Emerging Technologies for Healthcare. Группа авторов

      Most of the time when a new patient consults a doctor, it is difficult for the doctors to diagnose the diseases without proper testing. But if the historical data is available with the doctors, diagnosis of the chronic diseases becomes much easier. The data can be made available at multiple locations, wherein interoperability becomes much easier and patient care can be optimized. The historical data can also be used for medical research and development.

      1.7.6 Connected Contact Lens

      Eye is the most important part of human organ. Diagnosis of some of the diseases can be made through by observing the changes that occur in the eyes.

      Contact lens is commonly used nowadays for eye sight problems and for enhancing the appearance of the eyes. With IoT-based contact lens, it can do wonders for humans. It not only aids in enhancement of eye sight it also monitors the changes that occurs in the eyes which can lead to early diagnosis of diseases.

By monitoring the variations in the eye ball size, it can diagnose glaucoma at an early stage, any delay in detection of abnormalities may result in loss of eye sight.

      Even the eye medications can be directly administered to the eyes with the aid of contact lens which, in turn, gets rid of the inconvenience of administering the eye drops.

      In future, such technologies will add new dimensions to the eyecare system.

      1.7.7 Hearing Aid

      Hearing aid has been used by many people around the world who have hearing issues and wants to enhance hearing. But due to the invention of IoT devices, hearing aids became smarter. It not only aids in hearing but also assist in other activities too.

      People even can hear their door bells ringing from a far place if it is connected by IoT devices. It can detect smoke if the smoke sensor is attached to it. These devices can filter out the noise effectively so people can enjoy music or personal conversations in a noisy environment without any disturbances. Also, several conversations can be listened simultaneously.

      1.7.8 Coagulation of Blood

      Clotting of blood plays a very important role in human body. To avoid serious medical conditions which may result in strokes, regular monitoring of blood clot level is essential.

      With IoT-enabled devices, it is possible to monitor the blood clot level on a regular basis. With the regular monitoring of clot levels, bleeding in the brain, strokes, heart attacks, etc., can be minimized by seeking medical attention at the right time. This can avoid unnecessary medications, hospital admissions, surgeries, etc., which, in turn, can save the medical expenses.

      This IoT devices for monitoring blood clot level helps the anticoagulated blood patients to lead a normal life as the devices alert them to check the blood clot levels.

      1.7.9 Depression Detection

      Depression is one of the common health conditions faced by the current generation individuals. With the advent of smart devices like wearable smart watches, it is easy to track depression levels. These smart devices monitor the depression levels and provides suggestions about the type of treatments available.

As the data is continuously monitored by the connected devices, it will be available for reference to the mental healthcare professionals. Psychiatrists or psychologists can study about the mental conditions of the patients by observing their historical data of depression levels and can provide right treatments.

      With the invention of such smart devices, depression can be easily treated by studying the sleep patterns and depression levels of the patients.

      1.7.10 Detection of Cancer

      Early detection of cancer is very important to save the life of an individual. Due to the advancement in technology, sensors are attached to the connected wearable devices which can sense any abnormalities in the cell.

      The most common and dangerous cancers seen among women is breast cancer, and if it is not detected at an early stage, it leads to fatal condition.

      With the advancement in new technologies, sensor-enabled bras are developed which makes use of Artificial Intelligence which, when worn, can detect abnormalities in breast tissues. These bras need not be worn throughout for detection; women can wear this bra for 2 to 12 hours per month. This wearable sensor embedded cloth does not produce any radiations or side effects. This can detect breast cancers at an early stage so that the treatment can start at an early stage for which complete cure is possible.

      These wearable devices reduce the cancer risk among women and can reduce the treatment expenses as the doctors and patients will be alerted about the abnormalities in the tissues.

      1.7.11 Monitoring Parkinson Patient

      Parkinson is a health condition in which brain behaves abnormally which leads to difficulty in movement and coordination. Parkinson affects the central nervous system so the patients may feel stiffness and loss balance in movement.

      It is very important to monitor the Parkinson patients on real time. With IoT devices, regular monitoring of Parkinson’s patients is possible. Patients may suddenly face lack of movement which is very common in Parkinson disease called Freezing of Gait (FOG). This FOG stage can be detected by means of IoT devices and alerts can be given to doctors and patients. Even early detection of symptoms of this disease is also possible by the use of IoT devices.

      In future, such devices will help the Parkinson’s patients to lead a better life without risking their lives.

      1.7.12 Ingestible Sensors

      Sensors are embedded into the pills which can be ingested by the patients. These sensors will monitor whether the patient has taken prescribed medicines at the right time. If the medicines are not taken properly, it will be alerting through the connected devices.

      Most of the times patients does not follow doctor’s prescription, they either miss to take medicines on time or they may take overdose of the medicines. They may not follow the proper time gap for each medicine. All these issues may lead to serious medical conditions and result in expensive medical treatments.

      These situations can be avoided by ingestible sensors which regularly monitors the patients and alerts them to take medicines on time. Taking care of the patients also becomes much easier with the support of such smart devices.

      1.7.13 Surgery by Robotic Devices

      Robotic surgeries are becoming common nowadays, owing to the precision, it gives compared to the normal surgeries performed by the doctors.

      Robots connected to IoT devices can perform complex surgeries with more precision and control by the supervision of doctors. Doctors even can instruct robots to perform surgeries sitting at a remote location.

      This can save many lives as quick action is possible even at a remote location. Many of the surgeries lasts for hours to complete which is a tiresome job for the doctors. In such situation, robots can perform the surgeries with much better precision. Complicated surgeries can be done successfully with the help of robotic devices connected to IoTs. This gives new dimensions to the classical surgery procedures.

      1.7.14 Hand Sanitizing

      Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic situation, the awareness about the importance of hand hygiene is increased among the common public. Proper care should be taken to prevent the spread of diseases especially in healthcare facilities. IoT-enabled devices play a major role in maintaining the hygiene of healthcare workers and patients.

With sensor-enabled hand sanitizing machines, monitoring of hand hygiene becomes easier. The sensor sets a threshold