NIndustry 4.0 Technologies in Maternal Healthcare: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Industry 4.0 technologies have revolutionized how care is provided to patients and how operations in hospitals are conducted. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.1 aims to ensure access to healthcare facilities and a reduction in the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births. This paper investigates the state of the art in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in maternal healthcare: how they are transforming methods of treatment, diagnosis and monitoring of pregnancy, and how they are reorganizing the management and organization of healthcare systems. A systematic literature review was carried out with 43 papers that met specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was found that most of the research focus is on the provision of solutions for low- to medium-income countries that are still lagging behind in reducing maternal and child mortality rates even though there has been an advancement in terms of Industry 4.0 technology use. The research was largely quantitative in nature with models and frameworks developed as opposed to prototypes. It mainly combined the Internet of things (IoT) with Cloud computing and Big data analytics (BDA). Artificial intelligence (AI) in maternal healthcare was similarly trending. Only one paper focused on the use of blockchain in facilitating health information exchange of maternal records. Recommendations for policy and a future research agenda are made.