Medical IoT, a well-known search key for Internet users. Those who type it in are looking for wearable devices (such as smartwatches or smart rings) that are capable of monitoring vital parameters and diseases. Medical IoT, however, does not stop there: it’s much more.
Read on to find out!
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Medical IoT concrete examples
Here are 3 concrete examples of medical IoT, taken from the JO Group’s European projects.
1. Remote patient monitoring (RPM): PKU Smart Sensor project
Remote patient monitoring or RPM is one of the most frequent cases of medical IoT. It consists of the remote monitoring of patients’ vital parameters via smartwatches or intracutaneous sensors. The case of the PKU Smart Sensor project, developed by the research and development (R&D) centre PMF Research, is emblematic.
PKU Smart Sensor allows the patient with hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) to consult his or her analyses. At the same time, the mobile app sends the information to medical personnel.
2. Medical home automation: the Domus Sapiens case
Medical home automation (another case of medical IoT) aims to improve the quality of life of the elderly and people with disabilities. Domus Sapiens project, developed by HT Apps, allows patients suffering from respiratory diseases (such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD) to monitor their health conditions by means of a sophisticated home automation system.
In practice, through a rich network of sensors placed inside the building, the system collects and sends data to both the doctor and the patient.
3. Ambient assisted living (AAL): NATIFLife portal
An ambient assisted living (AAL) app ensures rapid intervention of help. VITECO’s NATIFLife web-app, for example, allows the user to check the health status of the resident and planned activities (such as taking pills).
NATIFLife is also a web portal for networking between companies, institutions and stakeholders. It allows people to learn about IoT innovations and remote assistance technology tools for the elderly and people with disabilities. Finally, it contains a communication area (forum + chat) for the exchange of best practices.
Medical IoT benefits
Medical IoT offers many benefits:
- better prevention through continuous monitoring of vital parameters;
- reduction of costs, determined by the lower need for hospitalisation;
- personalisation of care, based on data collection and analysis;
- increased security thanks to modern encryption standards.
Future challenges
Despite the undoubted benefits, the adoption of medical IoT brings with it some challenges, such as the need to ensure patient privacy.
However, in the future, the Internet of Things will become one of the pillars of the healthcare sector. Artificial intelligence (AI) will allow large amounts of data to be analyses quickly and accurately, preventing the onset of diseases and improving treatments.
Contact IPPOCRATE AS experts
As we have seen, medical IoT is revolutionising healthcare. Embracing modern technologies such as wearable devices or home automation to improve the lives of millions of people is an imperative.
We are looking for partners for other European projects on e-health, m-health, telemedicine and IoT. Innovating is our mission. If you too would like to contribute to the research and development of innovative software, please contact us by filling in the contact form below. We are available for further information and fact-finding calls.