Healthcare service evolution towards the Internet of Things: an end-user perspective

For the last two decades the Internet of Things (IoT) has been a subject of growing global interest. Particularly dynamic industries such as the healthcare service sector have just begun to understand the benefits of the IoT for the provision of a new, more advanced type of services. However, whilst the healthcare service industry is yet to fully grasp the benefits of information systems for its practitioners and managers, and for patients and families, there is a need for a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated to IoT-based healthcare systems as another disruptive wave of technologies. In particular, research on the relevance of users’ skills for adoption of IoT-based healthcare services has been limited. Using the current Internet-based healthcare service landscape as a platform for the formulation and testing of its hypotheses, this paper explores the relationship between patients’ capabilities for effective use of information and communication technologies and the success of IoT-based healthcare services. The resulting theoretical model for effective use of information and communication technologies and the success of IoT-based healthcare services was then validated. The validation was based on data collected from a randomly selected sample of 256 users of Internet-based healthcare services provided by the public healthcare system of the Region of Murcia in Spain. The findings of this research inform future strategies for the implementation of new generations of health and well-being services based on IoT technologies.