Health Information And Communication Technology Research Articles

THE USE OF TELESSAÚDE TO IMPROVE HEALTH SERVICES

Objective: to identify the impacts of telessaúde in the health field. Methods: an integrative literature review study was conducted through the databases: Virtual Health Library (VHL), Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Nursing Database (BDENF). Results: regarding the thematic approach of the articles, the framework of the productions raised in two categories focused on the importance of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in auditing and the second addresses the importance of ICT in health in general. Conclusion: in view of the studies analyzed, it is understood that telessaúde, as a strategy, has a significant potential to expand and qualify access to health care, continuing education and the promotion of the quality of life of the population in different locations. The implementation of national policies and specific legislation are important for the progress of telessaúde initiatives in the different scenarios.

Pathways Linking Information and Communication Technology Use and Loneliness Among Older Adults: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study.

This study investigated the association between information and communication technology (ICT) use and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults (aged 65+), as well as the mediating effects of social relations, perceived control, and purpose-in-life. The study used data from the 2014 and 2018 Health and Retirement Study (N = 3,026), employing autoregressive path models with contemporaneous mediation to assess the association of 2 kinds of ICT use, social media communication and general computer use, with loneliness through the pathways of perceived social support, social contact, perceived constraints, and purpose-in-life. Social media communication had a negative association with loneliness. Perceived social support and social contact mediated this association, but not perceived constraints, or purpose-in-life. General computer use did not have a significant total effect on loneliness; however, a significant indirect effect through perceived constraints, purpose-in-life, and social contact was found. Our findings extended the existing literature regarding the important factors associated with variation in loneliness among older adults. Health programs and ICT solutions could be more effective in mitigating loneliness if they target the root causes of loneliness, including reducing perceptions of constraints and increasing a sense of purpose-in-life, along with strengthening social relationships.

Toward Sustainable Healthcare Systems: A Low and Middle-Income Country's Case for Investing in Healthcare Reforms.

Pakistan, a lowand middle-income country (LMIC), faces challenges in providing sustainable health care to its population due to inadequate financing, weak healthcare infrastructure, and insufficient health human resources. These challenges are not unique to Pakistan and are faced by many LMICs globally. In this paper, we aim to identify key strategies for achieving sustainable healthcare systems in Pakistan and to draw lessons for LMICs globally, keeping in view the healthcare reforms in Pakistan. We conducted a comprehensive literature review of existing policies and practices related to healthcare financing, service delivery, health information and communication technologies (ICTs), governance and leadership, and health human resources in Pakistan and other LMICs. We also reviewed relevant global policies and frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organization's (WHO) health system strengthening guidelines. To achieve sustainable healthcare systems in Pakistan, we recommend comprehensive healthcare financing policies, including increasing budgetary allocations for health, social health protection through universal coverage, and supporting health and economic development processes. Service delivery can be improved through restructuring public health facilities, incorporating behavioral and social health determinants into primary health care, aligning healthcare delivery with the community, and promoting collaborative leadership between the public and private sectors. The use of ICT can be expanded by implementing e-health policies, disseminating authentic public health information, and enabling telemedicine services. Effective healthcare governance and leadership can be promoted through meritorious, transparent, and accountable reforms, stable healthcare structures at all community levels, and appropriate health policy and organizational frameworks. Finally, strengthening health human resources can be achieved through compliant policy implementation and revisions in laws and policies governing medical teaching institutions. Achieving sustainable healthcare systems in Pakistan and LMICs globally requires comprehensive strategies for healthcare financing, service delivery, health ICT, governance and leadership, and health human resources. By drawing on global policies and frameworks and lessons from other LMICs, Pakistan can overcome its healthcare challenges and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.

Information and Communication Technologies in Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the field of mental health has been growing rapidly in recent years, offering new opportunities for the diagnosis, treatment, and support of individuals with mental health conditions. From teletherapy and online counseling to mental health apps and virtual reality interventions, ICT have the potential to revolutionize the way mental health care is delivered and accessed. However, along with the opportunities, there are also challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the ethical, safe, and effective use of ICT in mental health

The Impact of Health Information and Communication Technology on Clinical Quality, Productivity, and Workers

The adoption of health information and communication technology (HICT) has surged over the past two decades. We survey the medical and economic literature on HICT adoption and its impact on clinical outcomes, productivity, and the health care workforce. We find that HICT improves clinical outcomes and lowers health care costs; however, ( a) the effects are modest so far, ( b) it takes time for these effects to materialize, and ( c) there is much variation in the impact. More evidence on the causal effects of HICT on productivity is needed to improve our analytical understanding and to guide further adoption. There is little econometric work directly investigating the impact of HICT on labor market outcomes, but the existing literature suggests that there are no substantial negative effects on employment and earnings. Overall, although health care is in many ways exceptional, we are struck by the similarities of our conclusions to the wider findingson the relationship between productivity and information and communication technologies, which stress the importance of complementary factors (e.g., management practices and skills) in determining the impact of these new technologies.

The Interplay Between Technology Performativity and Health Care Professionals in Hospital Settings: Service Design Approach.

BackgroundThe unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the preventive measures of physical distancing have further necessitated the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance the efficiency of work activities in health care. Although the interplay between human agency and technology performativity is critical to the success or failure of ICTs use in routine practice, it is rarely explored when designing health ICTs for hospital settings within the sub-Saharan Africa context.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to explore how the service delivery quality is being influenced by the technology-enabled activities of health care professionals at points of care using a service design strategy.MethodsAn interpretivist stance was assumed to understand the socially constructed realities of health care professionals at points of care in a hospital setting. A service design strategy was identified as suitable for engaging health care professionals in co-design sessions to collect data. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify the participants. Open-ended questions were administered to gain insights into the work activities of physicians and nurses at points of care. Qualitative (textual) data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Ethical concerns about the safety and privacy of participants’ data were addressed as per the university ethics review committee and provincial department of health.ResultsThe findings show that the attributes of human agency and technology features that drive technology performativity result in an interplay between social concepts and technical features that influence the transformation of human-machine interactions. In addition, the interplay of the double dance of agency model can be divided into 2 successive phases: intermediate and advanced. Intermediate interplay results in the perceived suitability or discomfort of health ICTs as experienced by health care professionals at initial interactions during the execution of work activities. Subsequently, the advanced interplay determines the usefulness and effectiveness of health ICTs in aiding task performance, which ultimately leads to either the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of health care professionals in the completion of their work activities at points of care.ConclusionsThe adopted service design strategy revealed that the interaction moments of the tasks performed by health care professionals during the execution of their work activities at point of care determine the features of health ICTs relevant to work activities. Consequently, the ensuing experience of health care professionals at the completion of their work activities influences the use or discontinuation of health ICTs. Health care professionals consider the value-added benefits from the automation of their work activities to ultimately influence the quality of service delivery. The major knowledge contribution of this study is the awareness drawn to both the intermediate and advanced interplay of human-machine interaction when designing health ICTs.

Digitization and health inequality and equity in nursing.

Background: The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in health care is increasing attention. To describe health inequalities and equity with regard to the use of digital health technologies in a care context and to understand interrelationships, it is of particular importance for the field of care research to use models and theories that explain health inequalities and equity in the use of digital technologies. Aims: This article aims to identify models and theories from the field of nursing and health research that explain the phenomenon of health inequalities and the influence of digital health technologies on the emergence of inequalities. Methods: Relevant articles were searched in electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL & SocINDEX) between July and August 2019 in German and English, within the methodological framework of a scoping review. The systematic literature search and data extraction were performed by 2 reviewers. The description of data refers to standard criteria by 8-1Christiansen and Baum (1997). Results: From a total of 25 relevant articles, 2 were identified for inclusion in the current overview. One model is focusing on ICT for health and the other model focuses on eHealth. No nursing theory could be identified in the context of describing the phenomenon of digital inequality. Conclusions: In both models, there is a lack of discussion about the impact of nursing aspects on the use and acceptance of eHealth technologies. One point should also be the development of models and theories that consider the user perspective of vulnerable groups.

Personal and technological skills to coach people with noncommunicable diseases: development and validation of a scale for nursing students

BackgroundCurrent international policies converge to the need of empowering patients and families in becoming more autonomous in the self-caring and management of their noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Given their professional scope, nurses are the most well-positioned health professionals to answer this societal challenge. In the literature, health coaching and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) emerge as two still under-used contributions to nursing practice in this regard. Given the lack of instruments and research developed so far in the use of health coaching and ICTs during nurses training, we aim to develop a scale that explores nursing students’ perceptions regarding their coaching skills of people with NCDs and the potential role of ICTs in this domain. MethodsAfter a comprehensive literature review, an initial items list (n = 39) was delineated and discussed by a panel of international experts. After conceptual and structural consensus, the pre-validated version of the Personal and Technological Skills to coach people with noncommunicable diseases scale (PTSC-NCD scale) was created. Then, the pre-validated PTSC-NCD scale was translated to Portuguese, Finnish, Flemish and Slovenian following Beaton and colleagues’ recommendations, and applied to undergraduate nursing students in five European universities. Principal component analysis and reliability analysis were performed in each country through the statistical program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 22.0). All ethical assumptions were complied with throughout this study. Results874 nursing students enrolled in the study, predominantly female (71.1%) and with a mean age of 22.4 years (SD = 5.49). After data analysis across international settings, three dimensions emerged: Coaching Centred Personal Skills (F1); Digital Technology Improving Patient-Centred Care (F2); and Digital Technology Improving Relational Skills (F3). All the dimensions showed good reliability (Cronbach's alpha >.80). ConclusionThe PTSC-NCD scale evidence good validity and reliability indicators across different international settings.

Интернет-практики пожилых: 10 лет развития и изучения

В статье представлено описание результатов исследований использования пожилыми современных информационно-коммуникативных технологий (ИКТ) и их влияние на социальное включение старшего поколения. Серия наших исследований (интернет-исследования, вторичный анализ данных, телефонный опрос 500 жителей Санкт-Петербурга в 2017 году, многочисленные интервью и фокус-группы, проведенные в период 2008-2018 гг.) была направлена на изучение возможностей социального включения пожилых с помощью ИКТ, а также на использование ИКТ в оздоровлении, досуге, создании сообществ. Мы рассматривали использование ИКТ с разных сторон: как драйвер социального включения пожилых, ключ к получению новой занятости, но, как оказалось, использование ИКТ пожилыми стало престижной потребительской, досуговой, практикой. Основой социального включения остается занятость пожилых, как трудовая, так и общественная. Но занятость нуждается в имиджевой поддержке, не как вынужденная, а, наоборот, сохраняющая социальную включенность и интерес к жизни. В статье представлено описание результатов исследований использования пожилыми современных информационно-коммуникативных технологий (ИКТ) и их влияние на социальное включение старшего поколения. Серия наших исследований (интернет-исследования, вторичный анализ данных, телефонный опрос 500 жителей Санкт-Петербурга в 2017 году, многочисленные интервью и фокус-группы, проведенные в период 2008-2018 гг.) была направлена на изучение возможностей социального включения пожилых с помощью ИКТ, а также на использование ИКТ в оздоровлении, досуге, создании сообществ.

A Proof of Concept of a Mobile Health Application to Support Professionals in a Portuguese Nursing Home.

Over the past few years, the rapidly aging population has been posing several challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. Consequently, in Portugal, nursing homes have been getting a higher demand, and health professionals working in these facilities are overloaded with work. Moreover, the lack of health information and communication technology (HICT) and the use of unsophisticated methods, such as paper, in nursing homes to clinically manage residents lead to more errors and are time-consuming. Thus, this article proposes a proof of concept of a mobile health (mHealth) application developed for the health professionals working in a Portuguese nursing home to support them at the point-of-care, namely to manage and have access to information and to help them schedule, perform, and digitally record their tasks. Additionally, clinical and performance business intelligence (BI) indicators to assist the decision-making process are also defined. Thereby, this solution aims to introduce technological improvements into the facility to improve healthcare delivery and, by taking advantage of the benefits provided by these improvements, lessen some of the workload experienced by health professionals, reduce time-waste and errors, and, ultimately, enhance elders’ quality of life and improve the quality of the services provided.

Readiness to accept health information and communication technologies: A population-based survey of community-dwelling older adults

IntroductionThe development of health information and communication technologies (HICTs) could modify the quality and cost of healthcare services delivered to an aging population. However, the acceptance of HICTs — a prerequisite for users to benefit from them — remains a challenge. This population-based study aimed to 1) explore the acceptance of HICTs by community-dwelling older adults as well as the factors associated to the overall acceptance/refusal of HICTs; 2) identify the factors associated with confidentiality (i.e., access to data allowed to physicians only versus to all caregivers) in the subgroup of older adults willing to accept HICTs. MethodsA total of 3195 community-dwelling 69–83 year-old members of the Lausanne cohort 65+ were included. In 2017, participants filled out a 9-item questionnaire to assess their acceptance of HICTs (“yes without reluctance”; “yes but with reluctance”; “no”). A bivariate analysis was conducted to examine gender and age differences in the acceptance of HICTs. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to model 1) accepting all or rejecting all HICTs items; 2) willing to share HICTs items with physicians only versus all caregivers. ResultsThe answer “acceptance without reluctance” ranged from 26.4% to 70.4% across HICTs and was the most frequent answer to six out of nine HICT items. For every HICT item, the acceptance rate decreased across age categories in women. Overall, 20.2% accepted all the HICTs without reluctance and 9.9% rejected them all. Older age and a lower level of education were significantly associated with both accepting all HICTs without reluctance (OR = 0.78 and OR = 0.65, respectively) and rejecting all HICTs (OR = 1.54 and OR = 2.89, respectively). Women and participants with health vulnerability (depressive symptoms, difficulty in activities of daily living (ADLs)) were less likely to accept data accessibility to non-physicians. ConclusionAcceptance of HICTs was relatively high. To deploy HICTs in the older population, demographic, socioeconomic and health profiles, alongside confidentiality concerns, should be considered.

Acceptance of ICTs for health and/or Physical Activity Monitoring in Patients with Chronic Diseases

Physical activity (PA) is a cornerstone of medical treatment in chronic patients but difficult to maintain over the long term. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) offer new possibilities to provide support for patients and to monitor PA. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge about, the use of and the interest in ICTs for health and PA monitoring, and to evaluate the influence of gender, age and socio-professional category on ICT acceptance. A survey on ICT’s knowledge, use and acceptance was specifically elaborated for this study. Patients participating in a supervised PA training program completed this survey during a face-to-face visit. Seventy-eight patients between 45 and 79 years old were surveyed. Most of them had access to the Internet (92%) and owned a smartphone (69%). Age was the major factor influencing access to and technical knowledge about ICTs. Half of the patients were in favor of using ICTs for health and PA monitoring. The factors that conditioned this acceptance were to be young, highly educated, and to have already used ICTs. The other half of the patients were opposed to ICTs because of the complexity and constraints of these technologies, and because they worried about the lack of data security. These results emphasize the need to know more about the profile of the patients in order to propose the relevant personalized PA support.

The role of information and communication technologies in the delivery of health services in rural communities: Experiences from Malawi

Background: In recent years, Africa has experienced a boom in information and communication technologies (ICTs). These ICTs have been hailed by the health sector as impetus for heath service delivery in rural areas. In this regard, stakeholders in the health sector have made attempts to reinforce frontline health workers with technological tools. Although there is much evidence that ICTs play a key role in the health sector, it remains unknown how the health sector in Malawi is exploiting ICTs in its delivery of day-to-day operations.Objectives: In this study, we investigate the role that ICTs play in rural health. This study will specifically determine the purposes that health surveillance assistants (HSAs) use ICTs for, assess the ICT skills and expertise of HSAs, analyse benefits of ICTs and study the problems faced by HSAs in the effective use of ICTs.Method: In this study, a quantitative research method approach was adopted to address the research objectives. Both research sites and respondents were selected using a convenient sampling method. We self-administered and collected the questionnaire from the respondents. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data.Results: We find that HSAs have made headways in the adoption of various forms of ICTs such as mobile phones alongside their applications (Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp). However, efforts to maximise the appropriation of ICTs by HSAs are punctuated by various hindrances including high cost of ICT gadgets, high cost of Internet bundles, inadequate training in ICTs and lack of support from senior management in the Ministry of Health.Conclusion: Use of ICTs in community health is slowly but surely possible. In a nutshell, the study has shown that, regardless of perceivable hindrances associated with use of ICTs, HSAs use some ICTs in their work and personal activities. It is evident that using mobile phones to improve performance is an important area and that there is little interest in evaluating such interventions.

PROGRAMA DE EDUCAÇÃO CONTINUADA VOLTADO AO USO DE TECNOLOGIAS EM SAÚDE: PERCEPÇÃO DOS PROFISSIONAIS DE SAÚDE

Objetivo: Identificar a percepção dos profissionais de saúde quanto a um programa de Educação Continuada (EC) voltada ao uso de novas tecnologias no campo da saúde. Materiais e Métodos: Estudo descritivo e exploratório de abordagem quantitativa, realizado em um hospital privado situado na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Para coleta de dados foi elaborado um instrumento de percepção do tipo atitudinal Likert, composto por quatro dimensões (serviço de EC como um espaço estimulador de conhecimento sobre Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) em saúde; uso de TIC em saúde como ferramenta estimuladora do trabalho interprofissional; uso do Prontuário Eletrônico do Paciente (PEP) e a sua relação com a promoção do processo de Educação Permanente em Saúde (EPS); e, o PEP como instrumento qualificador para assistência à saúde) e 17 asserções positivas randomizadas. Participaram do estudo 71 profissionais de saúde (médico, enfermagem e fonoaudiólogo). Resultados: A média da pontuação das dimensões estava dentro do intervalo de classificação denominado “percepção boa/positiva”, o que indicou concordância entre os respondentes quanto às ações desenvolvidas pelo programa de EC. Os participantes inferiram o programa como um espaço estimulador para a qualificação de uso de tecnologias no processo de cuidar, trabalho interprofissional e promoção da EPS.Conclusão:As ações do programa de EC possuem potencial para qualificar a assistência à saúde e a construção de significados relacionados ao uso de novas tecnologias em saúde.
 
 DESCRITORES
 Educação Permanente.Educação em Saúde.Tecnologia da Informação.

Social innovation and ICT in social services: European experiences compared

Innovation in social services and social policies in the European welfare systems is an evolving phenomenon stimulated by socio-demographic, cultural and economic changes. Many social service innovations are linked to disruptive technologies, especially the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT). To discuss the effects of disruptive technologies on health and social services, this article first proposes a framework consistent with the social innovation paradigm. Secondly, based on case-studies, it investigates different models of social and health service innovation driven by technology. The article shows advantages and disadvantages of service innovation driven by technology, and offers some final remarks about future challenges for ICT in health and social services. More evidences of effectiveness and efficiency are necessary to promote public and private investment to implement solutions on a wider scale. However, the impacts of technology-based solutions cannot be measured only in terms of economic aspects but also taking into account whether new technologies really provide the opportunity for citizens to have a better life and advocacy for their rights.

International health IT benchmarking: learning from cross-country comparisons.

Objective: To pilot benchmark measures of health information and communication technology (ICT) availability and use to facilitate cross-country learning. Materials and Methods: A prior Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development–led effort involving 30 countries selected and defined functionality-based measures for availability and use of electronic health records, health information exchange, personal health records, and telehealth. In this pilot, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Working Group compiled results for 38 countries for a subset of measures with broad coverage using new and/or adapted country-specific or multinational surveys and other sources from 2012 to 2015. We also synthesized country learnings to inform future benchmarking. Results: While electronic records are widely used to store and manage patient information at the point of care—all but 2 pilot countries reported use by at least half of primary care physicians; many had rates above 75%—patient information exchange across organizations/settings is less common. Large variations in the availability and use of telehealth and personal health records also exist. Discussion: Pilot participation demonstrated interest in cross-national benchmarking. Using the most comparable measures available to date, it showed substantial diversity in health ICT availability and use in all domains. The project also identified methodological considerations (e.g., structural and health systems issues that can affect measurement) important for future comparisons. Conclusion: While health policies and priorities differ, many nations aim to increase access, quality, and/or efficiency of care through effective ICT use. By identifying variations and describing key contextual factors, benchmarking offers the potential to facilitate cross-national learning and accelerate the progress of individual countries.

Linking theoretical perspectives to analyze health information and communication technologies in Brazil

Brazil has developed health information and communication technologies (ICT), however, to date health information systems are fragmented and endeavors to integrate them have failed. This work links two theoretical streams in order to establish a framework to assess health ICT in Brazil. The proposed framework sees ICT as the result of public policy aiming at developing technical artifacts to assist society on health issues. Moreover, this framework sets up analytical dimensions for assessing this public policy, namely democratization, effectiveness, sustainability, and synergy. It also enables the analysis of the trajectory of this public policy via the actors involved with it.

Avoidance or boredom: Negative mental health outcomes associated with use of Information and Communication Technologies depend on users’ motivations

Previous research shows that high Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use is associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress; however, there are few relevant studies on this topic. The current study was conducted to explore the relationship between Internet and mobile phone use and mental health. In Study 1, participants were given questionnaires to assess their manner of mobile phone and Internet use and their levels of depression and anxiety. There were strong positive relationships between lower mental health and problematic ICT use, especially when people turned to ICTs to avoid negative experiences or feelings. However, when participants used ICTs merely to escape boredom, no link was found between ICT use and mental health problems. Study 2 was completed to observe how students utilize their mobile phones to cope or escape from feelings related to an anxiety-inducing situation. Results indicated that the mobile phone may offer a small “security blanket” effect, lowering the initial negative reaction to stress, although the pattern of stress over the course of the experiment was the same for participants in all groups. Our findings suggest that long term utilization of ICTs as an emotional coping strategy may have a negative influence on mental health and/or exacerbate mental health predispositions.

Sistemas de información en salud: integrando datos clínicos en diferentes escenarios y usuarios

Despite the technological advances of recent decades and the many documented benefits, the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in health remains a major challenge for healthcare organizations. Looking to contribute to the analysis of multiple variables involved at the time of achieving successful implementation, we apply a sociotechnical model to analyze the experience of computerization of the clinical layer in the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires. The conceptual framework applied consists of eight interconnected dimensions that allow the review of different aspects to consider at the time of design, development, implementation, use and evaluation of the application of ICT. Considering the evolution of our project, we divided it into three stages, so that each of the dimensions is analyzed in each of the stages. The socio-technical model applied resulted in an appropriate tool for assessing our implementation of ICT in health, allowing us the analysis of the eight dimensions, including retrospectively. Applying this analysis to each of the stages of the evolution of our institutional project we were able to show that by taking into account all aspects together, its execution was facilitated and allowed us to identify areas for improvement.

Health technology in perspective.

The ongoing development of information and communication technology (ICT) is taking the healthcare industry to the next level. It allows an independent healthcare system by which anyone can easily obtain tne real-time measurement of individual biometrics as well as customized prescriptions without the hassle to visit health professionals in person. Google, a corporate giant of the ICT industry, has been cooperating with a leading pharmaceutical company, Novartis, on the Smart Lens, which gives LED alerts when the measured serum glucose level acquired from tear drops is excessive. This product will enable diabetic patients to reduce the inconvenience of countless blood samplings. The ingestible sensor is currently limited to integration with inactive pharmaceuticals taken alongside medication, but in the near future, the function of the ingestible sensor will be widened in range by integration with active pills for targeted areas of the body. Silicon Valley-based Proteus Digital Health has conducted clinical trials in this therapeutic area. Experts predict that 80% of medical data in hospitals will soon be obtained using wearable devices. Lux Research, an independent research and advisory firm, also anticipates the size of the digital healthcare industry will rise more than eightfold from $5.1 billion in 2013 to $41.8 billion by 2023. ICT has transformed the existing concept of hospital-centered healthcare to individualcentered care. This trend is evidenced by the international conference Health 2.0. In 2007, a few medical and ICT industry bloggers launched this conference, which now has become a prestigious international event where professionals from global ICT corporations as well as insurance and health companies attend. This year's Health 2.0 Conference will be held in Seoul on April 14-15, sponsored by the South Korean government, with a theme of health and wellness ICT. Considering the ultimate goal of dentistry, we should take a close look at the agenda of this upcoming event. It includes 'The happiness of the ICT platform', 'Developing a senior's health and wellness index', and 'Four dimensions of health & wellness ICT services with innovative technology', which are all essential issues in dentistry. We must continue to integrate ICT with dental science, following the latest trends in ICT for health care.