How IoT has ushered in a wave of success in Healthcare Services?

Posted by Parija Rangnekar On Filed under Internet Of Things (IoT) No Comments
How IoT has ushered in a wave of success in Healthcare Services?
IoT in Healthcare
IoT (Internet of Things) is one of those technological marvels of the modern era that has digitally transformed the Healthcare sector by introducing smart healthcare apps. These healthcare IoT applications have helped the medical industry to overcome the existent roadblocks and limitations in its functioning. IoT App Development Companies have empowered the practitioners, patients, and service providers to unfold new horizons. This has resulted in simplified access to medical facilities through remote communication and reduced mortality rate on account of avant-garde treatment methodologies. Needless to say, the rate of adoption of IoT App Solutions has sky-rocketed and an upward demand curve has been observed.
Take a look at this interesting statistical data released by Statistica, indicating the estimated size of the IoT Healthcare market (in billion US $) between 2016 and 2025.
IoT in Healthcare market
Fortune Business Insights predicts that the IoT in Healthcare market size will soar up to USD 176.82 Billion by the end of 2026.
In this blog, I have penned down how IoT in Healthcare has revolutionized the fundamental tenets of this domain and the immense benefits of IoT Application Development reaped by the patients, doctors, and service providers unanimously.

IoT in a nutshell

Internet of Things comprises of a network of devices and software applications, interconnected via computer networks and wireless communication channels. This ingenious eco-system is meant for collecting and sharing real-time data. Data is stored in cloud platforms and can be remotely accessed by authorized users from any part of the globe. IoT in Healthcare has worked wonders in domains like telehealth, mHealth, telemedicine, etc. Let’s dive into some of the use cases in the healthcare domain.

Popular Use cases of IoT in Healthcare

IoT Smart Healthcare Solutions

Remote patient Diagnoses and Observation

IoT empowered solutions record the necessary health parameters to facilitate remote patient diagnoses and monitoring. This is one of the important features of IoT in telemedicine apps.
Doctor-patient consultations take place through live audio and video call, and other advanced communication channels, without the need for patients to pay a visit to the hospital. IoT powered external devices such as digital stethoscopes, oximeters, etc are being used by patients during digital telemedicine consultations.
IoT activity monitoring devices such as heart rate monitoring cuffs, glucometers, pulse meters, etc. used by the patients enable the doctors to remotely observe the health of elderly patients and those with chronic conditions. The data obtained from these devices aid the physicians to identify the correct course of treatment for patients.

Mobile Health and Wellness

IoT mobile app development has elevated wellness to a completely new level. Wearables like Apple watches, Fitbits, etc transmit patient’s vital health parameters through Bluetooth, Wifi, GPRS Networks and display the results in the smartphones. This proves immensely beneficial in keeping a track of the body vitals and other wellness parameters such as sleep patterns, body temperature, heart rate, blood sugar level, activity tracking, etc. and providing real-time data to the patient, their doctors, and caregivers. For example, a Holter monitor device is a wearable that tracks abnormalities in a patient’s heartbeat. This helps in timely preventive care. Click here to gain more insights on wearable technology.

IoT powered ingestible devices

These ingenious ingestible sensors available in the form of pills can be swallowed and it remains inside the human body and stay at a particular spot and sends data to mobile applications. The sensors embedded inside these pills detect drug doses taken and missed by the patient. Some of these pills have an in-built camera that provides visibility of the internal organs. Thus, ingestible devices prevent life-threatening conditions.

Emergency handling

IoT facilitates the accurate collection of patient data in case of medical emergencies and transmission of this data in real-time to the Emergency Response medical staff. This allows the ER staff to stay prepared while the patient is being brought to the hospital and no time is wasted after the patient’s arrival.

Aiding surgeries

IoT powered tools and applications provide handy assistance during surgeries and in handling post-surgery care. The IoT sensors accumulate data, transmit it, and analyze the same, resulting in finding out even the tiniest problem, and thereby preventing surgical complications.

Efficient Tracking of Patients, Staff, and Inventory

Smart IoT healthcare solutions contribute in the following ways:  
  • Wireless ID cards for staff and patients enhance security, effectively manage admissions, and simplify staff management.
  • RFID tags are used to track patients such as babies and elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease and even staff members in case of urgency.
  • IoT integrates with Real-time location systems (RTLS) to manage the assets of healthcare enterprises. It employs BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and iBeacon to track supplies in the operating rooms and inventory.

Virtual Monitoring of medical equipment

The contemporary healthcare services require avant-garde software and hardware equipment and their continuous monitoring, to prevent them from system failures and cyber-attacks. IoT powered solutions virtually monitor them and provide alerts to the medical staff if some anomaly is detected.

Managing Pharmacy

Managing the drugs in a hospital and transferring the same safely to storage facilities is a herculean task with chances of errors. Pharmacies managed by IoT application enable faster delivery of medicines and takes care of drug-preservation issues while transfer.

Handling insurance procedures

Insurance companies leverage IoT devices to validate claims and detect fraudulent practices with the help of the data captured by these devices. Such devices also enhance the transparency between insurance providers and customers regarding processes like pricing, underwriting, handling claims, and assessing risks.

Architecting an IoT Environment in healthcare

Steps to be followed by Digital healthcare service providers for the implementation of IoT are as follows:
  • Deploying devices possessing sensors, monitors, actuators, camera systems, actuators, and detectors to accumulate data.
  • Conversion of received data to the digital format and store the same in a data center.
  • Managing and analyzing the medical data with the help of data analytics based on which the correct course of action is decided.

Key Advantages of IoT powered Healthcare IT services

Easy access to healthcare facilities

Remote doctor monitoring and consultation facilities make healthcare and wellness easily accessible to patients with less mobility, the ones residing in remote areas with no hospitals nearby, and the super-busy professionals who hardly find time to visit the clinic. Moreover, the patients have a plethora of options at their disposal while choosing doctors.

Misdiagnosis of diseases

IoT system with the help of computer vision, sensors can collect data from several IoT devices and leverages advanced analytics enabling providers to know the course of the disease and thus avoid the wrong diagnosis of diseases. Faster and error-free diagnoses of diseases, continuous patient monitoring, and proactive treatment methodologies are some of the major gains for patients opting for digital healthcare services.

Lesser negligence and better adherence to treatment plans

Thanks to the IoT healthcare monitoring solutions encourage patients to stick to their treatment procedures and help the doctors to stay informed about the patient’s condition without much ado.

Operational Flexibility

Online diagnoses with the help of IoT Mobile apps allows doctors to enjoy flexible schedules without having to visit the clinic in case of non-emergencies.

Lesser crowd in hospital spaces

Digitally smart healthcare centers can do away with over-crowded waiting rooms, and as such can manage with lesser spaces and fewer administrative staff. Furthermore, the chances of healthcare staff getting infected with contagious diseases lessen.

Cost-efficiency

  • IoT healthcare solutions enable doctors to scale up the patient count by diagnosing more patients in a day.
  • On account of digital real-time consultation and monitoring, patients save on the cost by avoiding unnecessary hospital visits, longer hospital stays, and readmissions.

Augments Brand value

Implementing IoT powered smart solutions and motivating the patients to adopt these technologies enhances the brand value of a company and provides them a competitive edge over others and improves overall patient satisfaction too.

Final Verdict

IoT in Healthcare has redefined healthcare services altogether by opening up a wide range of convenient options for patients, practitioners, and healthcare service providers. It’s high time that the healthcare operators incorporate IoT healthcare solutions in their practice operations if they would like to make a mark in today’s dynamic and competitive market.
With this, we come to the end of this write-up. We hope this blog was helpful. Do comment and let us know your thoughts.

How IoT Influences Mobile App Development

Posted by Parija Rangnekar On Filed under Internet Of Things (IoT), Mobile App Development 2 Comments
How IoT Influences Mobile App Development
IoT App Development
IoT or The Internet of Things is a remarkable technology that connects the physical world to the virtual world. The IoT market has gained immense popularity in the past few years. The power of IoT has been harnessed by various industrial domains as well as consumers around the globe. A report published by Statista in 2020, predicts that the number of IoT devices installed across the globe is going to rise from 8.74 billion in 2020 to over 25.4 billion by 2030.
IoT App Developers
So, looking at the statistics, one can easily infer that IoT technology is progressing at a fast pace. IoT comprises a network of physical devices, gadgets, and sensors connected over the internet; that collect, analyze and transmit data. And as IoT implementation continues to accelerate, it has been noticed that this technology is being integrated with mobile apps as well for gaining optimum benefits and such mobile apps have proved highly convenient for IoT users. Thus, IoT has influenced mobile app development to a great extent. An IoT based mobile application is the latest trend and diverse industries are leveraging them for getting real-time monitoring, tracking workflows, automating tasks, data extraction for making business decisions, time and money-saving, etc.
So, this blog provides useful insights on IoT mobile app development. Read along to know how IoT is influencing mobile app development.

Influence of IoT in mobile app development

1. Increase in the Prevalence of Enterprise IoT Apps

IoT devices gather crucial data that prove extremely profitable for enterprises. Have a look at the commonest use-cases of IoT-powered applications:
  • Introduction of wearables in the supply chain for tracking physical movement, productivity, employee health, and many more such aspects.
  • Office automation for monitoring and controlling the lighting and temperature.
  • Usage of internet-enabled vehicles that provide logistics-related data like fuel usage, delays, speed, etc.
The aforesaid commercial IoT implementations enable the collection of vital data that assist executives to make flawless decisions based on their organizational strategy. Owing to these advantages, IoT-empowered devices are becoming universally accepted by businesses around the world. As such, the demand for IoT app development continues to rise.

2. Usage of IoT Application Development Frameworks

Usage of any available app development framework is not advisable for crafting top-grade IoT-powered mobile apps. One should employ an IoT application development framework for this purpose. These frameworks help in several important tasks like coping with a high volume of data, easing out the difficult process like dealing with the software components and devices, resolving the complexities of system technologies, designing an app architecture, implementing it in a program, code writing for validating the app, and lastly, deploying the app.
A plethora of IoT frameworks are available for accomplishing such processes. Each one ushers in unique advantages and are tailored to suit the specific needs of the IoT based Mobile Applications. So, the programmers should choose the IoT mobile app development framework, as per the software they intend to use as well as their cyber security objectives.

3. Personalization of Mobile Apps

IoT networks are capable of sending information to mobile solutions in real-time. This user-centric information gathered via IoT devices facilitate the personalization of a user’s in-app experience. To cite an example, smart kitchen devices like the smart meat thermometer displayed below can deliver individualized data to dieting or cooking apps.
IoT applications
Thus, the dynamic flow of personalized data to the smartphones of customers is making IoT apps a part and parcel of the daily lives of users.
But IoT mobile developers must make sure that the mobile apps architected are capable of analyzing the user data and making changes in the functionality accordingly. As such, the degree of personalization of an app is directly proportional to the amount of data gathered.

4. Prioritizing Security in IoT Mobile Apps

SSecurity has always been a cause of prime concern for IoT powered devices. As the IoT devices are connected to the internet they can become a soft target for hackers and other forms of security breaches. Additionally, their pairing with mobile devices aggravates this risk further.
Enterprise IoT devices collect confidential data like employee particulars, transaction history, and various other sensitive information. For instance, a smart printer can pass on sensitive data from confidential documents to a smartphone device.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many known cyber security practices to protect IoT devices. Furthermore, installing security measures in mobile devices is far more complex as compared to desktops. Hence, mobile app development companies should ensure that their clients are well versed with the security threats associated with IoT devices before they launch their IoT mobile solution.

5. Risk of Losing Accessibility in IoT Powered Apps

IoT empowered apps must be programmed with care, or else the complexity of integrating IoT features could impact the application’s functionality.
IoT App Developers will have to pay thorough attention to the security of the connected devices and their ability to connect with a greater number of IoT devices in the coming years. So, while integrating additional devices, the developers should prioritize the interface and user experience of the IoT solution. This is because the lesser “new learning” a user needs to go through post downloading an IoT empowered app, the more engaged they will be. Needless to say, user experience matters the most to the IoT app solution providers.

6. IoT-Enabled Apps Possess Potential for Innovation

Clutch Mobile
The augmented features of IoT-enabled apps open up myriad possibilities for innovation in user interaction. Data collected from IoT devices can be presented in diverse new-fangled ways, and it can inform other features of the mobile app. Also, there are opportunities to incorporate machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) into the solutions. The developers must approach the app development process with an open mind if they want to take full advantage of the opportunities an IoT connection will bring.

7. IoT Has the Power to Enhance Mobile Apps

When mobile apps connect to IoT devices, they can become more complex but much more useful. Such an app can benefit your business strategy and increase the amount of personalization you provide your customers. However, incorporating IoT can also bring security risks and the potential for a less-friendly UX.

Final Verdict

Leveraging forward-thinking IoT app development solutions and developing feature-rich IoT-powered mobile apps will definitely benefit your business to a great extent. It will also give a competitive edge to your business. The right IoT mobile app development company will identify and seize the endless opportunities for innovation that IoT brings to mobile apps.