In-hospital remote monitoring has been in use for a long time. Heart rate, pulse, and blood oxygen levels can be monitored by hooking patients up to machines that are connected to monitors at nursing stations, through an in-house network. This innovation has significantly improved patient care and outcomes.
But the real news now is the monitoring that occurs outside of healthcare facilities, through connected devices that patients wear in their homes, sending real-time data to their providers’ offices and signaling alerts when a condition merits an office visit or a trip to the hospital.
Especially for older patients, IoT medical devices provide the opportunity to remain in their homes and travel for office visits less often. This is a huge cost savings for patients and insurance companies, and certainly a time saver for providers.
And now that manufacturers are making these devices far more user-friendly, taking out the bulk and making them look far more like most other wearable devices, many more patients are willing to wear them throughout all of their daily activities. Such wearables can now monitor glucose level, heart rate, pulse, and oxygen level, sending a continual stream of information to the doctor’s office. The freedom this provides to patients vastly improves their quality of life.
Another use for remote monitoring is in research studies and clinical trials. Rather than rely on subjects to perform their own monitoring and report it or to stay in a healthcare facility during a trial, accurate data is now transmitted through cellular or Wi-Fi connections, while the subject goes about his daily routine.
As patients, their providers, and insurers look at the benefits, they see the following:
- Greater Patient Engagement: Patients who wear their devices, and have that information live streamed, can also monitor their own data and see what progress is being made by treatment protocols.
And, as noted earlier, they are far more prone to wear devices when they are small and unobtrusive. Heart rate monitors, for example, are now just patches. - Patient Outcomes: Obviously, when a provider can receive minute-by-minute data, rather than gathering such information only at intervals of office visits. This allows a provider to see progress (or lack thereof) over time and make better diagnoses based upon long-term data. And all of this can be accomplished without bringing a patient in to the office at frequent intervals.
- Less Error: Data doesn’t make mistakes; humans do. Data is provided and recorded accurately without the possibility of manual mistakes that do occur when humans are doing the recording.
- Better Patient Experience: Patients enjoy fewer disruptions and inefficiencies of making regular office visits. In the future, it is quite possible that IoT will also be used for routine testing of blood, urine, liver panels, and more.
It is no wonder that IoT in healthcare is on the rise. According to a survey conducted by Berg Insights in 2016, about 7.1 million people were using at least one IoT medical monitoring device. The same study predicted that by 2020 about 50.2 million people will be wearing remote monitoring devices, a growth rate of about 48% a year.
The Challenges
While achieving better patient treatment and outcomes is a huge benefit of IoT monitoring devices, this innovation is not without challenges, especially those related to privacy and security.
Any time a device is connected to the Internet, there is the potential for security breaches. This has happened with consumers who have “smart home” devices that they monitor and control remotely. Because of this, hospitals and providers are now contracting with third-party service providers for comprehensive IoT management and connectivity.
These service provider firms offer what is known as an end-to-end approach, including device and network connectivity management, through deployment and the latest security protocols. Above all, patient information and health data must be protected, and these services provide a far better chance that the proper protections are in place.
The Future
IoT is clearly the future of healthcare. Right now, wearable devices that provide better patient treatment and outcomes are a reality. As we move into the future, more and more devices will be developed to monitor more and more conditions and research studies. But don’t discount their use in hospital and surgical settings as well. Robotics and IoT will ultimately merge in new and innovative ways to serve both doctors and patients.