What Is Medical IoT?
Medical IoT, sometimes called healthcare IoT, refers to a growing number of IoT uses in the medical industry. These generate a wide range of IoT applications and devices specifically designed for healthcare needs and settings, such as sensors and apps for remote healthcare monitoring, consultation, and delivery. Medical IoT also supports life-changing improvements to traditional medical devices, such as the smart inhaler for people with asthma. Broader IoT use cases can also apply to healthcare, such as leveraging IoT connectivity to monitor critical medical devices and equipment, and to receive alerts when they require maintenance or replacement.
Why Medical IoT?
Safety and security are paramount in healthcare settings, and medical IoT can improve both through the transmission and monitoring of more accurate, real-time data about patients, treatments, equipment, and more. Medical IoT is also important in the increasingly distributed nature of health and healthcare; in a growing number of cases, patients and their doctors no longer need an office to monitor vital health data, for example, and access to healthcare—a burgeoning issue in certain regions—can be broadened by medical IoT and related technology advancements. For healthcare providers, medical IoT offers new opportunities to improve patient care and to manage the inherent complexity of the healthcare business, via improved data, automation, safety, and other gains.