Time to embrace the Internet of Things

We have reached a future where patients don’t always have to visit doctors, and where diagnosis can be made ‘virtually’ using data from wearable technology or sensor-based medical devices. This is a future – and some of it is already here now – where devices can be controlled remotely, and new medicines are only ordered when needed, and in this future, when you do have to go into hospital, you will do so safe in the knowledge that you will get the best possible experience. Facilities are prepared and preset to your medical needs – everything from wards to operating theatres tailored to your individual requirements autonomously.

It’s a future which is incredibly efficient, and where patients are receiving the best healthcare, every time. In short, this is a future where people, devices, and buildings, work in symbiosis to achieve the best possible outcomes for everyone. For many, this might seem like a vision for healthcare that is at best a long, long way off or, at worst, simply never achievable. The optimist in me could never agree with the latter, but I agree that the picture I have painted could be perceived by some as science fiction. The thing with science fiction, of course, is that it often has a habit of becoming science fact. Things that would have seemed unimaginable a generation ago are today everyday items. The smartphones each of us carry today are infinitely more powerful than the average desktop computer of 10 years ago. A device that was originally intended to make phone calls now dominates our lives – from finance, travel, and leisure, to fitness, diet, and sleep. This list could go on. Sophisticated software, in-built sensors, and connectivity with the internet, have revolutionized how we have come to rely upon the technology, and it is this same combination of technology that many believe is set to create the same revolution with the Internet of Things (IoT).  

What exactly is the Internet of Things?