The internet of things in healthcare: An overview

Extensive research has been dedicated to the exploration of various technologies such as information technologies (IT) in complementing and strengthening existing healthcare services. In particular, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely applied to interconnect available medical resources and provide reliable, effective and smart healthcare service to the elderly and patients with a chronic illness. The aim of this paper is to summarize the applications of IoT in the healthcare industry and identify the intelligentization trend and directions of future research in this field. Based on a comprehensive literature review and the discussion of the achievements of the researchers, the advancement of IoT in healthcare systems have been examined from the perspectives of enabling technologies and methodologies, IoT-based smart devices and systems, and diverse applications of IoT in the healthcare industries. Finally, the challenges and prospects of the development of IoT based healthcare systems are discussed in detail.