Internet of
Medical
Things (IoMT)
Dr KR Sethuraman MD PGDHE FICA
Dean and Senior Professor of Medicine
AIMST University
NB: All the images shown are available through internet; the
respective originators are thankfully acknowledged for
permitting non-commercial use of their creations

E-health to M-health to IOMT Time-Line ( Red is My timeline )

IOMT will subsume All These E-Health
technologies

Internet of Things (IOT)
(Coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999)
• “Computers and Internet are dependent on human
beings for information.
• The problem is, people have limited, time, attention
and accuracy—all of which means
• they are not very good at capturing data about
things in the real world.”
• The solution is empowering devices to gather
accurate. reliable and timely information on their
own – Internet of Things, not of Humans. (Ashton K,
2009)
Kevin Ashton, www.rfidjournal.com June 22, 2009

IOMT progress is due to – 1
• Advances in sensor and connectivity technology
allow devices to collect, record and analyze data
that was not accessible before.
• In healthcare, Sensors can collect and transmit
patient data over time
• to help enable preventive care,
• allow early recognition of any complications
• monitor how a therapy helps improve a patient’s
parameters.

IOMT progress is due to – 2
• Ability of devices to gather data on their own
removes the limitations of human-entered data
• automatically obtaining the data doctors need, at the
time and in the way they need it.
• The automation reduces the risk of error.
• Fewer errors can mean increased efficiency, lower
costs and improvements in quality.
• A vital need in healthcare, where human error can
result in morbidity and mortality.
David Niewolny, How the Internet of Things Is Revolutionizing Healthcare.
https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/white-paper/IOTREVHEALCARWP.pdf

Implantable Sensors for IOMT

Smartphone ECG transmission

Smart e-bottles and e-pouches

Wellness and Lifestyle Monitoring

“Medical Smartphone”
• Stethoscope
• Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• Electroencephalogram (EEG)
• The otoscope
• The ophthalmoscope
• Imaging (USG/Echo)
• Patient monitoring
• Communication aid with
device manufacturers

Remote Monitoring

The 4-Layered IOMT Healthcare Model
Application of Internet of Things in the Field of Medical and Smart Health Care http://www.ijircce.com/upload/2017/may/3_Application.pdf

IOMT Can Help Us to Achieve –
• True patient-orientation
• “seamless info gathering for seamless care”
• Quality in care delivery, viz.,
• give the right treatment to the right patient,
• at the right time and in the right place,
• regularly and reliably.
• We have not been able to do it till now using only
traditional paper-based records and communication

Concerns & Challenges

Healthcare industry concerns
• Cybersecurity when using IoT devices
• How to use big-data collected from IoT devices
• Value of healthcare IoT devices resides in data
collection and Utilisation (DIKW progression)
• DATA –> INFORMATION –> KNOWLEDGE –> WISDOM
• Hospital IT struggles to manage IoT medical
devices
• Connectivity and seamless flow of information-action
A guide to healthcare IoT possibilities and obstacles.
https://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/essentialguide/A-guide-to-healthcare-IoT-possibilities-and-obstacles

Concerns & Challenges…
Are we creating a “Digital Black hole”? (KRS, 2019)
7 Billion People with 1 peta-byte of data each = 7 billion PB
or 7 Quadrillion GB of Data (7,000,000,000,000,000 GB)
This will truly be mind-boggling and may put even our super-
computing power under a great strain.

From being a “Google Doc” to a
“Smartphone Quack”
• patients might take too
much medical care into
their own hands,
• close provider-patient
interaction is needed to
use the Smartphone
device without harm to
self or others

Wrap-up: “5 Drivers IOMT”
• Mobile ‘smart’ technology
• Engaged patients and pro-active providers
• Increasing awareness of the value of digital health
• Demand for “Value-based medicine”
• Industries are embracing digital healthcare
technology
• Apprx 14 billion connected devices in IOT and 160
million medical devices in 2020 in IoMT
https://medium.com/mobile-lifestyle/rise-of-digital-healthcare-5-drivers-55f949078afc

Summing Up…
• E-health is based on networked I-C-T devices
of the humans, operated
by the humans
for human healthcare and wellness
• Internet of Medical Things is the network
of the ‘smart-devices’, operated
by the devices
for human healthcare and wellness

I believe –
“What electric motor has done to enhance human
muscle power in 20th C, the “Chip” will do for
human brain power in 21st C”
– KRS, (1987 at Doctor-Computer Forum, JIPMER, Pondicherry, India)
Thank You All !