The IoT, or the “Internet of Things,” is quickly becoming a household term as everything from networked DVRs to smart fridges make their way into our homes.
IoT has numerous applications in the medical industry as well, appearing everywhere from patient devices all the way up to supply chain management for equipment and pharmaceuticals. IoT has the potential to change the medical industry from the ground up, though time has not yet determined if that change is going to be a positive or negative one.
Here are some of the most common pros and cons of medical IoT.
Medical devices collect massive amounts of information every single day, from vital signs and medication dosages to demographic information on the patients themselves. Much of this information is unsorted, leaving a vast amount of potential research data relatively untapped.
IoT devices allow this information to be collected, sorted and turned into useful predictions, through the use of predictive analytics. Essentially, all the information is fed into one server and predictive algorithms are applied to connect the dots, so to speak, to draw conclusions from seemingly unrelated pieces of data. With enough raw data, this can be used to accurately predict things like diagnostic trends, medication usages and even disease outbreaks.
With more than $30 billion spent on managing heart failure every year in the US, the use of predictive analytics to discover at-risk patients could potentially save both lives and money.
Many new implantable patient devices, such as pacemakers, are being designed using IoT technology because it makes them easier to monitor. Rather than requiring a landline phone and a bulky external device to check pacemakers, newer models can be monitored by simply sending a Wi-Fi signal to the device.
