Internet of Things A to Z

16The Internet of Things and People in Health Care

Nancy L. Russo and Jeanette Eriksson

Department of Computer Science and Media Technology, Internet of Things and People (IoTaP) Research Center, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

16.1 Introduction

Technology has long been viewed as a means of improving health care delivery, ranging from the ability to store and access digital health records to more complex applications such as using artificial intelligence to diagnose disease or using robots to perform surgery. Technology can help overcome limitations in resources (financial and personnel), can reach patients living long distances from health care specialists, and can help communities deal with aging populations. Both the United Nations and the World Health Organization have identified the need and potential for technology to support the delivery of health care services to underserved populations (UN, 2010; WHO, 2010). The ability to capture, store, analyze, and disseminate health information using technology can reduce the human resources needed to manage this process and improve the accuracy of the data. The ability to perform rapid analysis on this health data can ensure that scarce health care resources are allocated where needed most urgently. In remote, rural areas of many parts of the world, health care providers and services are often not available locally, requiring patients to travel long distances to obtain care. Technology, such as mobile device-based videoconferencing, ...