University Students' Understanding & Perception Toward Medical IoT and its Associated Factors: A Cross Sectional Study (Preprint)

Abstract

With increasing coverage of wireless high-speed networks, the internet of things (IoT) is becoming increasingly relevant in many sectors, including healthcare. While current medical IoT is often restricted to inpatient care and specific populations with access to devices, there is potential for further integration into medical services. The support and understanding of medical IoT by healthcare providers and users may influence the extent of medical IoT utilization in healthcare and its associated benefits.

The aim of this paper was to assess the understanding and perception of medical IoT by healthcare and non-healthcare undergraduate students, and to compare any differences between these two populations. The secondary objective was to look for association among demographics, understanding of medical IoT, and perceptions of medical IoT. We also identified factors that contributed to the perception of medical IoT usage by undergraduate students from programs under different faculties.

This exploratory cross-sectional study recruited 206 undergraduate students from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) to complete a 3-part online questionnaire developed by the researchers. Data on basic demographics, understanding of medical IoT, external factors affecting usage of medical IoT, and perception of medical IoT were collected and analyzed using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression on SPSS.

206 students were between the age of 18 to 25 years with more than half enrolled in a healthcare-related program under HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. Compared with other undergraduate students (18.2%), more healthcare (45.0%) students had heard of medical IoT (P<.001). Overall, healthcare students were found to have a better understanding of medical IoT when compared with non-healthcare students (P=.03). While both groups showed an overall positive perception towards using medical IoT, healthcare students were relatively less positive in their perception in two items related to medical IoT companies’ usage of consumer’s data without consent and the causation of pressure and anxiety by medical IoT usage.

Despite having a better understanding of medical IoT, healthcare students had a similar overall positive perception as other undergraduate students towards medical IoT usage. Our study results suggest that simultaneous improvement of medical IoT functions and user experience as well as integration of medical IoT discussion and education in the undergraduate curriculum is needed. Such comprehensive efforts can help to support future healthcare providers in adapting to new technologies and users in making better informed decisions.