Digital Technologies In Healthcare Research Articles

"Is the Future of Public Health after Covid-19 Becoming Digital? Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the Italian National Health System: A Special Case Study"

The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic represented a turning point in many health sectors worldwide, particularly in Italy, one of the nations most affected by COVID-19. There is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated the spread of digital technologies in health care.

Digital competencies for Singapore’s national medical school curriculum: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that national-level initiatives to equip medical students with relevant digital competencies carry many benefits. Yet, few countries have outlined such competencies for clinical practice in the core medical school curriculum. This paper identifies current training gaps at the national level in digital competencies needed by students in the formal curricula of all three medical schools in Singapore from the perspectives of clinical educators and institutional leaders. It bears implications for countries that intend to implement standardized learning objectives for training in these digital competencies. Findings were drawn from in-depth interviews with 19 clinical educators and leaders of local medical schools. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were interpreted using qualitative thematic analysis. Thirteen of the participants were clinical educators while 6 were deans or vice deans of education from one of the three medical schools in Singapore. While the schools have introduced some relevant courses, they are not standardized nationally. Moreover, the school’s niche areas have not been leveraged upon for training in digital competencies. Participants across all schools acknowledged that more formal training is needed in digital health, data management, and applying the principles of digital technologies. Participants also noted that the healthcare needs of the population, patient safety, and safe procedures in the utilization of digital healthcare technologies should be prioritized when determining the competencies needed by students. Additionally, participants highlighted the need for stronger collaboration among medical schools, and for a stronger link between current curriculum and clinical practice. The findings highlighted the need for better collaboration among medical schools in the sharing of educational resources and expertise. Furthermore, stronger collaborations with professional bodies and the healthcare system should be established to ensure that the goals and outcomes of medical education and the healthcare system are aligned.

From Privacy-Enhancing to Health Data Utilisation: The Traces of Anonymisation and Pseudonymisation in EU Data Protection Law

The proliferation of digital technologies in healthcare creates two conflicting needs: protection of health data and the free flow of such data. Anonymisation and pseudonymisation hold the potential to play important roles in reconciling these two conflicting needs by enabling the processing of health data in a less privacy-intrusive manner. Taking a forward-looking perspective, this paper aims to contribute to the scholarly debate around anonymisation and pseudonymisation by extending the discussion to the contexts of forthcoming EU data laws, with a focus on the draft European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation. It does so by digging into the past, present and future of anonymisation and pseudonymisation in EU data laws. Starting with a positivist enquiry, the paper investigates the traces and evolution of anonymisation and pseudonymisation in EU data protection instruments from both before and after the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation. It then shifts focus to future EU data laws and examines the roles of anonymisation and pseudonymisation in these instruments, including the draft EHDS Regulation, the newly adopted EU Data Governance Act and the draft EU Data Act. Ultimately, the paper makes preliminary remarks and recommendations on the draft EHDS Regulation and questions to what extent its current incorporation of anonymisation and pseudonymisation can be reconciled with the health data sharing arrangements proposed in this Regulation.

The attitude of the patients of a multidisciplinary hospital to the processes of digitalization in modern healthcare: A cross-sectional continuous study

BACKGROUND: This article is devoted to the impact of the digitalization of modern healthcare on the nature of relationships between a doctor and a patient.
 AIM: To assess the level of readiness of the patients in the city hospital for the introduction of digital technologies in the system of providing medical services.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was based on the results of a questionnaire survey of 154 patients in city hospitals in JulyAugust 2022 in Nizhny Novgorod. The survey questions included studying the use by modern day patients of various methods of digital communication with medical workers, the impact of the availability of medical information on the internet on the level of patients trust on a doctor, and patients opinions about the prospects for solving problems of modern healthcare through digitalization.
 RESULTS: The results of the survey revealed that 104 (67.5%) patients do not use digital communications, and 94 (61%) have no intention of using them. Among the prospects for the use of digital technologies in healthcare, the most popular for respondents were getting referrals for medical services (n=83, 53.9%), a prescription (n=57, 37%), and documents certifying temporary disability (n=43, 27, 9%). Only 8 (5.2%) respondents systematically check the diagnoses and prescriptions received from the attending physician on the internet and 25 (16.2%) do this from time to time. Only 2 (1.3%) respondents stated that they have a priority level of trust in recommendations from internet sources, and the rest of the patients trust their real attending physicians more.
 CONCLUSION: A modern patient seeks to receive medical care in real contact with a doctor, considering digital technologies mainly as a tool that addresses formal issues that arise when visiting medical organizations.

The challenges of digital transformation in healthcare: An interdisciplinary literature review, framework, and future research agenda

Digital transformation in healthcare is a strategic field for both scholars and practitioners. In this study, we attempted to analyze the current state of the art about the pervasive role of digital technologies in healthcare and to identify how the COVID-19 pandemic forced all the systems to disruptively adopt novel digital technologies, which affected both management and business sides. To elucidate the role of digital technologies in healthcare, we performed a structured literature review about the state of the art of digital transformation in healthcare to identify how the healthcare sector is undergoing a renaissance due to the pandemic. Our findings show that future research falls into three promising areas: (a) digital health care services enabled by digital technologies, (b) stakeholders' engagement through digital technologies for health care services, and (c) value impact generated by the digital transformation for healthcare stakeholders. We link these areas together, showing how the different digital technologies (smart health technologies, data-enabled and data collection technologies, Industry 4.0 tools and technologies, cognitive technologies, and drug & disease technologies) lead to the provisions of digital services, operational efficiencies, and value creation in the healthcare system. We conclude the article by suggesting various directions for future research and implications for management and practice.

Acceptance of Digital Sports: A Study Showing the Rising Acceptance of Digital Health Activities

Digital sports and health activities are rapidly gaining acceptance as viable alternatives to traditional physical activities. With the widespread adoption of digital technologies, people are turning to digital sports and health activities to maintain their physical fitness and well-being. This abstract explores the rising acceptance of digital health activities, particularly in the field of sports. The study highlights the various digital health activities available to consumers, such as fitness tracking apps, virtual coaching, and online exercise classes. The study reviews the benefits of digital health activities, such as increased accessibility, flexibility, and personalization. The study examines the factors that influence the acceptance of digital health activities, such as ease of use, perceived usefulness, and social influence. The study also discusses the challenges of implementing digital health activities, such as data privacy and security concerns, and the need for adequate technological infrastructure. The study concludes that the rising acceptance of digital health activities in the field of sports is indicative of a broader trend towards the adoption of digital technologies in healthcare. As the technology continues to advance, digital health activities are poised to play an increasingly important role in healthcare, providing accessible and personalized solutions to promote physical fitness and well-being.

Digital Healthcare Technologies in a Comparative Perspective: The Case of Taiwan and Sweden

In discussing the potential benefits and drawbacks of healthcare technologies, questions arise within a social perspective as to what digital healthcare technologies have to offer. Objective: To analyze the symbolic interaction framework to understand the implementation of digital healthcare technologies and the resulting interaction with medical doctors. Methods: Interviews were conducted with eight doctors; five Taiwanese and three Swedish doctors were participated. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from the participants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and data analysis guided by symbolic interaction theory. Results: Four themes were identified from the interviews: 1) Interpreting digital healthcare technologies, 2) Interaction with digital healthcare technologies, 3) Digital dilemma and (4) Future of digital culture. Conclusions: The results reveal many issues regarding digital healthcare technologies, such as: symbolic meanings, purposes of usage, expectations, problems, and possible solutions. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to explore the perspectives of Taiwanese and Swedish medical doctors towards digital healthcare technologies using symbolic interactionism.

HealthTech in ensuring the resilience of communities in the post-pandemic period

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased adoption of digital technologies in healthcare. According to most researchers, this contributed to increasing the resilience of medical institutions, healthcare systems and communities to the pandemic challenges. The dynamic development of HealthTech continues in the post-pandemic period. The article purpose is to summarise the current directions of HealthTech development, analyse main patterns of the global and Ukrainian digital health market development and study possibilities of HealthTech use to increase the resilience of communities and healthcare systems to natural and man-made emergencies. The article systematises the types of HealthTech by components, types of technology and stages of application. It was determined that all basic digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, BigData, AR/VR, 3D modelling and others are used in modern healthcare systems. Specific areas of applying digital technologies in healthcare are telemedicine, wearable devices recording health data, specialised mobile software, etc. The analysis of the global digital health market development allowed us to identify the largest volumes and growth dynamics of the digital health market in the European and North American regions. By type of technology, the largest share of investment is directed to mHealth and telemedicine. By components, the digital health market development is almost equal. The article defines the forecast volume of the global and European digital health market for 2024. It examines development of the Ukrainian Electronic Healthcare System, which registers electronic medical records of created and performed medical referrals, examinations, procedures, diagnostic reports, treatment plans, medical conditions, electronic prescriptions, vaccination records, medical conclusions on temporary disability and birth. Dynamics decrease in electronic medical records from March 2022 due to full-scale war invasion was revealed. Digital health technologies contribute to raising efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare systems by reducing costs; increasing availability of medical services, flexibility and adaptability of these systems. Achieving these benefits should be accompanied by ensuring the protection of patients’ personal data and clearly regulating levels of access to this data, as well as minimizing digital gaps and maximizing the coverage of the population with HealthTech services.

Digital healthcare for dementia and cognitive impairment: A scoping review

BackgroundCognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, are a global health problem. Digital healthcare technology is an innovative management tool for delaying the progression of dementia and mild cognitive impairment. Thanks to digital technology, the possibility of safe and effective care for patients at home and in the community is increasing, even in situations that threaten the continuity of care, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is difficult to select appropriate technology and alternatives due to the lack of comprehensive reviews on the types and characteristics of digital technology for cognitive impairment, including their effects and limitations. ObjectiveThis study aims to identify the types of digital healthcare technology for dementia and mild cognitive impairment and comprehensively examine how its outcome measures were constructed in line with each technology's purpose. MethodsAccording to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, a literature search was conducted in August 2021 using Medline (Ovid), EMBASE, and Cochrane library. The search terms were constructed based on Population-Concept-Context mnemonic: ‘dementia’, ‘cognitive impairment’, and ‘cognitive decline’; digital healthcare technology, such as big data, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robots, applications, and so on; and the outcomes of digital technology, such as accuracy of diagnosis and physical, mental, and social health. After grasping overall research trends, the literature was classified and analysed in terms of the type of service users and technology. ResultsIn total, 135 articles were selected. Since 2015, an increase in literature has been observed, and various digital healthcare technologies were identified. For people with mild cognitive impairment, technology for predicting and diagnosing the onset of dementia was studied, and for people with dementia, intervention technology to prevent the deterioration of health and induce significant improvement was considered. Regarding caregivers, many studies were conducted on monitoring and daily living assistive technologies that reduce the burden of care. However, problems such as data collection, storage, safety, and the digital divide persisted at different intensities for each technology type. ConclusionsThis study revealed that appropriate technology options and considerations may differ depending on the characteristics of users. It also emphasises the role of humans in designing and managing technology to apply digital healthcare technology more effectively.

The Digital Transformation in Healthcare

A digital transformation is taking place in healthcare, especially since the Covid-19-pandemic which stands for the intersectoral networking and empowerment of people. E‑health, meaning the use of digital technologies in healthcare, induces many benefits such as increased individual health literacy. However, they are confronted with various challenges such as the risk of violating personal rights. This basic article is dedicated to the term e‑health and introduces the relevant actors of the healthcare system. Further it discusses selected benefits as well as challenges and presents relevant technical prerequisites for the implementation and use of e‑health technologies. A conclusion ends the article.

Effectiveness of mobile application for wound assessment in nursing students, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University

Introduction: Wound care is a major health issue that influences the health and quality of life of patients. Wound assessment is an essential task to perform an accurate diagnosis and to select a suitable treatment. The purpose of the study is to assess the effect of a digital application for wound assessment among nursing students. Methodology: This was a quasi-experimental study performed at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, from January to August 2022. 99 third-year nursing students were included in this study. A questionnaire about wound care competence and the effectiveness of using wound assessment applications was used. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were utilized in this study. Results: There was no difference between the wound care capacity between the control group and the intervention group, but there was a difference in wound care capacity between the time before and after the intervention. The effectiveness of using mobile apps in wound assessment is average. Conclusion: It is necessary to strengthen the capacity of applying digital technology in health care for nursing students. Key words: wound assessment, digital application, nursing student, quasi-experimental study.

Ethical implications of online healthcare data sharing in the Indian context.

Technology is not only changing the way doctors and patients communicate, but also how physicians interact with other healthcare providers. This interaction has increasingly begun to be over online media such as telemedicine networks/instant messaging apps/social media/emails. The Covid-19 pandemic has further spurred the rapid adoption of these digital healthcare technologies, amplifying the potential risks for data breach of sensitive personal information.

Exploring new digital therapeutics technologies for psychiatric disorders using BERTopic and PatentSBERTa

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has accelerated the growth of the digital therapeutics (DTx) market; therefore, development strategies for new DTx products are necessary to satisfy market needs. However, data-driven methods for recommending digital healthcare technologies for novel DTx applications are scarce. We propose a technology opportunity discovery framework that recommends 1) potential technologies as new DTx products, and 2) the applicable target disorders. We applied BERTopic and PatentSBERTa to patents filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and calculated the score of potential technologies on the basis of their thematic characteristics with respect to their digital capabilities and similarity to DTx technologies. By identifying the target disorder of similar technologies, specific disorders were proposed that can be treated with the proposed technique. By applying the proposed framework to psychiatric disorders—one of the largest therapeutic areas of DTx, we recommend digital monitoring technologies applicable to poor breathing or sleeping patterns for cognitive impairment. Furthermore, we provide strategies to utilize the recommended digital technologies for DTx for specific disorders to facilitate a direct intervention or treatment, which can contribute to the planning of roadmaps for DTx.

How Digital Therapeutics Are Urging the Need for a Paradigm Shift: From Evidence-Based Health Care to Evidence-Based Well-being.

A scientific paradigm consists of a set of shared rules, beliefs, values, methods, and instruments for addressing scientific problems. Currently, health care embraces the paradigm of evidence-based health care (EBH). This paradigm prompts health care institutions to base decisions on the best available evidence, which is commonly generated in large-scale randomized controlled trials. We illustrate the application of EBH via the evaluation of drugs. We show how EBH is challenged when it is applied to the evaluation of digital therapeutics, which refers to technology and data to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. We conclude that amid the growing application of digital therapeutics, the paradigm of EBH is challenged in four domains: population, intervention, comparison, outcome. In the second part of this viewpoint, we argue for a paradigm shift in health care so we can optimally evaluate and implement digital therapeutics, and we sketch out the contours of this novel paradigm. We address the need for considering design in health care and evaluation processes, studying user values so that health care can move from a focus on health to well-being, focusing on individual experiences rather than the average, addressing the need for evaluation in authentic use contexts, and stressing the need for continuous evaluation of the dynamic relations between users, context, and digital therapeutics. We conclude that the transition from EBH toward evidence-based well-being would improve the successful implementation of digital technologies in health care.

Economic Evaluation of Pharmacist-Led Digital Health Interventions: A Systematic Review.

There has been growing interest in integrating digital technologies in healthcare. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the economic value of pharmacist-led digital interventions. PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane databases were searched to select studies that had conducted economic evaluations of digital interventions by pharmacists for the period from January 2001 to February 2022. Economic evidence from 14 selected studies was synthesized in our analysis. Pharmacists used telephones, computers, web-based interventions, videotapes, smartphones, and multiple technologies for their digital interventions. Prior studies have reported the results of telephone-based interventions to be cost-effective. Alternatively, these interventions were found to be cost-effective when reevaluated with recently cited willingness-to-pay thresholds. In addition, pharmacist-led interventions based on computers, web-based interventions, smartphones, and multiple technologies have been reported to be cost-effective in previous studies. However, videotape-based intervention was found cost-ineffective because there was no significant difference in outcomes between the intervention and the usual care groups. If this intervention had been intensive enough to improve outcomes in the intervention group, favorable cost-effectiveness results could have been obtained. The economic evidence in the previous studies represented short-term economic values. Economic evaluations of the long-term value of digital interventions are warranted in future studies.

Applying Co-Design Principles for the Development of Health Education and Workforce Development.

The digital transformation of the UK's healthcare system necessitates the development of digital capabilities across the workforce. This ranges from basic digital literacy through to advanced skills with data and analytic methods. We present two projects that apply co-design to work with end-users and other stakeholders to produce a digital healthcare technologies capability framework aimed at the wider NHS workforce and a post graduate Clinical Data Science course aimed at bridging the gap between clinicians and the data-centric professions (e.g. analysts, data scientists, informaticians) to aid in digital transformation projects.

Increasing patient participation in oncology clinical trials.

Timely recruitment of eligible participants is essential for the success of clinical trials, with insufficient accrual being the leading cause for premature termination of both oncology and non-oncology trials. In this paper we further elaborate on the challenges for patient participation in oncology trials from physician, patient, healthcare system, and some trial-related perspectives. We present strategies such as use of digital healthcare technologies, real-world data and real-world evidence, decentralized clinical trials, pragmatic trial designs, and supportive services to increase patient participation. Multifaceted measures are necessary to increase patient participation, especially for those who are under-represented in cancer trials.

Challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions in Nepal: A rapid review.

BackgroundIn recent times, digital technologies in health care have been well recognized in Nepal. It is crucial to understand what is works well and areas that need improvements in the digital health ecosystem. This rapid review was carried out to provide an overview of Nepal's challenges and opportunities for implementing digital health interventions.MethodsThis study is reported according to PRISMA guidelines and used telehealth, telemedicine, e-health, mobile health, digital health, implementation, opportunities, challenges and Nepal as key search terms to identify primary studies published between 1 January 2010 and 30 December 2021 in four databases, namely PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and CINAHL. Initially, identified studies were screened against predetermined selection criteria, and data were extracted, and the findings were narratively synthesized.ResultThe review identified various challenges, opportunities, and benefits of implementing digital health initiatives in Nepal. The most expressed challenge was inadequate technical facilities (lack of electricity and internet) and rugged geographical distribution, which makes transportation difficult in hilly and mountain areas. Shortage of skilled workforce and supportive policies were also notable challenges documented. Meanwhile, major opportunities identified were education and training of the students and health practitioners and increasing awareness among the general population.ConclusionThis review identified various factors associated with the successful implementation of digital health initiatives in Nepal. Our findings may guide the formulation of digital health policy and interventions to improve mass health outcomes using digital health services.

The affective atmosphere of rural life and digital healthcare: Understanding older persons’ engagement in eHealth services

The implementation of digital healthcare technologies—eHealth—is presented as a solution to increasing costs, demographic changes, and quality issues in rural healthcare. Employing the concept of affective atmospheres, this article uses interviews to explore the emotional aspects of digital healthcare among rural persons of advanced age. Our results suggest that participants were clearly influenced by an affective atmosphere that was deeply embedded in spatial imageries as well as in notions of old age. Strong feelings of resignation, necessity, low entitlement, and defiance tended to encourage participants’ wishes for local face-to-face healthcare to translate into viewing eHealth solutions as positive. This also meant that participants came to enact neoliberal identities of “active ageing”. In conclusion, the concept of affective atmospheres highlights how human subjects and digital materialities interact in the production of human emotional responses to digital healthcare technologies, and emphasises how the conditions and shared imageries of geographic space and age are active components in that process.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ СЕРВІСНИХ ІННОВАЦІЙ У СФЕРІ ОХОРОНИ ЗДОРОВ’Я: СТРАТЕГІЇ ТА МЕХАНІЗМИ

The article reflects the essence of innovative services and service innovations and features of their implementation in healthcare organizations. The possibilities of their implementation in practice of advanced materials, digital technologies in health care: cloud computing, Internet of things, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc. are outlined. The works of scientists on the use of medical innovations in the practice of health care organizations were analyzed. It is proposed to consider service innovations in health care as innovations that are characterized by focus on health care, have a high level of novelty as a product (services) and have no common characteristics with a previously produced product, based on technology or information technology in the field of health care. The author determines that since an innovative service is a service, medical innovation services is a contractually defined action or a set of actions of doctor (medical institution) — service providers, which are associated with the provision of service, which can be the result of such service, has a cost evaluation and is aimed at generating profit over a long period of time. But the process of medical innovation refers to a new method of production and provision of medical services, and the production of a medical service is related to its result. A new service product in health care should be thought of as a health care function sold as a commodity or a new service in which the characteristics have been changed to include an entirely new set of health care characteristics. A health care organization is essentially a service organization that can use the latest technology in its operations to improve the quality of care. If the emphasis is on competition among health care organizations, then such organizations are better off using a “blue ocean” strategy, which is characterized not by “bloody” competition but by the application of untapped market potential, symbolized by deep blue water. Competition among health care organizations provides powerful incentives that encourage health care providers to develop innovative solutions but raises concerns about providing substandard health care services and creating duplication of health care services. Therefore, the provision of medical innovation services in health care should emphasize the value of patient life and health, quality, convenience and accessibility of such service.