What is Digital Health? Review of Definitions

Fatehi, Farhad; Samadbeik, Mahnaz; Kazemi, Azar

doi:10.3233/shti200696

Cited by 97 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…A dominant concept in digital health appeared to be mobile health (mHealth), which is related to other concepts such as telehealth, eHealth, and artificial intelligence in healthcare". Improving access to health care services: especially in rural and deprived areas with low (or no) availability of health care services, eHealth tools can enable remote consultations, therapies and rehabilitation [15]. eHealth and digital health will be used in this chapter interchangeably to mean the "use of information and communication technology in health".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Healthcare Access through Digital Health: The Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Al-Shorbaji¹

2022

Healthcare Access

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Healthcare has been going through major digital transformations due to the extensive use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the sector. Many patients lack access to healthcare services due to lack of knowledge of the exitance of the service, physical or mental disability, distance, siege, lockdown and other possible reasons. Access to healthcare services has been impacted by a number of innovations including electronic health record, artificial intelligence, sensors, wearable devices, Internet of (medical) things, Blockchain, big data and other applications. COVID-19 has created new realities in accessing healthcare services through telehealth and telemedicine services as many countries have imposed lockdown and physical distancing. Digital health has been used to empower people, in general and patients in particular, to enable them to access healthcare services at the point of care or remotely. Healthcare professionals have been using digital health to enhance their knowledge, skills and more important to enable them to reach to patients to provide guidance and assistance. Using digital health solutions has a number of challenges which can be legal, ethical, infrastructural, human and material resources, training, education, attitude, cultural, organizational and behavioral. A number of national, regional and international agencies have adopted resolutions and developed strategies to support digital health implementation in countries. This chapter provides few examples to demonstrate how access to healthcare services is being enabled and facilitated by information and communication technology (ICT) through proper national planning of digital health.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Healthcare Access through Digital Health: The Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Al-Shorbaji¹

2022

Healthcare Access

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“…[15] Existing literature reviews performed to date on digital health interventions, defined as electronic systems in medicine and other health professions designed to provide services remotely to manage illness and health risk and promote wellness is key towards universal health coverage, as it provides safe, timely and affordable access to health services for all. [16][17][18] The premise is that digital health interventions can facilitate training, surveillance, and service delivery, and more importantly empower users of digital health to make better informed decisions about their own health in new and innovative ways. [19][20][21][22] Some examples of digital health interventions used in diabetes care include telehealth, game-based support, mobile health (mHealth) as well as patient portals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital health interventions for gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Leblalta¹,

Kebaili

Sim

et al. 2022

PLOS Digit Health

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Good blood glucose control is important to reduce the risk of adverse effects on mothers and their offspring in women with gestational diabetes (GDM). This review examined the impact of using digital health interventions on reported glycaemic control among pregnant women with GDM and its impact on maternal and foetal outcomes. Seven databases were searched from database inception to October 31st, 2021 for randomised controlled trials that examined digital health interventions to provide services remotely for women with GDM. Two authors independently screened and assessed the studies for eligibility for inclusion. Risk of bias was independently assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool. Studies were pooled using random effects model and presented as risk ratio or mean difference with 95% confidence intervals. Quality of evidence was assessed using GRADE framework. Twenty-eight randomised controlled trials that examined digital health interventions in 3,228 pregnant women with GDM were included. Moderate certainty of evidence showed that digital health interventions improved glycaemic control among pregnant women, with lower fasting plasma glucose (mean difference -0.33 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.59 to -0.07), 2-hour post-prandial glucose (-0.49 mmol/L; -0.83 to -0.15) and HbA1c (-0.36%; -0.65 to -0.07). Among those randomised to digital health interventions, there was a lower need for caesarean delivery (Relative risk: 0.81; 0.69 to 0.95; high certainty) and foetal macrosomia (0.67; 0.48 to 0.95; high certainty). Other maternal and foetal outcomes were not significantly different between both groups. Moderate to high certainty evidence support the use of digital health interventions, as these appear to improve glycaemic control and reduce the need for caesarean delivery. However, more robust evidence is needed before it can be offered as a choice to supplement or replace clinic follow up. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO: CRD42016043009.

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“…1 The term "digital health" refers to "proper use of technology for improving the health and wellbeing of people at individual and population levels, as well as enhancing the care of patients through intelligent processing of clinical and genetic data." 2 The benefits of digital health are promising: it might improve efficiency and quality of care provision and reduce the workload of healthcare professionals. 3 With these benefits, it is remarkable that more than half of all digital health technologies do not reach successful implementation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stepwise Design and Evaluation of a Values-Oriented Ambient Intelligence Healthcare Monitoring Platform

Smits

Nacar²,

Ludden

et al. 2022

Value in Health

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Objectives:The majority of all developed digital health technologies do not reach successful implementation. A discrepancy among technology design, the context of use, and user needs and values is identified as the main reason for this failure. Value-sensitive design (VSD) is a design method enabling to align design with user values by embedding values in technology, yet the method is lacking clear heuristics for practical application. To improve the successful design and implementation of digital health, we propose and evaluate a stepwise approach to VSD. Methods:The approach consists of the phases: experiment, demonstrate, and validate. Experiment takes place in an office to create makeshift solutions. Demonstrate takes place in a mock-up environment and aims to optimize design requirements through user feedback. The validate phase takes place in an authentic care situation and studies how the novel technology affects current workflows.Results: We applied the stepwise VSD approach to the design of a hospital-based ambient intelligence solution for remotely and continuously monitoring quality and safety of patient care. We particularly focused on embodiment of the values of safety, privacy, and inclusiveness in the design. Design activities of the experiment and demonstrate phase are discussed.Conclusions: A stepwise approach to VSD enables a design to optimally meet the values of all users involved, while aligning the design process with the practical limitations of healthcare institutions. We discuss some benefits and challenges related to VSD and the potential for transfer of this approach to other digital health solutions.

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What is Digital Health? Review of Definitions

Cited by 97 publications

References 3 publications

Improving Healthcare Access through Digital Health: The Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Improving Healthcare Access through Digital Health: The Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Digital health interventions for gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Stepwise Design and Evaluation of a Values-Oriented Ambient Intelligence Healthcare Monitoring Platform

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