Considerations
Healthcare IoT is an integral part of the modern medical climate. There are several ways in which the Internet of Things is known to expedite infrastructural operations among medical practices. These include:
- Real-time patient data and patient monitoring
- Improved healthcare through connected options
- Operational cost reduction
- Increased medical services delivery
Real-Time Patient Data and Patient Monitoring
When it comes to healthcare treatment that has traditionally been paper-based, there is a lot of bureaucracy to overcome. The 20th century heralded the peak of paper-based bureaucracy. Today, such systems of organization are outdated and will cost businesses much more than the advantage they bring to the table. With healthcare IoT, data about patients can be reviewed in real time. Patients can be monitored and maintained remotely with effectiveness. Instead of a nurse making arbitrary rounds and waiting for a call to come, several monitors can be set up and that individual can closely keep an eye on all patients. Some will pass away in their sleep without ever getting to the call button, but IoT tech helps prevent that by automatically signaling an alert when vitals drop below or above a certain predefined threshold.
Improved Healthcare Through Connected Options
When everything is disparate, it becomes more complicated. Various departments still require some level of compartmentalization even in the modern age, the difference is that everything can be digitally consolidated. This means that though certain regions of a medical institution may operate independent of one another, their information is all available in one place. So, there won’t be any— or at least there will be far fewer— oversights coming from lack of communication. The patient profile updated in one department will remain updated in the next, etc. The more interconnected a healthcare facility is with itself and other facilities, the fewer bureaucratic errors will result, leading to fewer malpractice suits, fewer mistakes, happier patients, and better reputation. All these things ultimately result in an increase in business.
Operational Cost Reduction
IoT solutions provide analytics which can be used to cut the cost of redundancy. Patterns can be identified. Good trends can be encouraged, bad trends can be discouraged. Additionally, patient appeasement in the form of monitoring and contact can be facilitated. That is to say: imagine the family and friends of a loved one are in the waiting room of a given facility waiting on an operation. Through IoT, they can watch the operation as it takes place if they desire, they can be notified the moment the operation is complete, and altogether, they can feel more connected to their loved one.
Patient satisfaction in medicine is the same as customer satisfaction in any other business. The more satisfied a set of patients are, the more likely they are to continue patronizing a given medical institution for their health needs. This is good for business.
Between infrastructure reduction through redundancy elimination, patient satisfaction, analytics, and overall operational optimization, there are quite a few ways healthcare institutions stand to save substantially through IoT innovation.
Increased Medical Services Delivery
Optimized medical care which can act in real-time to health-compromising issues will more successfully treat patients. When family and friends are pleased, they’ll patronize the institution with greater frequency. As costs are eliminated, expansions can be pursued— like remote patient services. Through IoT devices, it’s possible for medical professionals to monitor patients at home, sending out nurses or other personnel to address specific needs as they become necessary. This frees up beds internally and decreases redundancies in visits. Again, pattern recognition through analytics can be brought to the fore here in order to more cost-effectively streamline services. With more IoT comes increased propensity for effective medical services delivery.
Final Thoughts
Healthcare IoT is currently a fixture of the medical industry and that will remain the case barring a global catastrophe. Being competitive requires some IoT innovation, and as an IoT enterprise, it’s your job to reiterate this to your clients, especially those in the healthcare industry.