scholarly journals Screening for Atrial Fibrillation and the Role of Digital Health Technologies

Author(s):  
Edward Richardson ◽  
Angela Hall ◽  
Andrew R.J. Mitchell
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iacopo Rubbio ◽  
Manfredi Bruccoleri ◽  
Astrid Pietrosi ◽  
Barbara Ragonese

PurposeIn the healthcare management domain, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the role of resilience practices in improving patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to understand the capabilities that enable healthcare resilience and how digital technologies can support these capabilities.Design/methodology/approachWithin- and cross-case research methodology was used to study resilience mechanisms and capabilities in healthcare and to understand how digital health technologies impact healthcare resilience. The authors analyze data from two Italian hospitals through the lens of the operational failure literature and anchor the findings to the theory of dynamic capabilities.FindingsFive different dynamic capabilities emerged as crucial for managing operational failure. Furthermore, in relation to these capabilities, medical, organizational and patient-related knowledge surfaced as major enablers. Finally, the findings allowed the authors to better explain the role of knowledge in healthcare resilience and how digital technologies boost this role.Practical implicationsWhen trying to promote a culture of patient safety, the research suggests healthcare managers should focus on promoting and enhancing resilience capabilities. Furthermore, when evaluating the role of digital technologies, healthcare managers should consider their importance in enabling these dynamic capabilities.Originality/valueAlthough operations management (OM) research points to resilience as a crucial behavior in the supply chain, this is the first research that investigates the concept of resilience in healthcare systems from an OM perspective, with only a few authors having studied similar concepts, such as “workaround” practices.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Ullah Khan ◽  
Aviv Shachak ◽  
Emily Seto

UNSTRUCTURED The decision to accept or reject new digital health technologies remains an ongoing discussion. Over the past few decades, interest in understanding the choice to adopt technology has led to the development of numerous theories and models. In 1979, however, psychologists Kahneman and Tversky published their seminal research article that has pioneered the field of behavioural economics. They named their model the “prospect theory” and used it to explain decision making behaviours under conditions of risk and uncertainty as well as to provide an understanding of why individuals may make irrational or inconsistent decisions. Although the prospect theory has been used to explain decision making in economics, law, political science, and clinically at the individual level, its application to understanding choice in the adoption of digital health technology has not been explored.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395172110194
Author(s):  
Dillon Wamsley ◽  
Benjamin Chin-Yee

The COVID-19 global pandemic has stretched the capacities of public health institutions and health systems around the world, opening the door to a range of technologically-driven solutions. In this article, we seek to historicize the expanding role of digital health technologies and examine the political-economic context from which they have emerged. Drawing on critical insights from science and technology studies, we maintain that the rise of digital health technologies has been catalyzed by broad shifts in global health governance that have expanded the role of market forces in public health and a unique set of political and economic crises that have accelerated the adoption of digital technologies—often under the guise of appeals to technological innovation to address “unprecedented” crises. These interrelated historical trends, we contend, are critical for understanding current state responses to the pandemic and possibilities for more equitable and democratic applications of technology in public health.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Ullah Khan ◽  
Aviv Shachak ◽  
Emily Seto

UNSTRUCTURED The decision to accept or reject new digital health technologies remains an ongoing discussion. Over the past few decades, interest in understanding the choice to adopt technology has led to the development of numerous theories and models. In 1979, however, psychologists Kahneman and Tversky published their seminal research article that has pioneered the field of behavioural economics. They named their model the “prospect theory” and used it to explain decision making behaviours under conditions of risk and uncertainty as well as to provide an understanding of why individuals may make irrational or inconsistent decisions. Although the prospect theory has been used to explain decision making in economics, law, political science, and clinically at the individual level, its application to understanding choice in the adoption of digital health technology has not been explored. Herein, we discuss how the prospect theory can provide valuable insight on why healthcare patients/clients, technology companies, and policymakers may decide to accept or reject digital health technologies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 633-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Lupton ◽  
Deana Leahy

Objectives: To use the design method of storyboarding to challenge pre-service health education teachers to work together to think creatively and differently about digital health, to introduce pre-service teachers to the method as a pedagogical technique for use in their own classrooms, to experiment with our methods as a design sociology research project and to analyse the materials generated by the participants. Design: Storyboarding, a design research method for engagement and research that invites participants to generate a narrative using images and words, was used. Setting: We conducted a 3-hour workshop using storyboarding as part of an Australian university programme for pre-service health education teachers. Method: Following an introduction to the sociology of digital health and the possibilities of design methods, the pre-service teachers were formed into groups. Each group was provided with guidelines for imagining a new digital health device. They worked in their groups to generate a narrative in a storyboard format that described how this device would be used as part of everyday life. The groups then presented their storyboard to the class. The storyboards provided the research materials for analysing the sociotechnical imaginaries concerning digital health they presented. Results: We found that the storyboarding method worked well as an engaging and creative exercise for the participants and to generate insights for us as researchers on the ways in which they conceptualised and imagined the role of digital health technologies. However, despite attempts to educate the pre-service teachers in critical thinking in the lead-up to the workshop that emphasised the sociocultural and political contexts of health behaviours, their storyboards largely presented visions of digital health technologies that relied on individualistic behaviour change. Conclusion: After reflecting on the process, our conclusions provide some ideas for the way forward in using storyboarding as a transformative pedagogical and research tool.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geronimo Jimenez ◽  
David Matchar ◽  
Gerald Koh Choon Huat ◽  
MJJ Rianne van der Kleij ◽  
Niels H. Chavannes ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Several countries around the world have implemented multicomponent interventions to enhance primary care (PC), as a way of strengthening their health systems to cope with an ageing, chronically ill population, and rising costs. Some of these efforts have included technology-based enhancements as one of their features to support the overall intervention, but their details and impact have not been explored. OBJECTIVE To identify the role of digital/health technologies within wider, multi-feature interventions aimed at enhancing PC, and to describe the type of technologies used, aim and stakeholder, and potential impacts. METHODS A systematic review was performed, following Cochrane guidelines. An electronic search, supplemented with manual and grey literature searches, was conducted to identify multicomponent interventions which included at least one technology-based enhancement. After title/abstract and full text screening, selected articles were assessed for quality based on their study design. A descriptive, narrative synthesis was used for analysis and presentation of results. RESULTS Fourteen out of 37 articles (38%) described the inclusion of a technology-based innovation, as part of their multicomponent interventions to enhance PC. The most common identified technologies were the use of electronic health records, data monitoring technologies and online portals with messaging platforms. The most common aim of these technologies was to improve continuity of care and comprehensiveness, which resulted in increased patient satisfaction, increased PC visits compared to specialist visits, and the provision of more health prevention education and improved prescribing practices. Technologies seem also to increase costs and utilization for some parameters, such as increased consultation costs and increased number of drugs prescribed. CONCLUSIONS Technologies and digital health have not played a major role within comprehensive innovation efforts aimed at enhancing PC, reflecting that these technologies have not yet reached maturity or wider acceptance as a means for improving PC. Stronger policy and financial support is needed, as well as the advocacy of key stakeholders, to encourage the introduction of efficient technological innovations, backed by evidence-based research, so that digital technologies can fulfill the promise of supporting a strong, sustainable primary care.


Heart ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. heartjnl-2020-318262
Author(s):  
James E Tooley ◽  
Marco Valentin Perez

Atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia associated with significant morbidity, mortality and decreased quality of life. Mobile health devices marketed directly to consumers capable of detecting atrial fibrillation through methods including photoplethysmography, single-lead ECG as well as contactless methods are becoming ubiquitous. Large-scale screening for atrial fibrillation is feasible and has been shown to detect more cases than usual care—however, controversy still exists surrounding screening even in older higher risk populations. Given widespread use of mobile health devices, consumer-driven screening is happening on a large scale in both low-risk and high-risk populations. Given that young people make up a large portion of early adopters of mobile health devices, there is the potential that many more patients with early onset atrial fibrillation will come to clinical attention requiring possible referral to genetic arrythmia clinic. Physicians need to be familiar with these technologies, and understand their risks, and limitations. In the current review, we discuss current mobile health devices used to detect atrial fibrillation, recent and upcoming trials using them for diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, practical recommendations for patients with atrial fibrillation diagnosed by a mobile health device and special consideration in young patients.


JAHR ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Grebenshchikova

The digital health industry is developing rapidly: many new subjects are involved in the field of medicine; new opportunities for distant medical services, diagnostics, monitoring of patients’ health, and conducting medical research are emerging; electronic medical documentation is being developed, global medical information databases are being formed, etc. At the same time, the format of doctor-patient relationships is being transformed and new issues and challenges arise that require ethical evaluation. I identified three areas of digital medicine and analyzed issues of confidentiality, informed consent, autonomy and equity in each case. The impact of digital health technologies on the ethical contexts of medicine is uneven: telemedicine possesses the smallest revolutionary potential, which changes the mechanisms of doctor-patient interaction and actualizes issues of cultural differences. mHealth technologies significantly affect patient autonomy and change ways of sharing medical information. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is diverse in medicine, it can depersonalize relationships in medicine, radically change ideas about the role of the doctor and patient, lead to a radical restructuring of the medical care system in the center of which will be the new model of patient interaction with automated medical agents and systems.


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