Internet of Things in the global healthcare sector: Significance, applications, and barriers

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is a modern paradigm with broad applications in various industries, including healthcare and its associated fields. The full implementation of this technology in the healthcare field is a shared goal, as it enables medical services to operate more efficiently and patients to receive quality care. There are various IoT technology-based healthcare system applications for improving the efficacy and quality of diagnosis & treatments. Globally, the healthcare sector is in a peculiar state. The global population is ageing, and the number of lifestyle and chronic diseases is increasing, whereas individual aspirations are increasing, whereas healthcare is getting expensive. Technological interventions can help to solve this problem. One aspect of problem-solving can be bringing health checkups from the hospital to the patients. This paper aims to study the IoT and its implementation in healthcare. Smart Features, Supportive Enablers, and Operative Work-Process Flow of IoT in the Healthcare Domain are discussed diagrammatically. In this paper, we identified and studied the significant applications of IoT for Healthcare. Various barriers and future challenges in adopting IoT in Healthcare services are also discussed. IoT in healthcare is beneficial at various stages of the patient healthcare-system relationship. Thus, Healthcare providers can obtain necessary health data via real-time monitoring of a patient's condition through intelligent medical devices linked to a mobile application. A physician can assess the patient's condition to develop a better treatment process. In healthcare, this technology can result in significant advancements in patient care management.