Recent advancements in Virtual Reality (VR) immersive technologies provide new tools for the development of novel and promising applications for neurological rehabilitation. The purpose of this paper is to review the emerging VR applications developed for the evaluation and treatment of patients with neurological diseases. We start by discussing the impact of novel VR tasks that encourage and facilitate the patient's empowerment and involvement in the rehabilitation process. Then, a systematic review was carried out on six well-known electronic libraries using the terms: "Virtual Reality AND Neurorehabilitation," or "Head Mounted Display AND Neurorehabilitation." This review focused on fully-immersive VR systems for which 12 relevant studies published in the time span of the last five years (from 2014 to 2019) were identified. Overall, this review paper examined the use of VR in certain neurological conditions such as dementia, stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis. Most of the studies reveal positive results suggesting that VR is a feasible and effective tool in the treatment of neurological disorders. In addition, the finding of this systematic literature review suggested that low-cost, immersive VR technologies can prove to be effective for clinical rehabilitation in healthcare, and home-based setting with practical implications and uses. The development of VR technologies in recent years has resulted in more accessible and affordable solutions that can still provide promising results. Concluding, VR and interactive devices resulted in the development of holistic, portable, accessible, and usable systems for certain neurological disease interventions. It is expected that emerging VR technologies and tools will further facilitate the development of state of the art applications in the future, exerting a significant impact on the wellbeing of the patient.

The European Union (EU)'s keen concern about citizens' health and well-being protection and advancement has been expressed at all levels. It has been understood that at present, it can only be achieved through coordinated actions at the individual member states' level based on EU directives, as well as through promoting and funding quadruple helix R&D and expanding the use of eHealth technologies. Despite the diversities and particularities among member states, common values such as universal access to good quality healthcare, equity and solidarity have been widely accepted across EU. That demanded the adoption of policies and follow directives, which streamlined actions to bridge healthcare gaps, and facilitate cross-border healthcare. This paper articulates a framework for deriving a national healthcare system, based on interoperable Electronic Health Record (EHR) with safeguarding healthcare quality, enabling quadruple helix driven R&D and guided by a patient-centered approach. A methodology to develop an integrated EHR at National level is proposed as a prerequisite for eHealth and put into perspective. Recommendations are given for the steps needed, from the managerial, legal, technical and financial concerns in developing an open access, patient-centered national healthcare system based on the context and constraints of a country. The example of a small country to apply the proposed methodology is demonstrated. Stakeholders, including citizens, healthcare professionals, academia and the industry are mobilized, enabled, and incentivized for implementing the methodology. Experiences are aspired to be offered as lessons learned for other countries to adapt on their environment.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in designing nonpharmacological interventions to improve the quality of life for People with Dementia (PwD) who face motor impairments. This paper investigates the feasibility of using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for the rehabilitation of 20 patients with moderate to severe dementia residing in a confined psychiatric hospital and discusses the impact of this interactions on motor training. To accomplish this, we present three interrelated studies that refer to: (1) System requirement analysis carried out through a workshop with experts in dementia care; (2) System interaction method assessment by testing two different types of interaction in Virtual Reality, to identify the most suitable for People with Dementia; and (3) A pilot study with patients performing three upper limb physiotherapy tasks in Virtual Reality. The issues encountered during the design, testing and execution of the experimental tasks are discussed and a set of guidelines and recommendations for the future deployment of VR in healthcare services is provided.

The implementation of an integrated Electronic Health Record at National level, as a prerequisite for a patient-centered eHealth environment is evidently demonstrated.