Patient journey mapping represents a new way of reasoning about continuity of care, reducing wait times and improving patient safety. Patient journey mapping allows users such as health professionals, patients and policy makers to identify technologies that can be used to support patient care. Patient journey maps allow one to visualize a patient’s journey and at the same time understand, where gaps in patient care exist. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to patient journey mapping for supporting reasoning and decision making about how technological tools could be integrated into a patient’s health journey. The approach allows for reasoning surrounding technologies in the patent’s digital ecosystem.

Dementia and other related diseases are becoming increasingly diagnosed and are placing a serious strain on the healthcare system. Robotic technology research is currently underway to provide the much needed support to patients, caregivers, and health providers. This includes examining the ethical implications of robots use in healthcare. This scoping review explores the current state of the literature regarding robotics and dementia with a special lens on ethics. More specifically, this paper strives to gain an understanding of the current ethical considerations, and propose an intervention for evaluating ethical considerations prior to implementation. This research was conducted using PRISMA guidelines, extracting data from articles. Our findings revealed that further attention to policies and guidelines that are currently in place for general use of the technology should be utilized, and applied specifically to the context where the technology will be used.

Opioid-related harm has become a major public health crisis around the world. There is a paucity of literature that examines the state of mHealth technologies in relation to the prevention and management of opioid-related harm. The purpose of this research is to examine the current state of knowledge with respect to mHealth technologies focused on opioid harm reduction and to identify gaps and technological opportunities. This research was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved the completion of a scoping review in six peer-reviewed research databases and grey literature searches in two search engines. The second phase involved the development of a Patient Journey Map to describe the findings of the scoping review in order to identify mHealth gaps and opportunities in relation to the recovery-oriented cascade of care. For the scoping review, nine articles met the inclusion criteria. These articles focused on accessibility, utilization, acceptability, feasibility and patient outcomes of mHealth interventions. These studies showed mHealth interventions are highly accessible, utilized and acceptable to opioid users, feasible to implement and can improve appointment adherence and patient outcomes. The Patient Journey Map demonstrates future mHealth interventions should focus on the prevention, diagnosis and post-recovery phases of the patient journey.

Dementia and other related diseases causing symptoms of mild cognitive impairment are being increasingly diagnosed. These diseases are placing a significant strain on the healthcare system. Robotic technology research has also been increasing, specifically in the field of healthcare and assisted living. This scoping review explores the research at the intersection of dementia and robotic devices. More specifically, this paper looks at how robots can be used in dementia care to gain a deeper understanding of the potential benefits this technology may have on patient and caregiver lives. This research was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Data were extracted from 13 articles. The researchers found that there is a lack of evidence regarding how robotics can assist patients living with dementia; however, robotic devices can be used by patients to perform some daily tasks in the home.