Abstract
The arrival of internet of things (IoT) is a new revolution in the information and communication technologies. It added several new dimensions to the new and existing platforms of ICTs. It has improved the quality of our modern living by several new and smart technologies and their value-added applications. Applying the new emerging technologies in emergency medical services could offer better services to human lives during the emergency conditions. This chapter provides an overview of utilizing the IoT in the field of emergency medicine. IoT has tremendous potential to transform how the healthcare providers interact with patients. In order to achieve this, the healthcare sectors need widespread adoption and implementation of IoT. Healthcare sector is huge when compared with other IoT-enabled sectors. Therefore, the widespread deployment of IoT needs an effective version of IoT which is economical and does not pose any risk to the patients. Both these criteria can be met by the lighter and simpler version of IoT known as narrowband IoT (NBIoT). It is suitable due to its low power wide area (LPWA) coverage capabilities. In this chapter, the authors review the network architectures, applications, and trends of NBIoT in the modern healthcare. They further discuss how different wearable devices with coordinated smart sensors can improve emergency monitoring of patients for improved services in out-hospital and in-hospital scenarios. Finally, they give an account of advantages and disadvantages NBIoT in the emergency medical applications.
TopSection 2 - Literature Review
Medical emergency in an important area of research and several works have been done since long past. There are several technologies being applied to the emergency conditions in healthcare. Thus it is a well researched area in medicine and a lot of literatures are available on it. However, the IoT is not very old and the applications of IoTs have started only since 2010. Narrowband IoT is even newer when compared with other early versions. NBIoT got standardized in 2014 and its applications were started in 2014. Applications of NBIoT in healthcare started only after 2014. Now of course several applications have been tested over NBIoT and implemented. In emergency medicine the applications of NBIoT are as old as NBIoT itself. In this section, we analyze the main literatures available on the NBIoT applications for emergency medicine.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Emergency Services Using NBIoT: NBIoT can be used for healthcare services due to their suitability to the medical needs. The NBIoT specially designed for emergency services are essential for handling the complications of emergency services.
Internet of Things: It is the interconnection of objects with the Internet. It can be considered as an extension of the Internet in which the objects connected are not computers.
Emergency Services in Medicine: Several services are needed to provide emergency services in the hospitals and healthcare institutes. These services are collectively known as emergency services in medicine.
Narrowband IoT (NBIoT): It is a special form of IoT which uses narrow bandwidths for its operation. It also uses low power and simpler than other forms of IoTs.
IoT for Emergency Medicine: The specially designed IoT used for the provision of emergency services in hospitals and other healthcare providing organizations.