Digital Technologies In Healthcare Research Articles

Federated Semi-Supervised Learning for Medical Image Segmentation via Pseudo-Label Denoising.

Distributed big data and digital healthcare technologies have great potential to promote medical services, but challenges arise when it comes to learning predictive model from diverse and complex e-health datasets. Federated Learning (FL), as a collaborative machine learning technique, aims to address the challenges by learning a joint predictive model across multi-site clients, especially for distributed medical institutions or hospitals. However, most existing FL methods assume that clients possess fully labeled data for training, which is often not the case in e-health datasets due to high labeling costs or expertise requirement. Therefore, this work proposes a novel and feasible approach to learn a Federated Semi-Supervised Learning (FSSL) model from distributed medical image domains, where a federated pseudo-labeling strategy for unlabeled clients is developed based on the embedded knowledge learned from labeled clients. This greatly mitigates the annotation deficiency at unlabeled clients and leads to a cost-effective and efficient medical image analysis tool. We demonstrated the effectiveness of our method by achieving significant improvements compared to the state-of-the-art in both fundus image and prostate MRI segmentation tasks, resulting in the highest Dice scores of 89.23% and 91.95% respectively even with only a few labeled clients participating in model training. This reveals the superiority of our method for practical deployment, ultimately facilitating the wider use of FL in healthcare and leading to better patient outcomes.

Current challenges and potential solutions to the use of digital health technologies in evidence generation: a narrative review.

Digital health is a field that aims to improve patient care through the use of technology, such as telemedicine, mobile health, electronic health records, and artificial intelligence. The aim of this review is to examine the challenges and potential solutions for the implementation and evaluation of digital health technologies. Digital tools are used across the world in different settings. In Australia, the Digital Health Translation and Implementation Program (DHTI) emphasizes the importance of involving stakeholders and addressing infrastructure and training issues for healthcare workers. The WHO's Global Task Force on Digital Health for TB aims to address tuberculosis through digital health innovations. Digital tools are also used in mental health care, but their effectiveness must be evaluated during development. Oncology supportive care uses digital tools for cancer patient intervention and surveillance, but evaluating their effectiveness can be challenging. In the COVID and post-COVID era, digital health solutions must be evaluated based on their technological maturity and size of deployment, as well as the quality of data they provide. To safely and effectively use digital healthcare technology, it is essential to prioritize evaluation using complex systems and evidence-based medical frameworks. To address the challenges of digital health implementation, it is important to prioritize ethical research addressing issues of user consent and addressing socioeconomic disparities in access and effectiveness. It is also important to consider the impact of digital health on health outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of service delivery.

The promise of digital healthcare technologies.

Digital health technologies have been in use for many years in a wide spectrum of healthcare scenarios. This narrative review outlines the current use and the future strategies and significance of digital health technologies in modern healthcare applications. It covers the current state of the scientific field (delineating major strengths, limitations, and applications) and envisions the future impact of relevant emerging key technologies. Furthermore, we attempt to provide recommendations for innovative approaches that would accelerate and benefit the research, translation and utilization of digital health technologies.

ROLE OF PHARMA DIGITALIZATION IN HEALTHCARE DEVELOPMENTS

Healthcare development is a revolutionary sector where digital technologies drive success, with exponential growth seen in a computing system involving advancements in medical devices. Due to social distancing norms, widespread lockdowns, and an emphasis on individualized healthcare, the Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably increased the usage of digital technologies. “Digital” has become the most essential part of day-to-day existence, and all sectors are adapting more swiftly to the digital world. The healthcare system is more complicated, as its culture and structure are not ready to accept innovation, since development in healthcare involves decision on a person’s life or death. The use of digital health tools has the potential to significantly improve individual patient care by enhancing the accuracy diagnosis and treatment of diseases. For the clinical adoption of any digital healthcare technology, evidence is required first, and their effects must be assessed before integrating them into healthcare systems such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The broad definition of digital health encompasses fields like wearable technology, telehealth and telemedicine, personalized medicine, the Internet of Things (Internet of things (IoT)), virtual reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and mobile health (mHealth). Pharmaceutical digitalization is still in a testing phase regarding offering advanced administrations beyond conventional products. In this paper, digitalization from the perspective of diverse case studies was carried out to collect data from several companies, and a literature study was conducted to complement the data on healthcare development. The digitalization of health care is a game changer for developing health care.

Digital Transformation in Health Care and Its Marketing Dimension

Abstract Purpose To present issues treating digital transformation in the health sector and highlight the marketing dimension of this process. Design/Methodology The article is a literature review of digital transformation, healthcare, management, marketing and health economics. The analysis was carried out using professional, scientific databases based on the desk research method. The study consists of the following parts: introduction; methodology of the study; issues concerning the process of digital transformation, ; digitisation of the health sector in the context of data security and benefits for stakeholders; practical aspects of implementing digital technologies in health care; generations X and Y-in the process of digitisation of health care in the marketing dimension; limitations of the study; conclusions and practical implications. Findings The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the digitisation of medical services, translating into the rapid development of various e-health platforms and tools. The latest techno-technological solutions for mobile health help in daily patient care and support prevention and preventive health care. The marketing transformation process parallels the digital transformation process in health care. . The availability of digital health tools would not be possible without marketing. Limitations Limitations of the study were identified that may have affected the overall picture of considerations. First, only articles indexed in selected databases were used: Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Taylor and Francis Online and ScienceDirect. Second, the literature search used a specific combination of words using Boolean operators. Originality/value The treatment of issues treating the digital transformation of the health sector and its marketing dimension is based on the latest literature on the subject, enriching the existing body of scholarly work on the health and marketing industry.

Patient and Public Acceptance of Digital Technologies in Health Care: Protocol for a Discrete Choice Experiment.

Strokes pose a particular challenge to the health care system. Although stroke-related mortality has declined in recent decades, the absolute number of new strokes (incidence), stroke deaths, and survivors of stroke has increased. With the increasing need of neurorehabilitation and the decreasing number of professionals, innovations are needed to ensure adequate care. Digital technologies are increasingly used to meet patients' unfilled needs during their patient journey. Patients must adhere to unfamiliar digital technologies to engage in health interventions. Therefore, the acceptance of the benefits and burdens of digital technologies in health interventions is a key factor in implementing these innovations. This study aims to describe the development of a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to weigh criteria that impact patient and public acceptance. Secondary study objectives are a benefit-burden assessment (estimation of the maximum acceptable burden of technical features and therapy-related characteristics for the patient or individual, eg, no human contact), overall comparison (assessment of the relative importance of attributes for comparing digital technologies), and adherence (identification of key attributes that influence patient adherence). The exploratory objectives include heterogeneity assessment and subgroup analysis. The methodological aims are to investigate the use of DCE. To obtain information on the criteria impacting acceptance, a DCE will be conducted including 7 attributes based on formative qualitative research. Patients with stroke (experimental group) and the general population (control group) are surveyed. The final instrument includes 6 best-best choice tasks in partial design. The experimental design is a fractional-factorial efficient Bayesian design (D-error). A conditional logit regression model and mixed logistic regression models will be used for analysis. To consider the heterogeneity of subgroups, a latent class analysis and an analysis of heteroscedasticity will be performed. The literature review, qualitative preliminary study, survey development, and pretesting were completed. Data collection and analysis will be completed in the last quarter of 2023. Our results will inform decision makers about patients' and publics' acceptance of digital technologies used in innovative interventions. The patient preference information will improve decisions regarding the development, adoption, and pricing of innovative interventions. The behavioral changes in the choice of digital intervention alternatives are observable and can therefore be statistically analyzed. They can be translated into preferences, which define the value. This study will investigate the influences on the acceptance of digital interventions and thus support decisions and future research. DERR1-10.2196/46056.

Configural paths for IoTs and big data analytics acceptance for healthcare improvement: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

PurposeThis study investigates the pathways for adopting IoTs and BDA technologies to improve healthcare management.Design/methodology/approachThe study relied on 445 healthcare professionals' perspectives to explore different causal pathways to IoTs and BDA adoption and usage for daily healthcare management. The Fussy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis was adopted to explore the underlying pathways for healthcare management.FindingsThe empirical analysis revealed six different configural paths influencing the acceptance and use of IoTs and BDA for healthcare improvement. Two key user topologies from the six configural paths, digital literacy and ease of use and social influence and behavioural intentions, mostly affect the paths for using digital health technologies by healthcare physicians.Research limitations/implicationsDespite this study's novel contributions, limitations include the fsQCA methodology, perceptual data and the context of the study. The fsQCA methodology is still evolving with different interpretations, although it reveals new insights and as such further studies are required to explain the configural paths of social phenomena. Additionally, future research should consider other constructs beyond the UTAUT and digital literacy to illustrate configural paths to healthcare technology acceptance and usage. Again, the views of healthcare professionals are perceptual data. Hence future research on operational data will support significant contributions towards pathways to accept and use emerging technologies for healthcare improvement. Lastly, this study is from a developing country perspective where emerging digital healthcare technology is still emerging to support healthcare management. Hence, more investigation from other cross-country analyses of configural paths for digital technology deployment in healthcare will enhance the conversation with IoTs and BDA for healthcare management.Practical implicationsHolistically, the acceptance and use of healthcare technologies and platforms is not solely on their capabilities, but a combination of distinct factors driven by users' perspectives. This offers healthcare administrators and institutions to essentially reflect on the distinct combinations of conditions favourable to health professionals who can use IoTs and BDA for healthcare improvement.Originality/valueThis study is among the few scholarly works to empirically investigate the configural paths to support healthcare improvement with emerging technologies. Using fsQCA is a unique contribution to existing information system literature for configural paths for healthcare improvement with emerging digital technologies.

"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.