The Role of Testing in IoMT Success
Digital technology has arguably touched every aspect of our lives, including healthcare. It has the ability to improve the reach of medical services to disadvantaged sections of people in remote locations at a reduced cost. The only technology that can make it all happen is the Internet of Things (IoT), in which data is shared between devices with built-in sensors.
IoT has made its presence felt in areas such as driverless cars, smart homes, and wearable devices, among others. In fact, it has the potential to revolutionize the health sector through its variant: Internet of Medical Things or IoMT. Medical devices connected to the IoMT can aid in diagnosis, reporting, inventory management, communication, and better patient monitoring, among others, as long as the devices or the software system within them are subjected to rigorous testing of medical devices.
What is IoMT and how can it help?
Known as the Internet of Medical Things, IoMT is a connected ecosystem consisting of sensor-based tools, software applications, medical devices, IT systems, and services. Connected medical devices in the ecosystem can generate, collect, analyze, and transmit health-related data or images to healthcare provider networks. IoMT helps streamline workflow in any medical facility, leading to better patient care, both remotely and internally. Plus, you can transform the entire healthcare industry by monitoring, reporting, and notifying healthcare providers and caregivers with data to diagnose health issues. The growing number of connected medical devices to the tune of 3.7 million is a testament to their increasing use. According to Allied Market Research, the IoMT market is expected to reach $ 136.8 billion globally by 2021.
Since medical devices have a direct impact on the health of the patient, they must function optimally and according to the desired objectives. In addition, they must be protected from the increasing incidence of cyber threats and malfunctions. It’s no wonder that the global healthcare cybersecurity market will exceed $ 27 billion by 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen increased use of IoMT devices for remote patient diagnosis. However, since they are connected to cellular or WiFi networks in patients’ homes, the inherent vulnerabilities in the software systems within them make them prone to hacking. This highlights the critical role of medical device testing.
Why is healthcare software testing so important?
The increasing use of IoMT provides physicians with the means to diagnose and treat patients who are found remotely. Furthermore, over time, healthcare facilities such as hospitals will rely heavily on such devices for patient monitoring and care management, inventory management, and decision making. Since the stakes are high, the role of medical device testing specialists cannot be ignored. By performing a series of trial exercises, you can take advantage of the benefits mentioned below:
Proactive health care: By 2025, the world’s elderly population is expected to reach 1.2 billion thanks to increased life expectancy. And since the elderly population is more vulnerable to health problems, the associated costs will also increase. This is where IoMT can reach the elderly and address their health concerns by tracking vital parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, glucose level, sleep levels, and others. In addition, the elderly often forget to take their prescription drugs on time, a serious problem that can be remedied through the use of IoMT devices. These devices can remind these patients and document when they need to take their medications. In addition, portable diagnostic devices with built-in sensors can ensure the performance of blood and urine tests for the elderly, followed by analysis (and reporting) of the results of those tests. Therefore, IoMT devices can collect vital data from patients and transmit it to physicians for rapid diagnosis and better practical treatment. Ultimately, the success of this proactive health care relies on the performance of health testing services.
Telemedicine: With better connectivity, IoMT devices can be seamlessly combined with telemedicine to offer better diagnosis and treatment to patients living in remote areas. Devices connected to patients can transmit vital data to physicians operating on a telemedicine platform and allow the latter to prescribe treatment. However, it is only through functional testing of medical devices that telemedicine as a delivery platform can function optimally.
Conclution
IoMT devices can collect, analyze and report vital patient data in real time and enable stakeholders such as physicians, paramedics and laboratory assistants to gain data-driven insights from healthcare analytics. Ultimately, this can speed up decision-making and help patients access quality care regardless of where they stay. And to ensure that all tendons in this IoMT ecosystem meet desired goals, performance testing on medical devices should become the norm.