While E-health is based on networked I-C-T devices of the humans, operated by the humans for human healthcare and wellness, IOMT is a network of the ‘smart-devices’, operated by the devices for human healthcare and wellness. An estimated 160 million smart medical devices are expected to be connected in 2020. This number will increase exponentially. We need to be prepared for the disruptive influence of IOMT on the present-day healthcare paradigm. A major concern is the sheer magnitude of digital healthcare data generated by IOMT. Are we creating a "Digital Black hole" is a question for deep introspection.

1. 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

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

3. IOMT will subsume All These E-Health
technologies

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. Implantable Sensors for IOMT

8. Smartphone ECG transmission

10. Smart e-bottles and e-pouches

12. Wellness and Lifestyle Monitoring

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

14. Remote Monitoring

16. 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

17. 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

18. Concerns & Challenges

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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 !