25 November 2020
Ruffley
Over the past decade, we have seen changes in every aspect of life from healthcare to retail, transformed not just by new technology, but by new societal attitudes towards how things can be done more efficiently in order to meet public needs.
Industry 4.0 is expected to revolutionise the healthcare industry, from the use of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and IoT. In particular, the use of IoT in healthcare will see an exponential rise over the next few years, with the market projected to reach $534 billion by 2025, which has been driven by COVID-19.
With the NHS quickly adapting to new technologies in an attempt to fight the recent pandemic and use available resources efficiently, health and care IoT devices have been able to collect data and monitor patients, both in and out of hospital, which helps to reduce hospital admissions and increase patient satisfaction.
Peter Ruffley, CEO, Zizo highlights the benefits and uses of IoT in healthcare, but also discusses the challenges that may arise throughout this digitalisation of this industry.
Connected devices
Remote monitoring through connected devices has provided clinical teams with the opportunity to monitor patients from home, keep records of their on-going health and vitals, which is then accessible to healthcare professionals in real-time. By reducing the need to manually collect and input data, staff members can use their time more efficiently, reducing waiting time for patients and prioritising those who may need more urgent care.
IoT connected devices can monitor patients heart rates, blood pressure, temperature, glucose levels and other critical information. Health teams will be alerted when there is a concerning change or medical emergency right away, and will then be able to intervene when necessary.
Combined with video conferencing, doctors can instead assist patients virtually, which has been key during the current pandemic to continue to deliver healthcare services and address any health concerns the public have, especially the elderly or vulnerable during these challenging times. This way of communicating doesn’t necessarily replace face-to-face visits, but it can greatly improve accessibility and productivity in healthcare, while keeping patients safe and in the comfort of their own homes.
Edge computing
Similarly, Edge Computing has a key place in this transformation, as it continues to provide capabilities for healthcare workers to interact and monitor people or places that may have been traditionally hard to access. Especially in rural and remote areas where medical care falls behind, highlighting the need for innovation in service delivery, patients will now be able to experience the same standard of care across the country, regardless of geographical locations, thanks to the use of these technologies.
To increase performance and responsiveness of healthcare applications, processing data at the edge of the network eliminates any unnecessary delay. This will also have effects on the efficacy of clinical trials, as with Edge Computing, there is a wider ability to test more people, more frequently and more accurately. By computing, processing and analysing data, with the same level of quality at the Edge, efficiency and patient experience will be improved, while decreasing time and cost.
Data integration and interoperability
One of the main challenges of deploying IoT in healthcare settings lies within data integration of the multiple data points. Healthcare teams must ensure the efficacy and accuracy of these tools at all times in order for the data to be understood by all so that clinical teams can make informed decisions across the board.
With promises to merge patient data across a central location, allowing for unobstructed sharing of clinical data for valuable decision making, it’s vital to have agreed best practices in place to ensure that different devices from different teams can exchange and interact with each other.
The lack of regular standards and data interoperability between IoT devices presents obstacles, making device implementation inconsistent. This is why the baseline has to be known or defined based on real world experience, with real checks and measures in place.
Privacy and anonymised data
Privacy will, as always, be a concern for many. With the inability of the NHS and Government to release a Track and Trace app, alongside the distrust about the use of data, despite the clear benefits of the system, proves that we’re a long way from a connected society, where the use of data and analysis is seen as a force for good, rather than bad.
One of the main privacy issues is patient confidentiality of personal health records and location data, particularly as targets for cyber attacks ending in the exposure of private data. However, there are many basic security actions that manufacturers and providers of IoT devices can take to mitigate these risks, such as incorporating security measures into the devices, including authentication and encryption.
Conclusion
As IoT continues to solve many pain points in our healthcare system, we can expect to see an increase in the use of technology to better patient care. The rapid deployment of technology in the healthcare industry has been fuelled by COVID-19, but this isn’t something that we expect to diminish post-pandemic. By reducing the myths surrounding patient data and ensuring that connected devices are managed as part of one centralised system, healthcare providers can gain endless value and benefits from IoT.
