Over the last few years, not only have we had to deal with a pandemic, but we have also witnessed a steady increase of chronic diseases, which, combined, have pushed health practitioners and hospitals to their limits. The traditional doctor-centred health management model seems to struggle to adequately deal with the growing number of patients and diseases worldwide. 

Smart healthcare uses the newest information technologies, like the Internet of Things (loT), cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, in order to disrupt the traditional medical system with more convenient, more personalised and more efficient healthcare. We are not talking about a simple technological advancement. Smart Healthcare is a multi-level, all-round transformation embodied in the following:

• from a disease-centred care to a patient-centred care;
• from a clinical informatization to a regional medical informatization;
• from a general medical management to a more personalised one; 
• from practices focused on disease treatment to more preventive healthcare.

A smart healthcare approach, more patient-centred, gives people access to real-time self-monitoring tools, with immediate feedback of health data, and timely intervention of medical professionals in case of emergencies. These changes reflect the future development direction of modern medicine, focused on meeting the different needs of individuals while improving medical care efficiency and service experience.

Smart Health Management

A smart health monitoring system developed using Internet of Things (IoT) technology is able to monitor heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen level, and temperature. People can use wearable devices to have their health under control at all times and to seek medical assistance, while doctors can monitor their patients from a cloud platform, having access to a variety of tools used to improve diagnosis and to better manage medical information.

1. IoT wearable/implantable devices combine advanced sensors and wireless modules to continuously monitor various physiological indicators, while reducing power consumption, and allowing the information to be integrated with health data from other channels.

2. Smart homes are special apartments or houses with sensors to offer home assistance to the disabled and the elderly. The sensors are integrated into the infrastructure and are designed to monitor the residents’ environment and health, so as to decrease  their reliance on health care professionals, and to improve their safety and quality of life at home.

3. Smart hospitals rely on information technology-based environments to improve patient care procedures and provide better services. IoT devices are used to optimise and automatise processes for medical staff, patients, and administrators. They can be employed to identify and monitor patients in hospitals, to manage medical staff, and to track instruments and biological specimens. Smart healthcare is also used in the pharmaceutical industry for inventory management, drug production, anti-counterfeiting, and other processes.

LoRa Technology’s low cost, low power and reliable performance make it perfect for smart healthcare applications. IoT solutions integrated with LoRa®-based sensors and gateways are able to monitor high-risk patients at all times, ensuring medical and health safety are never overlooked.

Connected to a Cloud-platform system, LoRa-based applications provide the following features:

• LoRaWAN-based connectivity with deep signal penetration and long range transmission 
• Low power consumption
• Reliable and consistent 24/7 remote management
• Real-time reporting, reducing the need for physical inspection and boosting management efficiency

Move-X offers LoRa-based solutions to connect systems and provide optimised and effective healthcare in every community.  We live in a world where, in order to survive, we need to have a less selfish and more community-based approach. People, technicians and professionals from different fields, with different skills, need to work together to find solutions to urgent problems that affect our humankind. It is time to join our efforts in order to leverage technological progress to improve our health, safety and quality of life, for ourselves and for the generations yet to come.