Originally published Jan. 31, 2024, on Promantus Inc.’s blog.
From health-monitoring wearables to in-facility hygiene-tracking devices and beyond, the Internet of Things (IoT) is making a big impact in the medical field.
When you think of “always-on connectivity,” what do you think of? Late-night emails? Off-hour stock trading? The smart fridge whose settings you can tinker with on your phone? In the medical field, the opportunity represented by high-bandwidth, reliable connectivity in smaller and smaller form functions is much, well, bigger. From health-monitoring wearables to in-facility hygiene-tracking devices and beyond, the Internet of Things (IoT) is making a big impact in the medical field. What does that look like, and how can care providers make the most of it while keeping patient information safe?
Let’s explore.
New endpoints, new opportunities
By now, you’re likely familiar with the concept of IoT, which connects up everyday objects so they can send and receive data. These days, chances are good that your wrist, at minimum, is an IoT endpoint: As of 2023, 35% of adults were using health wearables. While for many, these devices are limited to step-tracking and heart-rate monitoring, the utility of wearables in the health space has exploded in recent years.
Diabetics can continuously monitor their blood glucose levels on their smartphones via an implant. Doctors can quickly and easily check patients’ vitals during telemedicine visits or moments of crisis. Specialists can feel confident they are seeing the same information as their colleagues, and that it is updating in real time, facilitating collaboration across a care team. The opportunities for improved, more responsive tracking of what is happening inside of our bodies – and therefore for better-tailored, better-informed care – is practically endless, opening the door to a new era of both proactive and reactive health management.
In care facilities, IoT can also be used in a variety of other ways. Beds can be equipped with fall sensors to alert staff to check on a patient. Air quality monitors can trigger notification or even ventilation procedures if unacceptable levels of pollutants or contaminants are found. In the pharmacy, temperature and humidity controls can make a difference in drug safety and efficacy. Equipment such as oxygen pumps and wheelchairs can be tracked, helping to prevent loss. So much that goes into healthcare relies on collaboration – between patient and doctor, doctor and nurse, provider and pharmacist – that can be improved through the introduction of better, more accurate, more quickly and continually available information. That makes IoT a major factor in the sector – but how’s all this information being managed?
Keeping IoT healthcare information safe
In 2020, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) accounted for nearly a third of the total IoT market. In the years since, the IoMT market’s value has grown nearly fivefold. As capabilities broaden and improve, so will adoption. With this growth comes new challenges. Namely, managing and securing all of these information streams.
The personal health information (PHI) umbrella contains within it some of the most sensitive – and regulated – forms of information in the world. Protecting it is not only crucial to protecting relationships with patients, but certain precautionary steps may be legally necessary to keep your facility running and in good standing. And the more information you generate, the more endpoints you bring into the fold, the greater the threat surface you have to consider. Information needs to be secured where it is gathered, as it is being sent, and where it is stored and used.
The unifying challenge of IoMT in the near term is balancing security with access. For all of this information collection to produce positive results, patients and providers need to be able to access it. In cases where centralized, unified information monitoring – a repository for real-time asset locations, for instance – is used, the platform where that information is collated and displayed provides another set of inroads and intersections to be secured.
Any IoT partner worth their salt will help you lock down that security, while helping to provide the cutting-edge care that drives positive outcomes and happy patients.
Ready for IoMT, but need a hand? Promantus is here to help.
With Promantus, you can outsource your experts, from leveraging our access-management and data-protection-as-a-service offerings to being set up with your own customized platform with as much of our guidance as you want, until, through or beyond implementation.
Whether you’re looking to add an expert, add a technology, or add a service, our team will work with you to provide technology solutions that will help you – and your patients – thrive.
コメント