Search Results (7)

Background: Neonatal jaundice (NNJ) remains a leading cause of newborn mortality in much of sub-Saharan Africa. We sought to examine the validity of using a hand-held icterometer as a screening tool to determine which newborns need further assessment. Additionally, we sought to assess the feasibility of its use among mothers. Methods: We recruited and trained healthcare workers at one large district hospital in Ghana to use a hand-held icterometer known as the Bili-Ruler^TM. We recruited mothers of 341 newborns aged 0 to 2 weeks at the same hospital. Mothers watched a standardized training video, after which they blanched the skin of the newborn’s nose and compared it with the yellow shades numbered one to six on the icterometer. Each newborn was also assessed with a transcutaneous bilirubin meter (TCB). Research assistants and health care workers screened the same newborns, recorded their scores separately, and were blinded to each other’s readings. In the second phase of this study, we recruited 100 new mothers to take the Bili-Ruler home with them, instructing them to check their newborns twice daily. We interviewed them 1–2 weeks later to determine the acceptability and feasibility of its use. Results: Out of 341 newborns screened, 20 had elevated TCB indicative of hyperbilirubinemia. Healthcare workers’ Bili-Ruler ratings had a strong and significant correlation with TCB scores, as did the ratings of researchers and mothers. When comparing Bili-Ruler scores against TCB, sensitivity across all three raters was 80% (95% CI 75.6–84.3), specificity ranged from 61.1% (healthcare providers) to 66.7% (researchers), positive predictive value ranged from 11.4% (healthcare providers) to 13.0% (researchers), and negative predictive value was 98.0% or higher across all raters. Area under the ROC curve ranged from 0.71 for healthcare providers to 0.73 for researchers. Mothers AUC was 0.72. In terms of acceptability and feasibility, the Bili-Ruler was widely accepted by the mothers and family. In total, 98% of mothers reported using it, and 90.8% used it 3 or more days in the first week after birth. Moreover, 89.8% used it more than twice per day. Conclusions: A hand-held, low-tech icterometer is an important potential mechanism for improving early jaundice identification in low-resource settings. Further studies using larger sample sizes with a higher prevalence of hyperbilirubinemia are warranted. Full article

Due to the rising prevalence of polypharmacy, pharmacists face more challenges in ensuring patient safety and optimizing medication management. This paper introduces PharmiTech, a Clinical Decision Support System that leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) to tackle the growing need for efficient tools to assist pharmacists. The primary focus of the tool is to identify possible herb-drug interactions and instances of prescription drug abuse, combining an expert knowledge base with a supervised classification model and providing user-friendly alerts to pharmacists. To demonstrate the capabilities of the developed tool, this paper presents its functionalities through a case study involving simulated scenarios using de-identified information to maintain the confidentiality of real patients’ personal data. Tested in Portuguese pharmacies, PharmiTech enhances pharmaceutical care, safeguards patient data, and aids pharmacists in informed decision-making, making it a valuable resource for healthcare professionals. Full article

The research determines the level of financial risk in the Russian healthcare system and identifies prospects for improving the current Russian practice of financial risk management in healthcare when providing high-tech medical care for sustainable development (using Russia as an example). The author summarizes the advanced experience of the top 20 largest healthcare organizations in Russia by revenue in 2022. Based on this experience, the author developed an SEM model of the financial risks in healthcare during the provision of high-tech medical care in Russia from a sustainable development perspective. The theoretical significance of the developed model lies in uncovering the previously unknown causal relationships between the implementation of the ICT, sustainable development support, and financial risks in healthcare. The model reveals a new market dimension of financial risks for healthcare organizations in Russia. The main conclusion is that implementing the ICT and support for sustainable development helps to reduce the financial risks in healthcare. The identified potential for reducing financial risks in providing high-tech medical care in Russia until 2026 is practically significant. This prospect can be practically applied as a roadmap for the digital modernization and sustainable development of healthcare until 2026, enhancing the state healthcare policy in Russia. The established systemic relationship between ICT implementation, sustainable development support, and financial risks in healthcare is of managerial importance because it will increase the predictability of the financial risks in the market dimension of healthcare in Russia. The newly developed approach to risk management in healthcare during the provision of high-tech medical care in Russia has expanded the instrumental framework of risk management for healthcare organizations in Russia and revealed further opportunities for improving its efficiency. Full article

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) offers promising ways to meet healthcare needs of patients recovering in their own homes and other environments. Interconnected and resilient smart systems offer innovative and cost-effective ways of supporting patients by capitalizing on available devices and networking infrastructure. However, future environments will not be uniformly smart, and there will be asymmetries where our environments’ (home, work, etc.) resources and capabilities differ. Technological solutions will need to adapt to such asymmetries and provide high-quality service and equitable healthcare. This article presents a systematic mapping study that explores opportunities and challenges in building next-generation IoMT smart systems for future environments. The study spans academic literature published in the decade from 2011 to 2021, profiling it from three distinct perspectives: Smart Systems, Future Environments, and Tech-Assisted Health. Each perspective was explored via a Domain Expert-Driven Systematic Mapping protocol to establish where the research is focused and to identify research gaps. From an initial search of 495 studies, 113 were mapped to a set of predefined ontology classes, spanning 6 strategic focus categories. The mapping identified sensing technologies for medical vitals and sensor fusion technologies to combine measurements for more complex analysis, cloud platforms, and connectivity challenges; health conditions that have received the most attention in healthcare smart systems; issues and opportunities in handling large data volumes in integrated smart systems; as well as security and privacy challenges. We find that future middleware frameworks will require a greater degree of interoperability and maturity to fully deliver value. Promising middleware and integration frameworks will require significant adaption and refinement to coexist effectively with current healthcare technologies. Privacy and security are critical factors in healthcare but are currently poorly supported by IoT infrastructures, especially across multiple environments. Full article

This study examines the ethical issues surrounding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare, specifically nursing, under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The analysis delves into how GDPR applies to healthcare AI projects, encompassing data collection and decision-making stages, to reveal the ethical implications at each step. A comprehensive review of the literature categorizes research investigations into three main categories: Ethical Considerations in AI; Practical Challenges and Solutions in AI Integration; and Legal and Policy Implications in AI. The analysis uncovers a significant research deficit in this field, with a particular focus on data owner rights and AI ethics within GDPR compliance. To address this gap, the study proposes new case studies that emphasize the importance of comprehending data owner rights and establishing ethical norms for AI use in medical applications, especially in nursing. This review makes a valuable contribution to the AI ethics debate and assists nursing and healthcare professionals in developing ethical AI practices. The insights provided help stakeholders navigate the intricate terrain of data protection, ethical considerations, and regulatory compliance in AI-driven healthcare. Lastly, the study introduces a case study of a real AI health-tech project named SENSOMATT, spotlighting GDPR and privacy issues. Full article

In this paper, we reviewed the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies applied to waves of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 is an existential threat that has resulted in an unprecedented loss of lives, disruption of flight schedules, shutdown of businesses and much more. Though several researchers have highlighted the enormous benefits of 4IR technologies in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent waves of the pandemic call for a thorough review of these technological interventions. The cyber-physical space has had its share of the COVID-19 pandemic effect, and through this review, we highlight the salient issues to help policy formulation towards managing the impact of subsequent COVID-19 waves within such environments. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to review the application of 4IR technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic waves and to highlight their shortcomings. Recent research articles were sourced from an online repository and thoroughly reviewed to highlight 4IR technology applications, innovations, shortcomings and multi-sector challenges. The outcome of this review indicates that the second wave of the pandemic resulted in a lower proportion of patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation and a lower rate of thrombotic events. In addition, it was revealed that the delay between ICU admissions and tracheal intubation was longer in the second wave in the health care sector. Again, the review suggests that 4IR technologies have been utilized across all the sectors including education, businesses, society, manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture and mining. Businesses have revised their service delivery models to include 4IR technologies and avoid physical contacts. In society, digital certificates, among other digital platforms, have been utilized to assist with the movements of persons who have been vaccinated. Manufacturing concerns have also utilized robots in manufacturing to reduce human-to-human physical contact. The mining sector has automated their work processes, utilising smart boots to prevent infection, smart health bands and smart disinfection tunnels or walkthrough sanitization gates in the mining work environment. However, the identified challenges of implementing 4IR technologies include low-skilled workers, data privacy issues, data analysis poverty, data management issues and many more. The boom in 4IR technologies calls for intense legislation on sweeping data privacy for regulated tech companies. These findings hold salient implications for policy formulation towards tackling future pandemic outbreaks. Full article

Demographic changes are putting the healthcare industry under pressure. However, while other industries have been able to automate their operation through robotic and autonomous systems, the healthcare sector is still reluctant to change. What makes robotic innovation in healthcare so difficult? Despite offering more efficient, and consumer-friendly care, the assistive robotics market has lacked penetration. To answer this question, we have broken down the development process, taking a market transformation perspective. By interviewing assistive robotics companies at different business stages from France and the UK, this paper identifies new insight into the main barriers of the assistive robotics market that are inhibiting the sector. Their impact is analysed during the different stages of the development, exploring how these barriers affect the planning, conceptualisation and adoption of these solutions. This research presents a foundation for understanding innovation barriers that high-tech ventures face in the healthcare industry, and the need for public policy measures to support these technology-based firms. Full article