The research could be successfully completed in the estimated timeframe and within the budget that was allocated to carry out the research activities. There are various outcomes that have been obtained as the results of the research work.
The research provided the use and application of the IoT technologies and devices for numerous stakeholders. The primary area of focus was the patients and the determination of the IoT devices for the patients could be done (Mavrogiorgou et al., 2019). One of the most significant applications of IoT for the patients and end-users is the wearable devices. There are numerous wearable devices, such as wearable bands and Smartwatches that have been developed. These bands and gadgets can be worn by the patients and the users to keep a track of their health signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate, pulse rate, etc. It is useful device as it provides the ability to self-monitor the health conditions. The IoT-based innovation is now being used by the people all across the globe. It could be determined that these wearable devices are causing positive impacts on the people. The easy tracking of the steps and the movements in a day enable the users to move around resulting in better health. The issues, such as obesity or muscular pains can be resolved with such movements. The IoT-based devices are also being used by the patients to be aware of their irregular health signs. The devices generate alerts that are assisting in the timely diagnosis (Alamri, 2018).
It could also be determined that the IoT devices are actively being used in the more severe health conditions. For example, the people suffering from cardiovascular diseases are using the IoT devices to monitor the heart rate and related signs. There are various sensors that are used in the IoT systems and these assist the patients and the medical professionals to effectively manage the health conditions. The assistive devices are being developed using the IoT devices. These assistive devices are of great importance for the elderly and the differently abled people. For example, people with Dementia can use the IoT-based assistive devices to help them in remembering the path to their respective homes while they go out for a walk. The family members are also assured of the patient safety. This leads to the boosting up of the morale of the patient as well (Inacio et al., 2020).
IoT devices are also being used in the hospitals and medical professionals for other purposes. There are different medical tools and equipment used in the hospitals. The installation of the IoT devices and sensors is done in such equipment for proper tracking. For example, the wheelchairs or oxygen pumps are frequently taken from one area of the hospital to the other as per the requirement. The use of IoT sensors can assist the medical staff to easily track the devices and utilize the same as per the need. The use of IoT-based health monitoring tools is assisting the medical professionals. There are certain health conditions that do not require the patients to repeatedly visit the hospital and medical centres. The medical professionals are obtaining the information from such tools and applications to advice the patients on the further medical steps and decisions.
The research provided the mechanism to understand the various benefits and applications of the IoT devices in the healthcare sector (Harsh, 2017). However, the exploration was also done to determine some of the challenges and issues that may be seen. The security and privacy concerns are identified as one of the primary issues. It could be determined that the IoT applications and devices are usually used with the other technologies, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, and others. Also, the IoT devices and systems that are used in the healthcare sector or any other industrial sector are composed of numerous components and elements. There are varied properties associated with these components and this leads to the emergence of numerous security vulnerabilities. Due to the presence of several security vulnerabilities, it becomes difficult to control the security and privacy attacks.
The private health information of the patients is extremely confidential and critical in nature. The use of IoT in the health sector offers a wide range of benefits; however, the exposure of the private health information of the patients can result in major obligations for the hospital or medical firms (Ahmed et al., 2018).
The research provided the ability to determine some of the control techniques and countermeasures that could be adopted so that the security and privacy concerns were avoided and mitigated. The use of lightweight Cryptography and advanced network security tools are determined as some of the techniques.
There are some other issues that are also determined with the use and implementation of IoT in health sector. The high costs of implementation and the technical compatibility and configuration issues are also witnessed.