Advances in IoT technology distribution from brands such as NetSuite Partner have a great impact on the healthcare industry, especially in terms of patient care.
IoT arrived to make things easier for healthcare professionals who will be capable of monitoring patients continuously faster and in a more efficient way. Here are the top 5 applications of IoT technology that are improving patient care.
Ingestible Sensors
One of the challenges of doctors is to make sure their patients are in compliance with the medications, but ingestible sensors are changing that. It is a swallowable pill with sensors that generate an electrical signal when it comes in contact with the medication.
It provides information that will allow for stricter monitoring of medication programs; doctors will receive notifications and get access to the medication-taking pattern. This will eradicate common problems such as patients that forget or choose not to take their medication, who take incorrect dosages or combine medications. Patients now will take medicine at the right time and the right dosage.
The future of ingestible pills is promising, and we may soon be trying new advances such as pills that analyze gut health and detect GI bleeding or a camera pill that can take high-speed photos of the GI and eliminate the need for an invasive colonoscopy.
Smart Inhalers
Connected inhalers use Bluetooth technology, and others use sensors and can help patients to better adhere to the medication.
They record a date and time stamp of when the patient uses it and track how often you use it, so you don’t have to. Inhalers also alert the patient about potential environmental triggers such as letting you know if you are in high pollution or high pollen area and help you decide whether to avoid it.
Smart inhalers will also help to monitor and correct the patient’s and provide a helpful amount of data that professionals will be able to use to learn more about the disease. Doctors will know if the patient is taking their asthma medication regularly and in the right technique.
Smart Continous Glucose Monitoring
Diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions, and when it is untreated, it can lead to mortal health complications. A continuous glucose monitoring is a wearable device that continuously monitors the blood glucose levels several times a day at regular intervals and sends the data to mobile apps to allow the wearer to easily check their information.
Caregivers can also download an app and access to the information to provide remote monitoring. It also provides insights on how food, physical activity, and medication can affect your diabetes.
Another device that is helpful for people who suffer from diabetes is the smart insulin pen, which is capable of recording the time, amount, and type of insulin injected. It connects with a mobile app that stores long-term data, calculates the insulin dose, and will allow you to see how insulin is affecting your blood sugar levels.
Streamlining Patient Care
Paperwork and frustrating lines affect healthcare professionals’ experience and can make the patient care process slower and more complicated, but using IoT devices provides electronic databases, remote monitoring of medical equipment, and a management system to track staff member activities.
It is capable of connecting entire networks of medical devices around the world. These innovations can reduce costs for hospitals and medical staff, improve communication, avoid delays in scheduling, billing errors, and reduce patient stress.
Smart Contact Lenses
The smart contact lenses are one of the greatest innovations for diabetic patients. It measures glucose via the user’s blood vessels and provides early warning signs when the patient glucose levels are beyond certain levels.
Although more research is needed in order to make it available for the general public, companies are hoping that smart contact lenses will be equipped with drugs to treat diabetes and retinopathy as well as aid in cataract surgery recovery. Sensime, a Swedish company, just developed contact lenses that can record changes in eye dimension and give early warning signs of glaucoma.
These are the top 5 promising IoT technologies that will change the healthcare industry, reduce costs, and improve patient care. They are just the beginning, and we hope that in 5 years, IoT is a rule in the healthcare industry.