IoT for Healthcare: Premises, Promises, and Challenges to Consider
One of the best marriages of this century has to be the one between technology and
various sectors of the economy. We have now started seeing the applications that
technology can have in different facets of our lives, and we cannot but say that it is
changing the way we (as consumers) approach services.
One of the sectors currently being massively disrupted by technology is healthcare –
and we cannot wait to see what further advancement brings to this sector. Of all the
various forms of technology employed in this industry, though, one stands out the
most for us – Internet of Things (IoT).
What is IoT?
Internet of Things is probably one of the most ingenious technological development
of this century. It works on the principle of taking everyday things and giving them
the ability to reach the internet so they can be remotely controlled, pre-programmed
and re-programmed at will.
IoT has also made monitoring in real-time, without being onsite, a reality – all
contributing to helping the healthcare sector gain even better insights into treating
and managing the health of patients.
How IoT is being applied
As of the time of this writing, connected devices in the medical industry are being
rolled out in the millions. It is even projected that the digital health market will reach
a stunning $536 billon cap by the year 2025. Of these, IoT will have a huge role to
play – afterall, we are expected to have no less than 20 billion connected devices
in the world by the year 2022.
If that is true, then there has to be some very important use cases for this technology
to have gained such serious traction.
IoT has made it possible for doctors to always keep an eye on their patients, even
when they are out of sight. Imagine a system attached to a patient which acts as a
sensor for important vitals, relaying such information back to a doctor in their office in
real time. This information can then be tracked and monitored by an artificial
intelligence (AI) system to check for irregular patterns, after which the doctor is
brought into the loop.
That alone has helped cut not only the workload of the doctor but their worries too.
They now don’t have to bother about making rounds all the time but can focus their
energies into more productive things for the general improvement of the healthcare
practice.
For the patients, there are far more important applications of IoT. Systems are now
being trained to dispense drugs as at when due, so patients never have to worry
about missing any other dosage. Insulin-injecting pumps, for example, are so
sophisticated that they can be remotely controlled to deliver a certain amount of the
synthesized hormone to the patient at scheduled intervals.
Perhaps the biggest importance of IoT for patients is in the preventive healthcare
aspect. The Apple Watch might not be a dedicated healthcare device, but that does
not make it any less of a connected device with some advanced engineering aimed
at health monitoring.
The unique build of the watch has done well for people in the past, and a most
recent case details the watch warning the wearer of an abnormal heart rate, even
though they felt fine.
True to the watch, the wearer might not have lasted the day if they hadn’t
immediately checked themselves in for treatment. Such an accurate diagnosis
without even seeing a doctor contributes to making IoT a must-have in this industry.
The cybersecurity concerns with IoT
As great as IoT is for healthcare, though, it comes with its own flaws.
The technology used for many IoT systems is based on old hardware. Besides that,
the fact that the companies behind them are always designing for the masses means
they will often sacrifice security for the sake of convenience. All of these combine to
make the units inherently unsafe if proper care is not taken.
Researchers have predicted that there would soon be a time in the future when
hackers will hold patients to ransom on the basis of their connected healthcare
system. Then, being threatened with a remote shutdown of a cardiac device or
manipulating an insulin pump machine to deliver irregular doses, among other
things, will become feasible.
The scary part of it all is that we don’t have to look too far into the future for these
fears to be realized. The future is here – and we are already seeing how vulnerable
these units can be. To that effect, a research team has been able to successfully
hijack an insulin pump system, as well as an active pacemaker.
While that does not spell doom for IoT in healthcare as a whole, it does raise the
question of what should be done for security.
Securing medical IoT devices
For one, resetting all default passwords for these devices and setting stronger ones
for them should be the first line of action.
Afterward, users should look out for updates to the device’s software and get them
regularly. More times than not, these updates are there to fix patches that could have
otherwise been exploited.
In the same vein, encrypting the network on which these devices are connected is a
must. Installing a VPN on your home or hospital router will help handle that.
However, stepping out of the reach of such a router may put you in jeopardy –
especially if you allow your connected devices to search out free Wi-Fi networks and
connect automatically.
Finally, make sure your medical IoT devices are not plugged in just anywhere. Only
plug them to trusted computers in your home and nowhere else.
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