Transforming Healthcare with IoMT

In Modern Age, most of the impossible tasks are headed by technology. Similarly, in healthcare use of IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) is accelerated with the Digital Age. IoMT is the collection of medical devices & applications that connect healthcare to networking technologies, these are the devices equipped with Wi-Fi that allows easy M2M communication. IoMT further allows medical professionals to offer their solutions & services even in critical & remote areas. With a predicted CAGR of 29.5%, the worldwide internet of medical things (IoMT) market is expected to increase from $30.79 billion in 2021 to $187.60 billion in 2028. However, the problem prevails in the proper execution of an ideal plan which can ensure equitable healthcare service to underserved ones. And here, the digital solution seems promising. Teleconsultation and remote diagnostics can overcome geographical barriers and provide rural residents with proper accessibility.

Top IoMT Trends in the healthcare industry

1. Connected Inhalers – Diseases which involve sudden attacks with no warnings or very few warnings can be tackled with these IOT connected inhalers.
2. 3D Modelling – It can be used to create artificial body parts bearing very low costs & also in remote areas it can be leveraged to print medical equipment which can save costs from logistics perspective.
3. Connected Contact Lenses – Smart contact lenses can also include micro-camera which enable lens wearers to easily capture images with their eyes.
4. Health Management & Personalized Healthcare – Healthcare organizations & medical professionals can decrease the risk of potential health threats through real-time monitoring parameters & also automating processes can save up big cost & time.
5. Ingestible Sensors, smart pills – These are the adequately small ingestible sensors which can be swallowed easily & can collect useful information from the digestive & various other systems inside of a human body.

Challenges faced by IoMT devices

1. Cyber Security – As the name suggests, it is the most dangerous challenge that connected medical devices could face & it could be related to any protected health information (PHI) or patients’ personal data like name, DOB, or any other financial data.
2. Interoperability – Data collected using various devices is of no use if it cannot be collated or analyzed to give useful & meaningful insights and for that to happen it is necessary for all the devices to relate to each other which further could lead to the misuse of data, if the devices relate to each other & anyone can use that data.
3. Device Mobility – If the medical device is stable & located at one position for treatment or diagnostics it decreases the efficiency & performance of that device. People in remote areas with less understandings may find it difficult to access the spectrum of services.
4. Improving the Adoption Scale – As IoMT market is growing day-by-day the question of its adoption & scalability still is a big concern. Not all patients & healthcare organizations look up to the added value of connected medical devices.

Use Cases of IoMT devices

1. Remote real-time patient monitoring – People with disabilities and chronic diseases can greatly benefit from connected medical devices by having their lives simplified. The ability to monitor and treat patients remotely benefits healthcare facilities as well, freeing up hospital beds for the treatment of urgent patients. Additionally, collecting data from medical devices enables continuous monitoring and the creation of a detailed image of a patient, both of which cannot be done through routine doctor appointments.
2. Advanced Analytics – Manual data collection and analysis is laborious and prone to mistakes. IoMT allows experts to automatically record and evaluate this data in real-time, providing insightful results.
3. Robotic Surgery – Surgeons can carry out complex surgeries that would be challenging to handle using human hands by inserting relatively small Internet-connected robots into the human body. The size of the incisions needed for robotic operations conducted by tiny IoT devices can also be reduced, making the procedure less painful and promoting faster patient recovery.
4. Digital Twins – Patient’s Digital Twin is intended to continuously record information on the person’s vital signs, medical condition, response to treatment, and environment. The Digital Twin platform receives patient data from Azure or AWS public clouds and stores it there. Each patient’s historical and current data is used by ML algorithms to forecast their future health issues. To create more personalized and effective treatment plans, Digital Twin makes use of a significant amount of rich data from multiple IoMT devices and uses AI-powered models.
5. Fitness Tracking & Wearable Devices – Fitness tracking devices are consumer wearables, equipped with sensors, that can collect, analyse, and transmit the physical activity data of an individual to their smartphone applications. These IoMT devices are approved by regulatory bodies and are usually advised by physicians. In contrast to fitness tracking devices, these wearables are focused on improving chronic health conditions and illnesses.

Conclusion

Looking at the advantages, IoMT provides comfort to patients because they can check their condition without having to frequently travel to medical facilities, freeing up hospital space for patients who are experiencing emergencies. Medical staff and equipment can be scheduled and distributed more effectively with the use of data gathered from connected medical devices, which also helps determine which resources are being used too much or too little. IoMT will pay off with better health outcomes and more effective use of your resources, even if it takes a significant initial investment of time and money. The healthcare industry is directly affected by COVID-19 since it is the epicenter of this unprecedented worldwide pandemic. It has caused the demand for IoMT devices to expand rapidly, which therefore influenced the global market.