1

An Overview of the Digitalization of Healthcare: A Review of Related Literature

A Review of Related Literature

Submitted to the Graduate Programs
School of Advanced Studies
Saint Louis University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree Program of Master in Information Technology

Submitted by:
Kimberlyn Fernando
[email protected]
MIT II

February 2022
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ABSTRACT
This paper had highlighted the critical aspects of digital healthcare and its application in healthcare settings.
The current state and the issues and challenges associated with the technologies were also identified. It was
found that they are still relatively new, with issues still focused on accuracy, design, and security and
privacy. Nevertheless, the good thing about the issues and challenges in digital healthcare is that they can
be managed and resolved by several emerging technologies: security and privacy through blockchain and
cloud computing, accuracy through the use of AI techniques, and lastly, design through the use of UI/UX,
and progressive web applications (PWAs). And with already a variety of types, it is essential to note that
implementing the tools in digital healthcare is not anticipated to replace medical professionals but instead
to complement the existing systems through support in the medical interventions.
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1 INTRODUCTION appointments and launch new measures to control

the spread of infections. Aside from that, the
Traditionally, in the healthcare sector, increasing number of infected patients had to be
individuals ask for medical advice whenever they adequately managed to reduce their contact with
spot new symptoms and, after that, go to a other patients, which necessitated the
personal checkup with a practitioner. Now, more reconfiguring of workflows in the actual hospital
than ever, advancements in the field of settings.
information technology have led to remarkable
progress in various technological forms. For These challenges then demand the need
instance, the conjunction of information and, at the same time, present opportunities for
technology and medicine remodels healthcare to digital innovation. However, using these tools to
more advanced generations with subsequent serve such a purpose still remains a challenge.
efficient and accurate applications. The concept was already present as early as the
start of the new millennium, but it wasn’t until
This convergence, or the so-called recently that it was realized; for this reason, it
"digital healthcare,'' is revolutionizing the sector represents a promising focus for research. For
as it diverges from the conventional healthcare instance, for approximately 601 Google Scholar
management methods for more personalized search results about digital healthcare with the
monitoring and treatment methods (Awad et al., applications of the different emerging
2021). According to Arden et al. (2021), the technologies, only a portion of that sum will
concept of digital healthcare harbors the excellent tackle and cover the issues and challenges and the
potential for improving the diagnosis of diseases key enabling technologies that can cater to it.
and the empowerment of patients to have better While some journal articles address them and
control over their health. Aside from that, identify their causes, others barely even mention
numerous opportunities can also be made to them.
improve further the facilitation of the prevention,
diagnosis, and management of diseases and Hence, this review highlights the critical
conditions beyond their traditional counterparts. aspects of digital healthcare and its application in
healthcare settings. Based on the rapidly
At present, a part of research in the new changing nature of digital healthcare, this paper
industrial era is focused on improving healthcare will also focus on assessing its usability and serve
system services (Habeeb, 2017). In Tuli et al.'s as an initial foundation for creating processes to
(2020) study, the number of patients, types of identify relevant entities in the field. It shall also
analysis, the number of data to be processed, and contribute to the rising body of knowledge about
response time requirements are becoming more digital healthcare by illustrating clearly its
demanding. Various novel diseases are being operational efficiency, thereby contributing to its
discovered every day, new treatments and cures improvement in the future.
need to be processed. Hence, digital healthcare
needs to be developed and deployed using robust This review will focus on answering the
and scalable technology that provides high- following questions:
quality results in the least time.
1. What are the types of digital healthcare
The COVID-19 pandemic has further technologies?
highlighted the importance and use of digital and 2. What are the issues and challenges
remote medical tools. Gunasekeran et al. (2021) associated with the use of digital
suggested that the overall worldwide response to healthcare?
the pandemic has showcased how technological 3. What emerging technologies can solve
innovation can be quickly integrated into existing the identified issues and challenges?
systems with ease. Given the pandemic,
healthcare systems had to reorganize patients to
significantly reduce the number of face-to-face
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2 METHODOLOGIES digital healthcare, latest status of digital

healthcare.
2.1 Defining Search String
1. A research journal article should be
The findings of this paper were based on published from 2016 to 2022 only.
published studies collected mainly from Google 2. Only journal articles were obtained, and
Scholar and other databases like ScienceDirect
other types were excluded.
ResearchGate, and Semantic Scholar. The
keywords used to search for the helpful journal
articles were a combination of digital healthcare, 2.2 Finding Out the Types of Digital
connected healthcare, types of digital healthcare, Healthcare
digital healthcare issues, and solutions.
By reviewing the collected journal
2.1.1 Filtering of Results articles, the types of digital healthcare were found
explicitly by studying the different journal
The journal articles collected from the articles that discussed them.
initial searches in the following electronic
publishing database used a set of criteria to break 2.2.1 State-of-the-art Review
down the number of the relevant journal articles
This paper presents a state-of-the-art
in the review. The selected criteria include
review of the most current studies and the
searching for the most relevant article:
emerging technologies in the field of digital
1. Research journal articles were obtained healthcare. As such, this will also provide an
from reputable peer-reviewed journal overview of existing research that identifies the
database libraries. potential for future studies of the types of digital
2. A research journal should focus on healthcare.
digital healthcare and its status, issues,
2.3 Identifying the Issues and Challenges
and challenges.
associated with the use of Digital Healthcare
3. Furthermore, the emerging technologies
that can address digital healthcare's
The issues and challenges associated
associated issues and challenges were
with digital healthcare were identified and
also included.
discussed after reviewing and looking at the
4. A research journal provides a
collected journal articles from a wide variety of
comprehensive review of how the said
electronic database sources.
technologies will give feasible solutions
to the issues and challenges.
2.3.1 Advanced Search
The search for the different variety of
Advanced research about the issues and
publishing databases was presented in a table
challenges of digital healthcare was done by
with the number of results respective.
doing an extensive search for all feasible and
related information regarding the issues. All
2.1.2 Refined Search
collected research journal articles that discussed
the issues and challenges of digital healthcare
After the general search and filtering, a
were furtherly reviewed by going over the cited
more specific and refined search was performed
references.
to obtain the best possible results. The keywords
used to further search for the helpful journal
The collected journal studies from the
articles were a combination of digital healthcare
different electronic database sources were picked
2016-2022, types of digital healthcare, digital
out based on the given set of criteria to select and
healthcare issues, emerging technology for
filter the best suitable and relevant journal articles
for the findings of the issues.
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2.4 Determining the Solutions for Digital utilized further to filter the results of the searched
Healthcare Issues and Challenges journal articles.

The collected journal articles regarding The number of results shown in the table
the issues and challenges of digital healthcare is the total number of filtered articles. In these
were reviewed, and each issue listed was further results, the desired and best suitable articles were
studied to understand and cite the best solution chosen. Not all searched articles were reviewed,
for them. All possible solutions to the issues but only those met the set criteria.
discussed were further reviewed and researched.
The results are shown in Table 2.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 2. Refined Search Result
3.1 Search String Result
Research Database
In Table 1, the list of research databases
where journal articles were retrieved and the
corresponding number of results were presented. Research Database Filtered Results

Table 1. Search String Filtered Result

Google Scholar 262

Research Database Filtered Results

Science Direct 492

Google Scholar 33, 600

Science Direct 44, 500 Semantic Scholar 502

ResearchGate 9, 510
Semantic Scholar 3, 970

3.1 Types of Digital Healthcare Technologies

ResearchGate 36, 000
As Duggal and his team (2018) defined,
digital healthcare encompasses several different
technologies, including wearable devices, mobile
Presented in table 1 is the result of the healthcare applications, electronic medical
search processes of the collected journal articles records (EMRs), electronic health records
for this study. The used criteria for this search (EHRs), and telehealth and telemedicine.
were found from 2.1.1 Filtering of Results.

A set of criteria using 2.1.2 Refined Search to 3.1.1 Wearable Devices

narrow the search down and select the best-
related articles for this study. The given keywords According to the study of Ismailova et al.
and the desired journal relevance were also (2018), the development of innovative wearable
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devices has raised much more attention and vary greatly, these sensors and wearable
interest in new means of data collection in devices can be a big part of digital healthcare.
healthcare and biopharmaceutical research and
development. Table 3 shows a list of device types of
wearable devices with the data collected from the
Wearable devices or wearable patients and a sample application for wearable
technology has developed into a viable tool that applications associated with wearable devices.
gives people low-cost clinically-sensitive
information for better assessment of patients Table 3. Sample Applications of Wearable
(Godfrey et al., 2018). They are generally Devices
categorized into two subtypes: primary and
secondary. On the one hand, the primary Device Type Type of Applications
wearable devices are those that independently Data
operate and function as the main connectors for Collected
other devices. These include devices like
smartphones and fitness trackers worn on the Wrist-Worn Actigraphy, Actiwatch
wrists. On the other hand, secondary wearable HR (Heart Spectrum by
devices are those that take note of the specific Rate), BP Phillips
actions and perform the measurements of certain (Blood
medical parameters. Pressure), ActiGraph
EDA Link by
Because of their ability to obtain and (Electroder ActiGraph
keep information and even to perform complex mal
calculations in real-life settings, it really was not activity) E4 by
long until this technology became integrated into Empatica
the medical field. As such, it has been regarded as
a helpful tool that aids in the pre-assessment of ViSi Mobile by
patients and the treatment process and the Sotera Wireless
management of their signs and symptoms
(Godfrey et al., 2018). Unlike their conventional
testing counterparts, which may be done a few Skin patch ECG BioStampRC
times a year, these devices give continuous access (Electrocard by MC10
to the real-time health information of a patient. iography),
This now allows the detection of some deviations actigraphy, HealthPatch by
from a person’s physiological measurements. At skin Vital Connect
present, most wearable devices can obtain temperature
information about the user’s heart rate, activity BodyGuardian
level, and sleeping time. Moreover, they could by Preventice
also monitor the recovery of patients who are
undergoing treatments at their own homes (Ates
et al., 2021). Clothing HR, HRV Smart shirts by
embedded (Heart Rate Hexoskin
Table 3 was adapted from the Izmailova sensors Variability),
et al. (2018) study. Their study has discussed ECG,
several innovative developments of wearable Breathing
technologies that have raised a lot of research Rate,
interest. According to then, all sensor devices actigraphy
are being developed and built to monitor and
communicate data in real-time continuously.
Although majority, assurance, and quality all
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3.1.2 Mobile Healthcare Apps medication intakes that

need to be monitored
The advancement of mobile phone
(Gan et al., 2016).
technologies is enabling the rise of mobile
healthcare delivery. The use of the internet and
the advancements of mobile applications now
offer anywhere and anytime connectivity and
play an essential role in the modernization of Web WebMD healthcare app
healthcare solutions. Mobile devices are used by is used to check
doctors, nurses, and other healthcare symptoms, set
professionals to interact with patients’ medication reminders,
information, databases, and resources. allergy tracker, partner
with pharmacies for
According to Sadiku et al. (2017), mobile prescriptions, and have
health or mHealth refers to the practice of a doctor directory
medicine using mobile devices such as mobile feature. Users can
phones, tablets, computers, and wearable devices. access the app for web
Healthcare can take advantage of the different health information and
technologies to enhance health services. decision support tools
Technologies like mobile applications can (Vasilevskis et al.,
improve the efficiency of healthcare information 2018).
management systems and upgrade the patient’s
service quality (Lin et al., 2021). Apple Health This Health app collects
health data from any
Apple Products. This
Table 4 shows a list of sample app can immediately
applications of Mobile Healthcare Applications count the user’s walking
with their uses and importance. Nowadays, users and running distances.
opt to use mobile applications because they serve And, if they have an
as immediate communication between the patient Apple Watch, it
and doctor, manage and stream 24/7 the patient’s automatically tracks the
health status effectively. Personalized healthcare user’s activity data.
apps enable remote monitoring of patients, Apple Health Record is
diagnosis, early detection, diseases prevention, a feature of Apple
and other types of illness management (Haghi et Health that incorporates
al., 2021). health care data from
different health care
Table 4: Sample Applications of Mobile sources and allows
Healthcare Apps users to see integrated
data concurrently
Application Use (Rolnick et al., 2022).

Medisafe Medisafe is used to get

personalized reminders 3.1.3 Electronic Medical Records and Electronic
for each medication Health Records
and vital drug Prior to the rise of modern-day
interaction warnings. technologies, paper-based systems dominated the
This app is mainly used systems to store medical records. Not only were
for the elderly and they insecure, inefficient, and unorganized, they
those with multiple were also not tamper-proof; thus, the data were
very vulnerable to duplication. Thanks to
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modernization, there has been a dramatic yet specialties to

positive shift in the way medical records is
streamline their
managed, in the form of electronic medical
operations and
records (EMR) (Jetley and Zhang, 2019).
provide more
Shahnaz et al. (2019) further supported this by significant healthcare.
saying that by combining both the paper-based
It offers charting,
and the electronic-based systems, EMRs are used
documentation,
to manage clinical notes and laboratory results.
revenue management,
By helping prevent errors and improving access
and health analytics
to the patients' medical information, EMRs are a
(Warren et al., 2019).
sure way to enhance the safety of patients.

On the other hand, an Electronic Health

Record (EHR) is an electronic record like a Allscripts Allscripts is a vendor
patient portal that can be described as an online of electronic health
application or system connected to a healthcare record systems for
organization's electronic health record system physician practices,
(Crameri et al., 2022). In terms of their hospitals, and
differences, EMR is unlikely to follow when a healthcare systems
patient shifts from one doctor to another, whereas (Schreiber et al.,
an EHR is otherwise; it can facilitate such shifts 2017).
and thus provide a better view of a patient’s
health. 3.1.4 Telehealth and Telemedicine
Table 5 shows a table that lists the sample Last but not least are telehealth and
systems of EHR and EMR and their uses. telemedicine. These two expand the availability
of access and expertise to healthcare, thus,
Table 5: Sample Systems of Electronic Medical improving the scope of healthcare systems. A
Records and Electronic Health Records classic example is in ophthalmology, wherein
remote screening can be done through eye
imaging based on color fundus photographs and
Systems Use further enhanced by teleconsultation between
healthcare professionals and patients. This
teleconsultation can be done through either video
Epic Systems Epic Systems is one of conferencing or messaging (Nguyen et al., 2016;
the largest providers Kalra et al., 2020).
of health information
technology, used It is pointed out that when compared to
primarily by large their real-time counterparts, telehealth and
U.S. hospitals and telemedicine offer lower operating costs
health systems to compared to their real-time counterparts because
access, organize, store that information from the patients is safely stored
and share electronic and allows the healthcare provider to review them
medical records at their convenience. Aside from that, the hassle
(Scalia et al., (2021). brought about by the dedicated and face-to-face
appointments and the possibility of disruptions
Cerner Cerner is a cloud- (e.g., technical difficulties and equipment
based EHR software troubleshooting) is also avoided with these
used by health technologies. Table 6 shows the lists of sample
organizations of systems of telehealth and telemedicine with their
various sizes and uses.
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Table 6: Sample Systems of Telehealth and headaches, and fever

Telemedicine
(McCrenery et al.,
2019).
Systems Use
3.3 Issues and Challenges Associated with
Teladoc Health Teladoc Health is an Digital Healthcare
integrated virtual care
system for delivering, Despite their already-advanced states,
enabling, and issues and challenges still affect digital
empowering whole healthcare. These challenges are crucial for future
person's health. From digital healthcare use to provide a safer and better
the overall wellness quality of service for patients. In this section,
and prevention to acute these issues and challenges will be discussed.
care to complex
healthcare needs a. Security and Privacy
(Uscher-Pines et al., According to studies, almost millions of
2016). personal health records on the internet are being
stolen worldwide every day. They are susceptible
and valuable pieces of information because they
With this platform, are based on centralized systems that are very
SnapMD various consultations prone to security vulnerabilities (Idrees et al.,
can be conducted using 2021; Sharma et al., 2020).
video, audio, or even Similarly, Rault et al. (2017) mentioned
text message that mobile healthcare apps also have a major
communication drawback. In particular, this technology poses
between doctors and serious disadvantages in data processing delay
patients. SnapMD and accuracy. In addition to that, most
offers their Virtual researchers think that a lot of factors make it
Care Management discouraging to let healthcare professionals adapt
product, designed to to mobile healthcare applications. These include
offer an encrypted, the medical implementation, the thorough
HIPAA compliant understanding of the technology, its usability per
connection (Wider, se, and the lack of medical adaptation for patients'
2017) individual needs.

HealthTap HealthTap virtual For the security and privacy of wearable

consultations can be devices, users can be exposed to various threats
used for limited when using wearable technology. The
primary medical and communication for data exchange between the
mental health care, server and the wearable devices tends to be so
including health complex, making the paths vulnerable to security
information diagnosis, attacks (e.g., privacy hacking, leaking of personal
prescriptions, and information) (Zhang et al., 2020). For mobile
treatment plans. Some healthcare apps, the security concerns in these
of the most common apps repel people from using them. Their privacy
medical complaints policies contain a lot of jargon that an average
HealthTap doctors can person is unaware of, thus, making them
help with include vulnerable to attacks (Feldner and Jung, 2019).
allergies, infections, According to Keshta and Odeh (2020), data
breaches are the main privacy and security issue
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in electronic medical and electronic health records and electronic health records, the copy
records. This usually happens when and paste functionalities are seen as one of the
unpreventable systemic identifications happen in causes of accuracy issues. In some cases, clinical
the electronic infrastructure that monitors patient information can sometimes become inaccurate
healthcare data. Lastly, because telehealth and because of these functions, thereby resulting in
telemedicine entail the connection of different incorrect diagnoses (Yadav et al., 2017; McBride
devices through networks, their vulnerability to et al., 2018). Lastly, for telehealth and
security and privacy-related attacks increases telemedicine, limited data is shared in the current
along with their complexity. Furthermore, and existing systems for telehealth and
telehealth and telemedicine have threats affecting telemedicine, thus making it difficult for
the systems' confidentiality, reliability, and organizations to manage silos of patient health
availability (Marquez et al., 2019; Razali and records (Ahmad et al., 2021).
Jamil, 2020).
c. Design
b. Accuracy The design issue has sub-components,
According to Alotaibi (2020), accuracy is such as the lack of documentation and API.
one of the main drawbacks of the digital According to Wahlstrom in 2017, the issues in the
healthcare system. The accuracy issue pertains to design and responsiveness of the interface affect
how accurate and reliable the information or the usability of healthcare system applications.
content is presented in the application. Because Since healthcare applications are marketed
the content in healthcare system applications is towards patients and medical authorities, the
usually based on more than one source of application's usability is important as they are
information, the platform's accuracy should be constantly under pressure and hectic times. Thus,
high enough to be a reliable source; if not, issues the application's design should be user-friendly
such as misinformation, misdiagnosis, and easy to follow (Magomadov, 2020; Lee et al.,
miscommunication, and data inconsistency will 2018). Another issue under consideration of
occur. design is the lack of documentation; this might be
The study of Guan (2019) stated that, because of the fact that a lot of newly developed
even though reports have been claiming that web technology was used, which not always were
systems are more reliable and accurate, concerns that extensively covered in the documentation
regarding this still entail an accuracy issue. This (Gambhir and Raj, 2018).
is in the context of diagnosing, which does not, of
course, will apply to all patients. The issue of In terms of design, wearable devices,
accuracy also affects the reliability of the mobile healthcare applications, EMRs and EHRs,
application, which is the misuse of medical and Telehealth and Telemedicine all have the
knowledge in the case of health care applications same issue: it is not yet well-studied whether their
(Adetunji et al., 2020). designs are properly applied and whether their
user adoption is well-facilitated (Bowman et al.,
In wearable devices, accuracy can be an 2021). Also, the implementation of the design of
issue when observed statistical differences these technologies is the misuse of medical
between the recorded data and the actual knowledge inadequate due to a lack of a better
readings. Such deviation in the results can be due understanding of the relationship between
to the device's high sensitivity and, sometimes, technologies between user experience and values
biocompatibility (Nasiri and Khosravani, 2020). (Osmanlliu et al., 2021; Aldekhyyel et al., 2021).
The same is true for mobile healthcare apps,
wherein false diagnoses can occur due to the lack
of precision and accuracy. For instance, one good 3.4. Solutions to the Issues and Challenges
example of such error occurred in almost 1400
patients that were either partially or permanently The good thing about the issues and
injured due to malfunctions in apps (Yaacoub et challenges in digital healthcare is that they can be
al., 2020). Surprisingly for electronic medical managed and be catered to by several emerging
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technologies. The rise of new technologies is named healthbank uses blockchain technology to
inevitable in the near future, and it is expected to handle the approach of data handling and
improve the healthcare sector. And while there transactions, including sharing personal health
are a variety of these emerging technologies, the data. This startup offers users a platform to store
ones mentioned in this paper are found to be the and manage their health information in a very
most suitable solutions that can resolve the secure environment. Using blockchain
mentioned issues and challenges (Ter-Akopov et technology, personally generated health data can
al., 2019). securely be retrieved from health apps, wearable
devices, or physician visits.
(Table 7 summarizes the issues and challenges
associated with digital healthcare use and the In their study, Khan et al. (2020)
solutions that can be implemented.) mentioned an example of a blockchain
application, Patient Master Identifier (MPI). This
is used as a single unit identifier for healthcare
a. Security and Privacy professionals and as an application for settling
claims to eligible patients and detecting fraud. All
For the issue of Security and Privacy, of these are possible even without the
according to the study of Reeves and his involvement of patients and the actual detection.
colleagues (2022), the most significant challenge For the latter, every transaction is verified for
they have encountered in their implementation of legitimacy, making it more private and secure.
the digital healthcare system is how to balance Blockchain can be used to create a comprehensive
ease of access, maintain the security of contact and effective database processing system that will
information while continuing to preserve clinical contain important data related to medication,
team members’ time, and reducing cognitive diagnosis, tests, and patient records. Blockchain
load. In Ali and his colleagues (2021) study, can facilitate the real-time uploading of
personal health records are the most targeted healthcare data. Also, the transactions among the
records and are considered very valuable and patients and the medical providers themselves
sensitive data. The security and the privacy of that build personal blockchain networks can
health records are the most valuable parameters maintain data security. With this, it can be said
of cryptography and encryption. In a similar that blockchain is of tremendous help in
study, Ejaz et al. (2021) said that the future of managing pharmaceutical repositories and
quality healthcare systems requires a very medicine proper (Khan et al., 2022). Healthcare
secured, trusted, and active service to ensure data is a moneymaking target for hackers; thus, a
effective service delivery. secure, protected healthcare data transaction is
needed (Massaro, 2021)
One technology that can provide
solutions to these problems in healthcare is
blockchain. According to Fusco and his
colleagues (2020), blockchain technology is a
way to ensure cryptographically secured data
exchanges between two or more parties. Their
study mentioned that the opportunity of
blockchain had created widespread interest in the
scientific research community, which aims
basically to facilitate interaction between various
secured networks; in this way, blockchain will
ensure trusted decentralized activities such as
asset and message exchanges in between.

While according to the study of Mettler et

al. (2016), a global Swiss digital health startup
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Table 7. Solutions for the Stated Issues and Challenges of Digital Healthcare Use

Issues and Suggested Solution How are Issues and Challenges Addressed References
Challenges

Security and Privacy Blockchain Using blockchain, a comprehensive and effective database Reeves et al., 2022;
processing system can be created. Ali et al., 2021;
Ejaz et al., 2021;
Fusco et al., 2020;
Mettler et al., 2016;
Khan et al., 2020;
Security in cloud computing is delivered in numerous levels of Khan et al., 2022;
Cloud Computing control in a given network infrastructure. Massaro, 2021;
Chenthara et al., 2019;
Navale et al., 2018;
Al-Issa.,2019;
Wang et al., 2021

Accuracy AI Techniques By implementing Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning and Beaulieu et al., 2021;
Deep Learning can perform better in the classification of images, Ahuja, 2019;
text, speech analysis features of digital healthcare. Mansour et al., 2021;
Kamruzzaman, 2020;
Davenport et al., 2019;
Haleem et al., 2019;
Lee et al., 2021;
Challen et al., 2019

Design UI/UX Design UI/UX considers the synchronization of the elements that affect Bitkina et al., 2020;
and influence user behaviors and beliefs. Fauzi et al., 2021;
Cesario et al., 2021
Progressive Web Through PWAs, the functionalities of a website can be accessed Tandel et al., 2018
Application easier, and data loading is also faster.
 13

importantly, security in cloud computing is

Another technology that is of great help delivered in numerous levels of control in given
in resolving issues related to privacy and security network infrastructure (Wang et al., 2021).
is Cloud Computing. According to Chenthara and
her colleagues (2019), cloud computing is an b. Accuracy
emerging technology in digital technology that is
popularly used in the healthcare industry. Cloud Under the issue of Accuracy, the use of
computing not only provides convenient storage more accurate medical data and the proper
of healthcare data but also facilitates the exchange integration of AI in digital healthcare systems will
of medical data between users. Using cloud provide a better accurate result. Implementing an
computing services, digital healthcare effective architecture of the digital healthcare
architecture types can be public, private, hybrid, system using Artificial Intelligence (AI) will offer
and community, depending on the stored data. an improvement to the healthcare system industry
Since healthcare data stored in any digital (Beaulieu and Bentahar, 2021). According to the
healthcare type is confidential, sensitive patient study of Arora (2020), systems using artificial
information, and typically housed in a third-party intelligence can be predicted to surpass the
server, access control mechanisms are required. massive advancements not only in scientific
Thus, data privacy security technologies like research but in electronic patient records and
access control in cloud computing can be digital/online consultations.
proposed.
Also, the study of Ahuja (2019)
Now, more than ever, medical practice suggested that the integration of Machine
and medical knowledge are expanding, and for Learning and Deep Learning improves the
this reason, being able to post and share these via performance of AI in terms of image
cloud computing has become widespread. classification, text analysis, and speech and facial
According to Navale et al. (2018), cloud recognition. While in the study of Mansour et al.
computing applications that cater to healthcare (2021), during their experimentation regarding
include telemedicine, teleconsultation, public the diagnosis of heart disease and diabetes, the
health, patient self-management, hospital accuracy of Artificial Intelligence diagnosis has
management, information systems, therapy, and exceeded the accuracy level due to the recent
secondary use of data. According to Al-Issa and improvement and discovery under AI. In a similar
colleagues (2019), the use of the cloud has several study, Kamruzzaman (2020) concluded that the
advantages like improvement of patient care recent developments of AI could be used to
because patient data is available anytime and produce detection of cancers in the early stages,
anywhere for medical professionals, lesser costs finding the genetic code linkages, developing new
incurred because the need for the purchase of drugs, and other healthcare system purposes with
expensive hardware and software is eliminated, a good level of accuracy. The most complex
savings in energy bill because gone is the need for forms of machine learning involve neural
data center premises, better disaster recovery, it network models or the so-called deep learning.
can provide a promising avenue for medical and One of its most common applications involves
disease control research, help in solving the recognizing potentially cancerous lesions in
scarcity of resources, and many more. radiologic results. The combination of machine
learning and deep learning provides greater
The cloud architecture can be divided accuracy in terms of diagnosis (Davenport and
into four layers: data center, infrastructure, Kalakota, 2019). This technology improves the
platform, and application. Cloud computing coverage of healthcare and gives a better quality
services provide the possibility for users to access of healthcare at a lower cost (Haleem et al., 2019).
and process information anytime and anywhere.
And using a lot of cloud resources can reduce In a study, Lee and Yoon (2021)
costs and improve resource utilization efficiency, suggested that another advantage of using AI in
and, most especially, improve security. More healthcare is improving the accuracy of the
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diagnoses of diseases and dramatically speeding through the reference URL (Tandel et al., 2018).
up analyses. For instance, in processes that take a In the healthcare setting, healthcare providers can
great deal amount of time, like analyzing cancer greatly benefit from its design and access the
cells, AI-based software can expedite the process website's functionalities. Ultimately, it guarantees
with even better accuracy and, at the same time, faster data loading because it uses microservice
prevent possible errors. And interestingly, AI- technologies such as APIs (Cesario et al., 2021).
based software can get “smarter” with learning by
increasing the volume of medical information in
them. Furthermore, the ongoing studies being 4 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE
done in AI systems are there to help prevent the DIRECTIONS
occurrence of any medical errors in patient
treatment. This paper has provided a map of the
different emerging technologies in the field of
Although the advancements of emerging digital healthcare, as well as the types of digital
technologies to accuracy problems of digital healthcare and its issues and challenges affecting
healthcare are quite massive, this is yet a fertile them. Now, more than ever, medical practice and
area of research. Fortunately, the rapid change of medical knowledge are expanding, and it is for
pace in the technologies, including the diverse these very reasons that these issues arise, but
techniques of AI and other technologies, can thanks to the different emerging technologies,
improve over time. Still, some improvements can these issues and challenges can easily be resolved
be made in the near future for the accuracy by suitable solutions. In the future, each intended
problems in the digital healthcare field (Challen application of digital healthcare needs to be
et al., 2019). meticulously and continuously evaluated due to
the ever-changing operational conditions
c. Design between different organizations and over time.
Lastly, for the issue of design. User
Interaction and User Experience, UI/UX is of
great advantage in the healthcare settings because
they not only take into consideration the
interaction and experience the product provides
for the patients and healthcare providers, but they
also consider the synchronization of the elements
that affect and influence their behaviors and
beliefs. Hence, when healthcare applications do
not consider them, the outcome can be highly
detrimental to their very own purposes (Bit kina
et al., 2020). Fauci et al. (2021) added that
creating UI or UX designs would give a unique
solution experience as an alternative design
interface for a better and more satisfying user
experience. And this is where designers should
focus on.
Last but not least is a progressive web
application (PWA) created to implement cross-
platform software that is extensible across several
electronic devices (e.g., computers, smartphones,
tablets, etc.). Unlike their classical counterparts,
PWAs will act like native apps on devices, thus
allowing the functionalities with all the browsers
 15

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