IoT (Internet of Things) in the health sector, a new and exciting horizon for the technological community, a landscape full of opportunities and potential, but also a sector planted with challenges that requires greater sensitivity, innovation and commitment than most. Demographic aging, budget containment and the growing demand for services are leading us to the urgent need to find solutions for the health sector. The benefits, present and potential, that the IoT paradigm offers hospitals lead us to change. The right technology can lead us to a much more efficient way of working, to a significant reduction in costs and to returning the focus to the quality of patient care. In a recent study it is predicted that the IoT technology, in the near future, could lead to a saving of more than 300 billion dollars in the United States, but for this a real commitment is necessary that would lead to the necessary digital revolution materialize. In addition to budgetary pressures, demographic aging presents many challenges. Taking Japan as an example, with a growing population aging and budgets increasingly reduced in the sector, has embraced the use of IoT technology, making emphasis on sensorization and robotics, achieving truly amazing results.
And if Japan is achieving it, what does it take for other countries to join the IoT experience? There are multiple factors, but probably the most important is the cost, which although it more than compensates in the medium / long term, is an investment that not all institutions are, today, willing to face. Olivier Legris, strategic leader of “Future Platforms” says that embracing the digital revolution in health would lead to lower production costs of the devices (many of them are not yet manufactured on a large scale).
It is a path based on commitment and the assurance that the IoT is as necessary in a hospital as the instruments or management programs.
The amount of data handled in the health sector is practically unmatched by any other, and continues to increase. IoT technology is able to make a difference in this aspect like no other, the interconnection of multiple devices that send and receive data in an automatic and efficient way make investment in this field absolutely necessary.
But it’s not just the amount of data, but how to use it. The visualization of processes in real time and the development of analysis tools in this aspect is key and they mark the way forward.
When we consider the digital transformation in the health sector, we must remember that we are at the beginning of the process. There is a lot of expectation and debate about the IoT technology, it is an exciting moment, with multiple open technology fronts (augmented reality, artificial intelligence, home automation, management, traceability …)
IoT is present and synonymous with the future, and the first to understand and bet on it will reap the greatest benefits.
