Current situation and future trends of internet of things in healthcare: execution of the Delphi technique

Technological developments are taking place in the light of the data obtained as a result of scientific studies conducted to meet social needs and make people's lives easier. Technological developments, which started especially with the industrial revolution, are currently evident in many sectors such as finance, trade, production, agriculture, mining, etc. With the effect of technological developments, important innovations and transformations are also taking place in the health sector, which is focused on humans. The use of the "Internet of Things" (IoT) technology in the health sector comes first among these innovations. IoT technology has great potential in health services and is used to monitor the care and recovery process of patients, increase the efficiency of health services and reduce costs. It is thought that it would be useful to include experts from in different disciplines (engineering, law, economy, health) in order for the examinations and evaluations to be made regarding the use of the Internet of Things technology in health services to be multidimensional. The views of experts, who have studies in the field of Internet of Things technology, adressing the subject according to different fields of study regarding the present and future of technology, will contribute to the use and development of technology with fewer errors. xxvi The purpose of the research, in the light of expert opinions, is to describe the current status of the effects of the Internet of Things on the provision of health services, health service recipients and health professionals in the digital transformation process and to make predictions about its future effects. In line with this purpose, a multi-faceted examination of the use of Internet of Things technology in health services was conducted in the research. It is thought that the use of multi-faceted methods would be more useful in research aiming to examine and analyze social phenomena. This research, which aims to examine and analyze the present and future of the Internet of Things technology in healthcare services, was designed according to the mixed method in which qualitative and quantitative data are used together. In this research, the Delphi technique was used in the data collection process since it was aimed to determine the current status of the use of Internet of Things technology in health services and to reach a consensus on its possible effects in the future. The experts determined within the scope of the study were invited to participate in the Delphi panel. The study was carried out with 10 experts who accepted the invitation and volunteered. The data were collected with qualitative (interview form) and quantitative (questionnaire) data collection tools. The qualitative data were analyzed and interpreted by applying content analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed and interpreted using the SPSS program. In this research, which aims to create the current status and future perspectives regarding the use of the Internet of Things technology in healthcare services, opinions were obtained on various healthcare services such as the Internet of Things technology, repetition of examinations, contribution to research, emergency - rapid intervention, drug use, monitoring, reminder, time and cost, radiation effect, chronic disease monitoring, data comparison, data security and cyber attacks, technology dependency, big data, data evaluation, early, accurate and rapid diagnosis - treatment, patient monitoring, gaining control, personalized healthcare service and inequality in access to healthcare services. As a result of the research, it was determined that the use of the Internet of Things technology in healthcare services is rapidly developing and while it provides many benefits, it also carries some risks. Based on the research results, recommendations were presented to healthcare service providers, healthcare professionals, healthcare service recipients and policy makers.