The possible application of the internet of things to improve clinical research in South Africa

Abstract

Clinical trials are research studies that (amongst other things) explore whether a medical strategy, treatment, or device is safe and effective for humans. Clinical trials are conducted all over the world –including in South Africa- and they form the basis from which drugs and solutions to health problems are discovered. During clinical trials, human subjects are monitored and data is collected and analysed to reach conclusions that leads to possible solutions to the problem being examined. The internet of everything, commonly just referred to as the internet of Things provides opportunity to connect everything to the internet. This includes the people, devices and everything that may be needed in a clinical research. The prospect of using the Internet of Things in clinical trials conducted in South Africa seem to be highly beneficial and it is very worthwhile to know if the South African Clinical trial industry is ready for such a revolutionary approach. The findings of this study strongly suggests that provided fears- such as fears of losing jobs to an efficient technology are allayed, most stakeholders in the clinical trial industry will be very happy to make use of the Internet of things while conducting clinical trials. Although there is a big room for improvement, the facilities and infrastructures available in South Africa should be sufficient to start taking advantage of the Internet of things but it is not certain whether the legal framework in existence will be enough to cater for the use of the Internet of things.