The role of technology in all our lives is as huge as it gets. Technology is the undisputed king of today and there is no doubt that. Technology is both a boon and a bane, it’s about which side you choose to focus on. Technology can be very useful if harnessed towards the right direction. In the healthcare sector, technology and internet services help medical organizations across the globe to better their services. The internet of things in particular has proved to be of vital importance as it has enabled to monitor patients for various health parameters in real time. This proves as a life saving phenomenon as it gives personalized and immediate care to all patients who require it. Although, this internet of things has transformed healthcare completely but it is important that we move ahead with caution and make sure that only people with sufficient knowledge are allowed to make use of it. The various ways it has transformed the healthcare in include:
- Location Independent Care
A gradual shift has been seen from location-based care to an independent one. Thanks to the internet of things, it is no longer required for you to visit the medical institutions at every instance, you can very easily monitor your health from the comforts of your home. This approach takes technology to the patient instead of the patient going to a doctor. This is especially useful for remote patients for whom it is not feasible to visit hospitals day in and day out.
- Precautionary Care
Earlier, the problems used to be tackled when faced with one. Now we’ve moved from that approach to a more precautionary and proactive form of care. Patients are monitored on a daily basis and their data is stored owing to the internet of things. The usefulness of such proactive care reaches tons of people and helps save their lives. The statement “Precaution is better than care” comes best here. To act when a problem knocks your door could lead to adverse consequences whereas if you act well before the problem manifests itself to your body in a large manner you can save yourself a great deal of trouble. This precautionary care is revolutionary in the healthcare sector and changes the entire focus.
- A Two-Way Information Street
Before the coming of technology and the internet of things, the patient records mainly found themselves in the hands of the medical professional and the patient usually could not infer what the reports said and therefore were mostly oblivious to what was happening. This has largely changed now the patient now can have a more active role and is well aware of his/her health and wellbeing along with the professional which creates a two-way flow of information. This creates more trust and the patient feels more secure.
- Promotes Better Lifestyles
The internet of things is promoting a better lifestyle among the masses. The intelligence systems collect tons of data of individuals and help the prevention as well as an early diagnosis of chronic diseases and therefore the right path of action can also be taken well in time. Bands like the Fitbit are very popular today and they monitor your health rate, blood pressure levels therein providing very useful and valuable data and it helps the individual to monitor his/her health and to live a healthier and better lifestyle.
- Simplified Data
There are millions of files and tons of data that are collected in medical institutions that create an entire plethora of data which becomes very difficult to manage. To find the correct file at the correct times becomes an impossible task. This is simplified and made easy by the internet of things where data is assorted and the work of the medical organizations is made more efficient. In a serious situation, where even one second matters, this technology comes into play as a savior of sorts.
All these uses have come into effect very recently and a lot of other aspects of the technology are still under the radar. What it brings us in the future is something that cannot be predicted and only time can tell us. But one thing that is for sure is the fact that this technology is transforming the entire medical sector in umpteen number of ways. While a lot of people argue that technology cannot be a substitute for humans, in the dearth of good medical staff this very technology can save lives and get a lot of people out of their pain and misery.