Proposing an IoT-Based Healthcare Platform to Integrate Patients, Physicians and Ambulance Services

There is a global concern with the increasing number of patients at hospitals caused by population ageing and chronic diseases. Several studies indicated the need to minimize the process of hospitalization and the effects related to the high cost of patient care. In this context, a promising trend in healthcare is to move medical checks routines from a hospital (hospital-centric) to the patient's home (home-centric), but to make it possible we need Internet of Things (IoT)-based technologies and platforms to enable remote health monitoring. The application of IoT in healthcare area is a common hope because it will allow hospitals to operate more efficiently and patients to receive better treatment. With the use of IoT-based healthcare applications, there is an unprecedented opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency of the medical treatment and consequently improve patients' wellness, as well as a better application of the government's financial resources. Thus, based on this context, this paper aims to propose an IoT-based healthcare platform for the remote monitoring of patients in critical condition. It involves embedding sensors and actuators in patients, physicians, clinical staff, medical equipment and physical spaces in order to monitor, track and alert.