that “a diabetologist sitting at home in front of a computer can treat 10 times more patients than seeing patients physically in clinic” and CURA had treated 34,000 patients within two years of its launch 37 . The case study of NH illustrates how a hospital network in India has primed itself with a stated goal to digitally transform itself.

The Indian Healthcare and Medtech Startups and SMEs & Their Leap into Digital Health

Since the beginning of the millennium there has been a growing trend of health technology startups in India and many such as Practo, Lybrate and Mfine have concentrated on digital health mostly focusing on home care and management. These companies have been steadily growing in the fast growing market of home care in India.

In the meantime, over the last two decades, there has been a massive shift in the number of active medtech (devices and diagnostics) startups and SMEs in India through support provided by different arms of the Indian government such as the Technology Development Board (TDB), the then NMITLI program of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), BIRAC, Millennium Alliance (an initiative supported by the DST, FICCI & USAID) and the Indo USA Science & Technology Fund (IUSSTF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust 38 – 40 . Together, these programs have created 3000–4000 startups in India and over 40–50% are Medtech product development startups 38 – 40 .

Some Indian startups have predated the funding programs initiated by the Government of India. Startups such as Strand Lifesciences (genomics & precision medicine), Bigtec/MolBio (molecular diagnostics), Perfint (oncology-tumour ablation) have been pioneers of the biotech and medtech startup landscape in India.

Many new startups have taken shape over the last 10 years that are building IoT enabled products for screening, diagnostics and healthcare delivery. These include remote diagnostics and consultation (Neurosynaptic Communications), maternal and child health (CareNx, NemoCare, Sensivision, Janitri, Bempu), AI & imaging (Predible, Qure.ai; BrainSightAI; Adiuvo Diagnostics; Periwinkle) to chronic disease detection and management such as diabetes (Yostra, BioSense) and wellness to name a few. Table ​ Table1 1 provides an indicative list of Indian Medtech startups and SMEs that are active and many have products that are IoT enabled or they are aiming to make them IoT enabled.

An indicative list of Indian Medtech companies

adapted from ( 38 ).

Three brief case studies of IoT in healthcare especially in the Indian scenario are mentioned below. These case studies draw from the experiences of startups in India.

Yostra: Screening and Detection of Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetic Patients

India has one of the largest numbers of diabetic patients in the world and most do not have access to diagnostic centres or follow up centres about diabetes related and associated complications. Yostra is a Medtech startup developing products for detection of complications associated with diabetes through its proprietary product, NeuroTouch™. NeuroTouch™ is a point of care (Figs.  1 , ​ ,2), 2 ), hand-held, battery operated, wireless, screening device for detection of peripheral neuropathy, which is a condition that many diabetics have and the progression of which leads to loss of sense of touch and development of ulcers and wounds that may proceed to gangrene and in many cases amputation of limbs 41 .

Neuro Touch™.

Peripheral Neuropathy screening Neuro Touch™ (from Vinayak Nandlike, Yostra).

Through NeuroTouch™, a clinician can create a stimulus for patients such as touch (vibrations), temperature (hot & cold) and pressure (planar pressure for vascular assessment). The responses are then quantified, digitized and stored safely in the cloud. An algorithm then analyses and interprets the data and provides a report to the clinician. The product reduces subjectivity in tests and quantifies the responses of diabetic patient’s predisposition to developing peripheral neuropathy and the clinician can then advise for further referrals, which reduces the chances of future complications 41 .

The product has been validated in Manipal University and CMC Vellore India and is currently being used by more than 100 hospitals including leading hospitals in India such as NIMHANS, Bangalore, Military Hospital Hyderabad and the endocrinology department of Narayana Health, Bangalore. Since its deployment in 2019, Neuro Touch™ has already screened 11,000 patients and clinicians have been informed by the interpreted report 41 .

Neurosynaptic’s ReMedi-Remote Monitoring in Rural Settings

As mentioned earlier, India has a relatively poor doctors per unit population ratio. This alludes to the fact that the requirement for teleconsultation is high. Neurosynaptic’s is a telemedicine company in India and its ReMedi platform product has solutions to diagnose 20 different diagnostic parameters including ECG, blood pressure, auscultation, oxygen saturation, fetal doppler, blood and urine test. ReMedi, that uses Android based platforms, is powered by lithium polymer rechargeable battery and connects through 3G or Wi-fi 42 .

Over the last 16 years of being operational, ReMedi has operationalized 2500 telehealth centres in rural India and has active projects in 12 states as well as in eight countries in Africa and South East Asia through different implementation partners. This has resulted in providing consultation to 25,000 patients 42 . During the COVID-19 pandemic the need for telemedicine increased and Neurosynaptic received several times more queries about their telemedicine platforms that they have developed indicating the high demand brought by COVID-19. Neurosynaptic developed two more products that were IoT enabled and which provided screening, testing, tracking and reporting of COVID-19 42 .

CareNX: IoT Enabled Solution for Screening for Maternal Care

CareNx is a medtech startup that is primarily focused on pregnancy care, antenatal care and high-risk pregnancy management. It has built a portfolio of solutions, that are IoT enabled, in pregnancy care such as Homecare, Fetosense (a non-stress test/cardiotocography machine) and AnandiMaa (portable antenatal pregnancy care kit for rural community) 43 .

Fetosense consists of a portable kit with wireless probe which allows remote monitoring with a smart phone and results can also be stored in the cloud. Similarly, AnandiMaa consists of an antenatal care kit consisting of a Hb meter, a glucometer, a fetal Doppler amongst other devices and the data is smartly analysed by an algorithm and the results then inform a gynaecologist or a healthcare worker about high risk pregnancies and further referrals for the expectant mother for diagnosis and treatment. The portfolio of product helps identify and track high risk pregnancy in hospitals, home, and rural settings (Figs. 3 & 4 )  43 .

CareNx antenatal product being used for health check-up in rural India (from Shantanu Pathak).

CareNx’s foot print has expanded to eleven states in India, clocking 100 K home visits, and the products have screened 35,000 mothers in rural settings (covering 500 villages). The company has collaborated with more than ten NGOs and five hospitals in the last few years of operations 43 .

A Closer Look at National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and its Founding Document NDHB

On 15th August 2020, the PM of India announced the launch of NDHM which is founded on the initial vision report by Niti Aayog called National Digital Health Blueprint. The blueprint articulates that it evolved from the Government’s (in this case MoH&FW) policy vision to create a National Digital Health Ecosystem (NDHE) and the word is explicitly pointed out in the blueprint (“ an Ecosystem and NOT a system ”) 35 .

The blueprint further mentions that it is designed as a “ layered framework, with its Vision and a set of principles at the core, surrounded by the other layers relating to Digital Health Infrastructure, Digital Health Data Hubs, Building Blocks, Standards and Regulations, and an Institutional Framework for its implementation ” ( 31 ). The NDHB principles mention universal health coverage (UHC), inclusiveness, security and privacy by design, education and empowerment of citizens, a set of Registries as single sources of truth, open standards, open APIs and a minimalistic approach and further highlights the issues regarding interoperability, data security, privacy and patient safety and data quality 35 . The blueprint is exhaustive and has provided high level guidance for implementation.

NDHM is woven with the patient being at the centre of this designed ecosystem and mentions a personal health identifier or a Health ID (akin to or with likely linkages to Aadhar number- another unique identifier number) which will contain all medical and health related data of the patient including prescriptions, diagnostics reports and other outpatients and in-patients visits to hospital. This data, with patient’s consent, will be shareable amongst healthcare providers. NDHM is, to begin with, voluntary, and will be trialed in a few states initially.

Indeed, the scale of NDHM is massive and will usher in a universal health program in India. The concerns about privacy and data protection need to be clarified.

Conclusion: Future Gazing The Iot In Healthcare In The Indian Scenario & Its Linkages To Global Trends

IoT in healthcare (or digital health) will play an increasingly important role in India’s healthcare landscape as the country builds and strengthens its digital infrastructure. While telemedicine and remote monitoring were gaining ground in India, the turbulence caused by COVID-19 provided a pivot for digital health to leapfrog. It has been reported that in-person outpatient’s traffic fell by 70–80% and hospitals quickly initiated plans to leverage telemedicine platforms. The awareness about digital health increased manifold during the time of pandemic. The latest data from eSanjeevani (The Ministry of Health’s tele-consultation platform) shows over 200 K remote consultations since its launch in November 2019 thus indicating the immense potential for growth in digital healthcare 44 . Since its inception, the e-Sanjeevani platform has been implemented by 23 states across India and cover more than 75% of the Indian population 44 .

When the pandemic dust settles and our daily lives are recalibrated, digital health will have climbed the ladder of strategic needs of hospitals, big and small across the country. This has the potential to improve healthcare delivery and reduce fraud and leakages in the system to rent seeking agencies. Additionally, it will fuel investments to make organisations including hospitals and healthcare providers to be “digitally ready”.

It is evident that the opportunity in front of India is extraordinarily massive and India should leverage this opportunity to be self-reliant or Atmanirbhar as the recent statements by the Government have alluded to. If the digital health implementation is done optimally, it will open massive opportunities for new technology startups to leverage the infrastructure of the national health stack and build solutions that can truly scale. The innovative ideas in digital health will bring new business models of healthcare delivery alleviating the challenges that India faces in this sector. As the case studies have highlighted, the hospitals, NGOs and other stakeholders are starting to collaborate with new technology startups and this collaboration is set to exponentially grow. It is also important to recognize that many of these “Make in India” products, with high quality and affordability, will have relevance in other geographies such as South East Asia and the African Continent. As Western healthcare is strained, many of the solutions will also have relevance in those markets.

The regulation of medtech devices in India need to integrate the rapid changes occurring in the field especially w.r.t to software as a medical device including adaptive software and the role of artificial intelligence in generating data that informs clinical decisions.

NDHM rightly identifies the patient at the centre of the healthcare ecosystem. NDHB clearly outlines this as well as other areas of importance chiefly inclusiveness. While NDHM is voluntary to begin with, but experience with large mission based Aadhar tells us that it may soon become mandatory. Watertight safeguard measures should be taken and it is critical that the safety and security of patient’s data remains paramount. It is already mandated that Indian patient data be stored in local servers; it is crucial that this is implemented.

The blueprint mentions a centralized repository but clarity regarding data ownership should be explicitly stated especially whether it is the patient or the state who has the final ownership of data, the legal consequences of data breach, malware attacks and theft and finally the right of patients to erase healthcare data and the ‘right to be forgotten’.

In a country where large swathes still lack digital literacy and understanding of fundamental rights about data and its privacy, it becomes a challenge to raise awareness regarding data privacy. A sustained awareness campaign regarding issues related to data privacy and rights need to be created by the government in partnership with civil society groups.

India faces a digital divide and access to digital infrastructure for its citizen remains highly heterogenous. Therefore, the digital equivalence between regions of the country will vary and this will have implications on adoption of IoT tools for healthcare leading to uneven delivery. Indeed, it is critical that starting from Sub-Centres and PHCs, the IT infrastructure of the healthcare system be strengthened.

India’s mobile telephony has grown immensely over the last two decades and the data rates are extremely affordable in comparison to the rest of the world. The mobile telephony user base is set to expand even further and smart phone usage will increase. This bodes well for the growth of IoT or digital tools in healthcare. India also has to invest heavily in the latest of network technology.

As digital health and IoT tools take off, and a significant portion of consultation and healthcare delivery becomes remote, the behaviour patterns of interaction between healthcare worker or a practitioner with the patient will evolve. It is crucial that trust is built over this interaction and the sociological implication of this needs to be studied.

It is also crucial that the doctors and other healthcare workers are provided continuous training with regards to new technology and new interface that the technology brings. Similarly, patients and lay persons should be made aware to learn about the emerging new technologies and implications of it on their healthcare needs.

As the demand for IoT in healthcare increases, India will need new skilled human resources and the skill gaps in this arena have to be taken into account. Our pedagogies (in high school, undergraduate and post-graduate institutions) should include IoT in healthcare and the scientific, technological, societal and legal issues inherent in this emerging field.

India needs to massively invest in R&D of various areas of IoT, from hardware to software as well as in robotics, artificial intelligence and internet security, digital payment systems, data storage, data encryption technology and data transmission technology. These areas need significant funding both in basic and translational aspects of emerging technologies. It is pertinent to create linkages to industry and funding for startups in this area be boosted. It is suggested that a new “centre for digital & network society” is established in our topmost scientific institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science with the mandate to study and roadmap new developments in digital technologies that will impact our societies in the future.

As NDHM is implemented, it will show a tantalizing view of the future. The positive outcomes for India especially in the healthcare sector including raising the general health indicators is possible. India can become one of the leading digital societies in the world. The information and the knowledge generated will fuel new innovations in this arena and beyond. There is no turning back to a new future.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the following experts Prof. Vijay Chandru, Mr. Krishnakumar Sankaranarayanan, Dr. Malathi Laxmikumaran, Dr. Shyam Vasudev Rao, Mr. Vinayak Nandalike, Mr. Sameer Sawarkar, and Mr. Shantanu Pathak for discussions and valuable inputs.

Dr Satya Prakash Dash

is a technology policy & strategy professional. He was the founding & former Head of Strategy, Partnerships and Entrepreneurship Development of DBT-BIRAC (India’s nodal biotech innovation agency) where he designed and implemented 15 national biotech & medtech innovation programs including India’s largest early stage life sciences funding program Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG), a social innovation program SPARSH & SIIP (immersion program), an incubation program BioNEST and equity programs BIRAC-SEED & AcE fund to name a few. He was also the founding co-ordinator for Make in India at DBT-BIRAC. Previously, he was the Director of Global Innovations at PATH India, COO at ABLE, Bengaluru, and researcher at University of Cambridge, UK. He is currently Member of Board of Directors at NCL-Venture Center, Pune, India which is one the largest S&T focused incubator in India with more than 80 resident startups. He has also consulted and advised IIM-Bengaluru, Nesta’s Longitude Prize, UK and CARB-X, USA. Dr Dash holds triple masters from the universities of Cambridge UK, Leicester, UK, Sambalpur India and a PhD from University of East Anglia, Norwich UK.

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Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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• Wearable health technology

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Wearables linked to ‘pathologic’ heart disease symptom monitoring

Afib patients using wearable devices are more likely to engage in high rates of symptom monitoring and experience anxiety than non-users, a study shows..

• Anuja Vaidya, Senior Editor

Using wearable devices is associated with pathologic symptom monitoring, excessive preoccupation with symptoms, and higher healthcare use among patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib), according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association .

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , AFib is the most common type of treated heart arrhythmia. In this condition, irregular beating occurs in the upper chambers of the heart, and blood doesn't flow as well as it should from the upper to the lower chambers of the heart. AFib is deadly, with the condition mentioned on 232,030 death certificates in 2021. A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Cardiology estimates that AF prevalence will increase to 12.1 million cases in 2030.

Wearable devices are increasingly used to manage AFib as they provide a noninvasive method for continuously monitoring various metrics, like physical activity, stress, heart rate, and sleep patterns. For instance, a 2022 survey of 2,005 US consumers reveals that pulse rate (59 percent), calories and nutrition (42 percent), and heart health (40 percent) are the top health metrics Americans track using wearables.

However, the effects of wearable devices on AFib patients’ healthcare use and psychological well-being are not well understood.

Thus, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Yale University School of Medicine, and Cleveland Clinic conducted a study using survey and EHR data for AFib patients to assess formal healthcare use, such as outpatient and inpatient visits, rhythm-related testing, and procedures, and informal healthcare use, like telephone calls and patient portal messages. They also examined the effects of wearable device features and alerts on patient behavior and well-being.

The researchers recruited AFib patients receiving treatment at an outpatient electrophysiology clinic in North Carolina between December 1, 2022, and February 27, 2023. The patients completed survey questionnaires regarding sociodemographic characteristics, wearable device use, psychological well-being, and quality of life.

Of 172 AFib patients included in the analysis, 83 used a wearable device. Apple Watches (56 percent) and Fitbits (31 percent) were the most commonly used devices.

The study shows that wearable device users reported higher rates of symptom monitoring and preoccupation with their symptoms compared with non-users. The former also had more AF AFib treatment concerns.

Approximately 15 percent of wearable device users felt anxious, scared, or concerned in response to wearable alerts for high and low heart rates, and 20 percent said they always contacted their doctors in response to irregular rhythm notifications. About 45 percent of users reported checking their heart rate or performing an electrocardiogram (ECG) daily, and 19 percent reported using heart rate and rhythm monitoring features in response to cardiac symptoms.

Researchers also observed that AFib-specific healthcare use was significantly greater among wearable users than non-users, with wearable device use linked to significantly higher rates of ECGs, echocardiograms/transesophageal echocardiograms, and ablation.

Further, wearable device users were significantly more likely to use informal healthcare resources compared with non-users. Wearable device users sent more messages to healthcare providers than non-users, and providers sent nearly twice as many response messages to wearable device users compared with non-users.

Thus, researchers concluded that wearable users were more likely to undertake “pathologic” symptom monitoring, experience anxiety, report treatment concerns, and use formal and informal healthcare resources than non-users.

“The current study begins to answer important questions that move beyond whether wearables can safely and reliably detect arrhythmias, to understanding how these devices are being used by diverse segments of the population, and their impact on health care use and overall well-being,” they wrote. “Our findings suggest that while many individuals with AF may benefit from using wearable devices, a considerable proportion may experience unintended, adverse effects.”

• Fewer than 1 in 5 Heart Disease Patients Use Wearables
• Can Wearables Improve Outcomes Among Hospitalized Patients?
• How Wearables Can Enhance Cardiac Care, Boost Patient Engagement  

Dig Deeper on Wearable health technology

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Mammograms have pros and cons. women can handle the nuance, study argues.

Ronnie Cohen

The most recent recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is that all women 40 to 74 get mammograms every other year. A previous recommendation said screening should start at 50. One doctor suggests that people "test smarter, not test more." Heather Charles/Tribune News Service via Getty Images hide caption

New research makes the case for educating women in their 40s — who've been caught in the crossfire of a decades-long debate about whether to be screened for breast cancer with mammograms — about the harms as well as the benefits of the exam.

After a nationally representative sample of U.S. women between the ages of 39 and 49 learned about the pros and cons of mammography, more than twice as many elected to wait until they turn 50 to get screened, a study released Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine found.

Most women have absorbed the widely broadcast message that screening mammography saves lives by the time they enter middle age. But many remain unaware of the costs of routine screening in their 40s — in false-positive results, unnecessary biopsies, anxiety and debilitating treatment for tumors that left alone would do no harm.

"In an ideal world, all women would get this information and then get to have their further questions answered by their doctor and come up with a screening plan that is right for them given their preferences, their values and their risk level," said social psychologist Laura Scherer , the study's lead author and an associate professor of research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Of 495 women surveyed, only 8% initially said they wanted to wait until they turned 50 to get a mammogram. After researchers informed the women of the benefits and the harms, 18% said they would wait until 50.

"We're not being honest"

Learning about the downsides of mammograms did not discourage women from wanting to get the test at some point, the study showed.

The benefits and the harms of mammography came as a surprise to nearly half the study's participants. More than one-quarter said what they learned from the study about overdiagnosis differed from what their doctors told them.

"We're not being honest with people," said breast cancer surgeon Laura Esserman , director of the University of California San Francisco Breast Care Center, who was not involved with the research.

"I think most people are completely unaware of the risks associated with screening because we've had 30, 40 years of a public health messaging campaign: Go out and get your mammogram, and everything will be fine," she said in an NPR interview.

What is the breast cancer calculator actor Olivia Munn suggested after her mastectomy?

Esserman sees women who are diagnosed with slow-growing tumors that she believes in all likelihood would never harm them. In addition, mammography can give women a false sense of security, she said, like it did for Olivia Munn .

The 44-year-old actress had a clean mammogram and a negative test for cancer genes shortly before her doctor calculated her score for lifetime breast cancer risk, setting off an alarm that led to her being treated for fast-moving, aggressive breast cancer in both breasts.

Toward a personalized plan for screening

Esserman advocates for a personalized approach to breast cancer screening like the one that led to Munn's diagnosis. In 2016, she launched the WISDOM study , which aims to tailor screening to a woman's risk and, in her words, "to test smarter, not test more."

The National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 300,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 42,250 will die in the U.S. this year. Incidence rates have been creeping up about 1% a year, while death rates have been falling a little more than 1% a year.

We're not dying of metastatic breast cancer. We're living with it

For the past 28 years, the influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has been flip-flopping in its recommendations about when women should begin mammography screening.

From 1996 until 2002, the independent panel of volunteer medical experts who help guide physicians, insurers and policymakers said women should begin screening at 50. In 2002, the task force said women in their 40s should be screened every year or two. In 2009, it said that 40-something women should decide whether to get mammograms based on their health history and individual preferences.

The new study was conducted in 2022, when the task force guidelines called for women in their 40s to make individual decisions.

New guidelines

In 2024, the panel returned to saying that all women between the ages of 40 and 74 should be screened with mammograms every other year. Rising breast cancer rates in younger women, as well as models showing the number of lives that screening might save, especially among Black women, drove the push for earlier screening.

An editorial accompanying the new study stresses the need for education about mammography and the value of shared decision-making between clinicians and patients.

"For an informed decision to be made," states the editorial written by Dr. Victoria Mintsopoulos and Dr. Michelle B. Nadler, both of the University of Toronto in Ontario, "the harms of overdiagnosis — defined as diagnosis of asymptomatic cancer that would not harm the patient in the future — must be communicated."

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Can Metronidazole Cause a Disulfiram-Like Reaction? A Case-Control Study Propensity Matched by Age, Sex, and Ethanol Concentration

Affiliations.

• 1 Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Pharmacy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, [email protected].
• 2 Medical College of Wisconsin, School of Pharmacy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 3 Medical College of Wisconsin, Emergency Medicine/Medical Toxicology, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• PMID: 37494646

Introduction: There is controversy over the existence of a metronidazole-induced disulfiram-like reaction. Uncontrolled case reports suggest metronidazole can cause a severe disulfiram-like reaction in combination with ethanol. Criticism of these cases suggest the observed effects appear to be as likely caused by ethanol as by a drug interaction. Controlled experimental data refute these reports, demonstrating metronidazole does not increase acetaldehyde and cannot reliably produce disulfiram-like reactions. The purpose of this study is to retrospectively assess the incidence of clinical effects consistent with a disulfiram-like reaction in a population of patients with confirmed ethanol use who received metronidazole. As alcohol may also be responsible for the effects seen, the incidence of effects is assessed against a control group matched for age, sex, and ethanol concentration.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed from December 1, 2010, through December 31, 2020 on emergency department patients with ethanol use confirmed via detectable ethanol concentration who received metronidazole while ethanol was predicted to still be present in the serum. A matched comparator group with the same ethanol concentrations, as well as sex and age, was generated for comparison. The incidence of disulfiram-like reaction symptoms documented in the medical record was compared between groups.

Results: Thirty-six patients were included in the study: 18 in the metronidazole group and 18 in the ethanol concentration matched control group. The mean age in both groups was 46 years. The metronidazole group was 50% male, and the mean ethanol concentration was 0.21 g/dL. The control group was 44.4% male. There was significantly less hypertension in the metronidazole group compared to the control group (16.7% vs 61.1%, P $lt; 0.0001). There were no other significant difference in disulfiram-like effects between the two groups. No patients who received metronidazole and had a detectable ethanol concentration had a suspected disulfiram-like reaction documented in the medical record.

Conclusions: This data set further supports the lack of a disulfiram-like reaction when metronidazole is used in patients with recent ethanol use in the acute care setting. Additionally, it highlights that the clinical effects of a disulfiram-like reactions may be present at baseline from ethanol ingestion or underlying disease regardless of metronidazole use. These findings are consistent with well-controlled human and animal data demonstrating no increase in acetaldehyde concentrations or disulfiram-like symptoms when metronidazole is co-administered with ethanol. In patients where metronidazole is indicated as the superior agent, its use should not be avoided due to concern about an interaction with ethanol.

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• Lack of disulfiram-like reaction with metronidazole and ethanol. Visapää JP, Tillonen JS, Kaihovaara PS, Salaspuro MP. Visapää JP, et al. Ann Pharmacother. 2002 Jun;36(6):971-4. doi: 10.1345/aph.1A066. Ann Pharmacother. 2002. PMID: 12022894 Clinical Trial.
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Data Science in Healthcare: Innovations and Challenges

With the use of data analysis, we can forecast future health trends, and provide focused interventions..

Data Science is a multidisciplinary approach that combines practices and principles from mathematics, artificial intelligence (AI), statistics, and computer engineering. We can use data science to analyze and identify populations at risk, forecast health trends, and create focused interventions, so healthcare organizations can better manage population health.

By creating virtual assistants to track health, enabling remote monitoring through wearable technology, boosting medical imaging analysis, improving diagnostics with predictive analytics, and discovering new drugs through patient data analysis, data science helps address these issues.

Ready to dive deeper into data science? Explore this comprehensive Data Science Roadmap to guide you through every step of your learning journey.

Innovations in Data Science for Healthcare

● Predictive Analytics: Data Science which involves data mining algorithms is used to identify patterns and correlations in electronic health records (EHRs), demographics, medical histories, and treatment outcomes to predict which patients are more likely to require readmission.

●  Personalized Medicine : Data Science customizes treatment regimens for each patient. Predictive models provide recommendations for personalized interventions based on an analysis of a patient's specific data, including genetic predispositions and therapy response.

●  Medical Imaging Analysis: AI systems can identify lung nodules on CT scans, early indicators of breast cancer on mammograms, and Alzheimer's disease symptoms on MRI scans. AI is also capable of analyzing echocardiograms to diagnose heart disease and evaluate heart function.

● Drug Discovery and Development: Data science is useful in assisting in more precisely and effectively identifying possible medication targets by evaluating genetic and biological data. This focused strategy improves the chances of discovering successful medicines.

●  Remote Patient Monitoring: Data Science also includes one significant IoT application in healthcare which is remote patient monitoring. Vital signs, medication dose information, and other health factors are captured by wearable devices and sensors, which enables medical professionals to respond quickly and offer tailored care.

Challenges in Implementing Data Science in Healthcare

●  Data Privacy and Security: The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects individual’s medical record and their health information.  This is applied to healthcare clearinghouses, health plans, etc.

●  Data Quality and Interoperability: Data Science also includes uneven or standardized data between datasets, or even within the same dataset, which is referred to as inconsistent data.

●  Algorithm Bias and Fairness:   Data Science also changed the way doctors make judgments regarding patient care is being completely transformed by AI.

●  Lack of Skilled Professionals:   One major obstacle is the lack of qualified data scientists in the healthcare industry. The healthcare personnel has to be trained and given data science competence.

Case Studies: Real-World Examples of Data Science in Healthcare

●  Medical Imaging- Medical imaging techniques employ non-invasive examinations that facilitate non-invasive diagnosis of illnesses and injuries by physicians.

●  Development of Pharmaceuticals- Various diseases, such as cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, etc., are still incurable. Scientists can better comprehend how specific chemical components may affect the human body by analyzing detailed healthcare data.

●  Predictive Analytics and Modelling- Predictive analytics, as used in the healthcare industry, is the process of looking through past healthcare data to identify patterns and trends that can be suggestive of future events.

●  Maintenance of Patient Health Records- The amount of data about the human body is enormous; according to some sources, it can reach two gigabytes every day. This means that managing them can be very difficult, especially for chronic illnesses like diabetes.

● Virtual Assistance- A medical virtual assistant is a type of virtual assistant that specializes in providing medical support services, like scheduling appointments, keeping track of patient medical records, etc.

With the use of data analysis to pinpoint populations at risk, forecast future health trends, and provide focused interventions, data science is assisting healthcare organizations in improving population health management.

Some examples of Healthcare domain which is helped because of Data Science:

1. Increasing accuracy in CT image reconstruction and patient placement

Boosting patient loads and maintaining consistent picture quality while simultaneously boosting operational efficiency continue to be difficulties for radiology departments. Since computed tomography (CT) is one of the most popular imaging modalities, radiology departments stand to benefit greatly from AI.

2. Accelerating MR image acquisition

Another imaging modality that is magnetic resonance (MR) is becoming more and more crucial for accurate medical condition identification. The need to quickly and efficiently scan more patients and reduce the time it takes from the first scan to the final diagnosis is growing due to the increased use of MR.

The Future of Data Science in Healthcare

In the field of intelligent healthcare are federated learning (FL), AI, and explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). When AI is integrated, the system would consist of several agent collaborators that can effectively communicate with their intended host. FL is an intriguing feature that operates decentralized and keeps the model-based communication going in the chosen system without sending the raw data.

Ten patterns are evident for the upcoming ten years:

● A larger number of patients

● Increased technology

● Increased knowledge

● The patient as the final consumer

● Creation of an alternative delivery paradigm

● Competition-driven innovation

● Rising prices

● A rise in the uninsured,

● Lower provider compensation

● Need for a Healthcare service

The increasing penetration of AI across diverse domains of society has underscored the significance of ethical deliberations in both its creation and application. To maintain alignment with societal norms and minimize potential hazards, it highlights the significance of integrating ethical concepts into every stage of the AI lifecycle.

By examining a vast quantity of health data, data science can find early signs of illness. Positive outcomes are more likely when treatment decisions are made more swiftly and efficiently.

Healthcare driven by data is revolutionary because it makes personalized treatment plans, more accurate diagnoses, and prognosis illness management possible. The future of healthcare is safely promising with the emergence of data-driven technologies that can improve patient outcomes and healthcare.

Data science development is the process of planning, creating, carrying out, and maintaining data science initiatives. Data science projects come in a variety of goals and levels of complexity. Take into consideration the Data Science Roadmap as a reference for more research.

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