A closer look at the arrival and benefits of the Internet of Medical Things

The Internet of Medical Things or IoMT is the health care equivalent of the Internet of Things. IoMT essentially refers to the interconnectedness of medical IT systems and devic-es, each one fitted with Wi-Fi capabilities to communicate with one another.

While there are many independent medical apps available to track patients’ health, IoMT allows for a more comprehensive way to gather medical data on patient history, from past operations and diagnoses to allergies. IoMT also makes it possible for healthcare workers and physicians to communicate remotely with patients and deal with emergencies in real time.

IoMT is a complex data system that benefits specialized doctors like cardiologists, who can work with now-common fitness wearables to check heart rate and blood sugar, moni-tor fitness routines and diets, and all in all best prevent heart-related diseases. This online checkup is especially helpful when it comes to managing chronic diseases like hy-pertension, diabetes, and cardiac failure. Even blood clot tests can now be done via Blue-tooth connectivity from patients’ smartphones, effectively decreasing the risk of bleeding and stroke.

Lastly, IoMT likewise allows doctors and scientists to work with complex analytics, send-ing and receiving health alerts, studying trends, and coming up with improved health so-lutions. Hospitals, medical manufacturers, and patients benefit from the remote nature of IoMT in that physical human presence is no longer a must for healthcare, as long as inter-net access is present.

Dr. Ian Weisberg is a Pensacola, Florida-based cardiac electrophysiology specialist subspecializing in General Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology. He was chosen as one of the first US Physicians to implant the Biotronik DX ICD. Read more on Dr. Weisberg and his work here.