Internet of Things (IoT)
Digital Health and AI
Definition. The Internet of Things is a network of physical devices with sensors and connectivity that collect and exchange data without direct human input.
Explanation
Atzori, Iera and Morabito (2010) describe the IoT as the convergence of sensing, identification, communication and middleware. In health care the term Internet of Medical Things is used for connected monitors, wearables, smart pumps and remote monitoring devices.
Connected devices support remote patient monitoring, tracking of equipment and patients in hospitals and early warning of deterioration. Islam et al. (2015) point out that the same connectivity raises security, privacy and interoperability problems, because many devices have limited computing power and long service lives.
Related concepts
Telehealth Interoperability Cybersecurity Digital transformation
Read on The Health Topics
- Industry 4.0 and Health: Revolutionizing Healthcare
- Digital Technology in Healthcare: Efficacy and Pitfalls
- Digital Twins in Healthcare:The Technology That Wants to Clone You — Virtually
- Forecasting Methods in Health Management: Taxonomy, Methodological Evolution, Models, Metrics and an Evidence Gap Map
- Fog Computing for Healthcare 4.0: Opportunities and Challenges
- Artificial Intelligence Sovereignty in the Health Sector: A Systematic Review of the Multi-Layered Governance Geography Based on 118 Web of Science Publications
References
Atzori, L., Iera, A., & Morabito, G. (2010). The Internet of Things: A survey. Computer Networks, 54(15), 2787–2805.
Islam, S. M. R., Kwak, D., Kabir, M. H., Hossain, M., & Kwak, K.-S. (2015). The Internet of Things for health care: A comprehensive survey. IEEE Access, 3, 678–708.
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Internet of Things. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/internet-of-things/
Articles that discuss this concept
23 articles on The Health Topics use this concept; the 12 that use it most are listed. The list updates as new articles are published.
- Industry 4.0 and Health: Revolutionizing Healthcare 23
- Digital Technology in Healthcare: Efficacy and Pitfalls 12
- Digital Twins in Healthcare:The Technology That Wants to Clone You — Virtually 8
- Forecasting Methods in Health Management: Taxonomy, Methodological Evolution, Models, Metrics and an Evidence Gap Map 7
- Fog Computing for Healthcare 4.0: Opportunities and Challenges 4
- Cloud-Based Digital Twin Framework for Elderly Healthcare 4
- Human Factors in Health Informatics: Recent Advances 2
- Digital Healthcare: Progress and Applications 2
- Intelligent Health Systems: Leveraging Emerging Technologies 2
- AI in Oncology: Global Research Trends and Challenges 2
- Quality 4.0 awareness, challenges, readiness and core skills 2
- Visual Representation of Sociotechnical System Paradigms: A Critical Evaluation of the Scoping Review by Bogna et al. (2026) 2