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RESEARCH TOPIC IoT in Healthcare, is it a promise or concern?

Introduction (Reason for the choice of topic, relevance in today’s world, objectives of the research)

Nowadays, countless people are dependent on electronic devices. Technology has paved the path towards health management. Devices such as remote patient monitoring, smartwatches, Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) and Automated insulin delivery can be connected to the internet via embedded devices. This allows for systematic recording of data across multiple devices and analysing the same through the apps for meaningful information and optionally initiating necessary actions wherever required.

The objective of this research is to study use of IoTs in healthcare and critically evaluate if in general they are a promise or pose concerns.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE (Secondary research in prominent countries which are affected by the issue/discovered solutions to tackle these issues, incorporate data sources and evaluate them)

IoT technology is among the top 5 technologies worldwide. In recent COVID-19 pandemic IoT technology was successfully used worldwide in a number of situations.

Safety and Hygiene

Many governments throughout the world set up thermal cameras and contactless thermometers to distinguish people who are suspected of being infected. Bahrain’s Information & eGovernment Authority has launched wristbands that are compatible with the country’s contact tracing app. This informs the government of any behaviour that could increase the spread.

Supervision and Compliance

Drones are being leveraged to monitor the movement of people, transmit public informational messages and encourage citizen compliance by asking individuals to stay indoors. IoTs are being leveraged to track infected people and ensure effective quarantine measures to control the spread of this disease. Police officers in China have been equipped with smart helmets that come with built-in infrared cameras and sound an alarm if anyone within sixteen feet has a fever.

NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE (Secondary research in your own country which is affected by the issue/ discovered solutions to tackle these issues, incorporate data sources and evaluate them)

India has also successfully deployed IoT technology during the COVID-19 pandemic to ease out certain problems.

Safety and Hygiene

Indian Governments are enabling health experts to track people’s locations through their phones to efficiently conduct contact tracing and distinguish the persons exposed to the virus.

Supervision and Compliance

State police departments in India are leveraging biometrics and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to circulate e-passes to eligible individuals based upon validation of identity documents and other supporting documents. The e-passes are available on a mobile phone and come with QR codes that can be verified by police officers through scanners.

Personal perspective (Primary research in your neighbourhood, the issues faced and the solutions available at a personal/local level)

My father has been using a combination of a smartwatch, connected weighing scale and connected blood glucose monitor. The smartwatch tracks the personal health statistics such as exercise done, heart rate etc. the connected weighing scale tracks the weight and body mass index, and the glucometer allows him to record his blood glucose levels at regular intervals. He also uses an app to record his food intake. Combined data from all these devices give him his overall health status.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS (Secondary research in your own country which is affected by the issue/ discovered solutions to tackle these issues, incorporate data sources and evaluate them)

While IoT technology in healthcare is highly promising, it is currently plagued by many challenges. Key challenges are discussed below:

Cost

IoT is still expensive and not many people can afford the technology. This is preventing mass adoption of IoT.

Cybersecurity

IoT is extremely vulnerable to attacks for several reasons. Its components are unattended most of the time. This makes it easy to physically attack them. Considering most of the communication is wireless, eavesdropping is possible. Lastly, since most of the components utilize low energy and computing resources, they cannot implement complex schemes supporting complex security measures.

Data Privacy, Management, and Security

The systems collect a lot of data that is personal. Data privacy, management and security are paramount concerns in the healthcare sector, with critical consequences if not managed properly.

Interoperability

Interoperability can be broadly defined as “the ability of two or more systems to exchange information and use the information that has been exchanged”. It is one of the biggest challenges faced by the MedTech industry as new products are being developed on heterogeneous platforms, especially the standards for data collection, storage and transmission used by health systems, including hospital information systems (HIS), making it difficult for the obsolete system keeping pace with new innovation.

Courses of action (possible solutions– long term, short term, direct, indirect, economic, political, social of the issue at the personal/ local, national and global level)

Cost

At present, IoT devices are seen as a luxury rather than a necessity. The developers should focus on the affordability of their products and keep the price points lower specifically for the healthcare products.

Data Privacy, Security, and Interoperability

Dominant and trusted companies across the IT and healthcare sector such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Phillips, GE, Siemens etc can form a consortium to create a global standard for secure communication between IoT devices. This will not only boost public trust but allow smooth interoperability between devices.

Conclusion (How has your personal perspective changed, summarize, state your opinion)

IoT technology has many promises. It is the next major advancement in the health industry where connected devices and cloud computing can together deliver benefits far beyond what is possible today.

However, there are a lot of concerns about IoT that need addressing. It is developing technology and is new to the healthcare sector. Major concerns are data privacy and security. The global players need to join hands together and create a common secured platform. IoT developers should focus on making essential healthcare technology affordable so that mass people can adopt it. With the right steps taken, eventually, these concerns will get resolved and the technology will emerge as highly promising in the healthcare sector.

REFERENCES (URL of the website - date of access, title of the research, name of the researcher; Title of the book - author, title of the research, name of the researcher)

https://builtin.com/internet-things/iot-in-healthcare – September 22^nd 2021

https://econsultancy.com/internet-of-things-healthcare/ – September 22^nd 2021

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jhe/2021/6632599/ – September 22^nd 2021

https://ordr.net/article/iot-healthcare-examples/ – September 22^nd 2021

https://www.iotforall.com/iot-healthcare-advantages-disadvantages – September 23^rd 2021

https://blog.jtiot.com/iot-healthcare-challenges-worth-solving – September 23^rd 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42452-019-1925-y – September 23^rd 2021

https://www.valuecoders.com/blog/technology-and-apps/ – September 24^th 2021

https://www.wipro.com/business-process/ – September 24^th 2021

https://www.zerone-consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/ – September 24^th 2021

https://www.pharmaceuticalcommerce.com/view/ – September 24^th 2021

https://innovationatwork.ieee.org/pros-cons-of-iot-in-healthcare/ – September 24^th 2021