Hospitals using Internet of Things to improve the medical facilities, manage patient information better

BANGALORE: It is easy to believe that the Internet of Things—where everything from ovens to watches are connected to the internet—is just another means for the good life with no meaningful impact on real problems.

News stories on toasters that talk to other devices in the kitchen or the basketball that automatically tells the home entertainment setup to start playing relevant content after being bounced have not helped change the perspective.

But Indian hospital chains are now using IoT to improve the quality of healthcare they give to their patients and make their lives better. For instance, Bangalore-based Manipal Hospitals gives pregnant mothers a wearable device which when paired with a mobile phone app gives real-time information on fetal heart rate and other key data to the doctor who can access it remotely on a tablet or phone.

“This device kept me and my daughter very calm when she was going through her last stages of her pregnancy. From timely assessment to the constant medical attention, it really helped us a lot,” said Deepali, mother of a patient.

Also, because of the live monitoring offered by the device frequent visits to the clinic can be done away with by the patient, who is charged anywhere between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500.

Internally, Manipal has deployed a central nursing station, which gives nurses a central view of all the patients and provides live monitoring of patient’s vital health statistics. The system also helps in patient registration and printing reports, among other things.

“A deeper understanding of patient behaviour is one of the keys to improving health, especially in managing chronic conditions that are primarily driven by leading an unhealthy lifestyle,” said Nandkishor Dhomne, chief information officer of Manipal Hospitals.

“These wearable devices can transmit the data using smartphone apps to the core hospital information system and automated tools can quickly highlight any anomalies so that doctors can initiate early interventions.”

Similarly, Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals is connecting most of its medical equipment to its information systems so that all devices can be connected to the larger network. These networks, in turn, are connected to a monitoring station.

“Staying connected with our patients is the most obvious benefit – irrespective of the care setting,” said Sangita Reddy, executive director of Apollo Hospitals Group. “We clearly understand that the use of disruptive technologies involves change management with all stake holders—the patients, the family members, the doctors and the health system.”

The hospital chain is aggressively pushing Internet of Things to enable mobile access of patient records for doctors. Doctors can access radiology and CT scan reports even on the move through tablets or mobile phones and provide suggestions to the care teams. “We have also created a ‘Unique Hospital Identification’ initiative to help patients across the country have a single instance of their health records or ensuring patients’ test results reach doctors in the least possible time by leveraging the power of the Internet of Things,” Reddy said