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Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, is the application of healthcare measures to prevent diseases. Disease and disability are affected by environmental factors, genetic predisposition, disease agents, and lifestyle choices, and are dynamic processes that begin before individuals realize they are affected. Disease prevention relies on anticipatory actions that can be categorized as primal, primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.
Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and remote admissions. Telemedicine is sometimes used as a synonym, or is used in a more limited sense to describe remote clinical services, such as diagnosis and monitoring. When rural settings, lack of transport, a lack of mobility, conditions due to outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, decreased funding, or a lack of staff restrict access to care, telehealth may bridge the gap as well as provide distance-learning; meetings, supervision, and presentations between practitioners; online information and health data management and healthcare system integration. Telehealth could include two clinicians discussing a case over video conference; a robotic surgery occurring through remote access; physical therapy done via digital monitoring instruments, live feed and application combinations; tests being forwarded between facilities for interpretation by a higher specialist; home monitoring through continuous sending of patient health data; client to practitioner online conference; or even videophone interpretation during a consult.
eHealth describes healthcare services which are supported by digital processes, communication or technology such as electronic prescribing, Telehealth, or Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The use of electronic processes in healthcare dated back to at least the 1990s. Usage of the term varies as it covers not just "Internet medicine" as it was conceived during that time, but also "virtually everything related to computers and medicine". A study in 2005 found 51 unique definitions. Some argue that it is interchangeable with health informatics with a broad definition covering electronic/digital processes in health while others use it in the narrower sense of healthcare practice using the Internet. It can also include health applications and links on mobile phones, referred to as mHealth or m-Health. Key components of eHealth include electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine, health information exchange, mobile health applications, wearable devices, and online health information. These technologies enable healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders to access, manage, and exchange health information more effectively, leading to improved communication, decision-making, and overall healthcare outcomes.
Public health surveillance is, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), "the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data needed for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice." Public health surveillance may be used to track emerging health-related issues at an early stage and find active solutions in a timely manner. Surveillance systems are generally called upon to provide information regarding when and where health problems are occurring and who is affected.
In medicine, patient compliance describes the degree to which a patient correctly follows medical advice. Most commonly, it refers to medication or drug compliance, but it can also apply to other situations such as medical device use, self care, self-directed exercises, or therapy sessions. Both patient and health-care provider affect compliance, and a positive physician-patient relationship is the most important factor in improving compliance. Access to care plays a role in patient adherence, whereby greater wait times to access care contributing to greater absenteeism. The cost of prescription medication also plays a major role.
A chronic condition is a health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that comes with time. The term chronic is often applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months. Common chronic diseases include diabetes, functional gastrointestinal disorder, eczema, arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, autoimmune diseases, genetic disorders and some viral diseases such as hepatitis C and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. An illness which is lifelong because it ends in death is a terminal illness. It is possible and not unexpected for an illness to change in definition from terminal to chronic. Diabetes and HIV for example were once terminal yet are now considered chronic due to the availability of insulin for diabetics and daily drug treatment for individuals with HIV which allow these individuals to live while managing symptoms.
In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. Biomarkers are used in many scientific fields.
Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and hygiene. Self-care is not only a solo activity, as the community—a group that supports the person performing self-care—overall plays a role in access to, implementation of, and success of self-care activities.
Telepsychiatry or telemental health refers to the use of telecommunications technology to deliver psychiatric care remotely for people with mental health conditions. It is a branch of telemedicine.
An e-patient is a health consumer who participates fully in their own medical care, primarily by gathering information about medical conditions that impact them and their families, using the Internet and other digital tools. The term encompasses those who seek guidance for their own ailments, and the friends and family members who research on their behalf. E-patients report two effects of their health research: "better health information and services, and different, but not always better, relationships with their doctors."
Online health communities are online social networks related to health. They primarily provide a means for patients and their families to learn about illnesses, to seek and offer social support, and to connect with others in similar circumstances. These online groups can be composed of individuals with illnesses, groups of medical professionals with shared interests, non-professional caregivers and family of patients, or a combination. The term "online health community" is primarily academic jargon.
PatientsLikeMe (PLM) is an integrated community, health management, and real-world data platform. The platform currently has over 830,000 members who are dealing with more than 2,900 conditions, such as ALS, MS, and epilepsy. Data generated by patients themselves are collected and quantified with the goal of providing an environment for peer support and learning. These data capture the influences of different lifestyle choices, socio-demographics, conditions and treatments on a person's health.
mHealth is an abbreviation for mobile health, a term used for the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wearable devices such as smart watches, for health services, information, and data collection. The mHealth field has emerged as a sub-segment of eHealth, the use of information and communication technology (ICT), such as computers, mobile phones, communications satellite, patient monitors, etc., for health services and information. mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery/sharing of healthcare information for practitioners, researchers and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, the direct provision of care as well as training and collaboration of health workers.
Digital health is a discipline that includes digital care programs, technologies with health, healthcare, living, and society to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and to make medicine more personalized and precise. It uses information and communication technologies to facilitate understanding of health problems and challenges faced by people receiving medical treatment and social prescribing in more personalised and precise ways. The definitions of digital health and its remits overlap in many ways with those of health and medical informatics.
Health information on the Internet refers to all health-related information communicated through or available on the Internet.
Infodemiology was defined by Gunther Eysenbach in the early 2000s as information epidemiology. It is an area of science research focused on scanning the internet for user-contributed health-related content, with the ultimate goal of improving public health. Later, it is also defined as the science of mitigating public health problems resulting from an infodemic.
Joseph Antony Cafazzo is a Canadian biomedical engineer, educator, and researcher.
Digital therapeutics, a subset of digital health, are evidence-based therapeutic interventions driven by high quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. Digital therapeutic companies should publish trial results inclusive of clinically meaningful outcomes in peer-reviewed journals. The treatment relies on behavioral and lifestyle changes usually spurred by a collection of digital impetuses. Because of the digital nature of the methodology, data can be collected and analyzed as both a progress report and a preventative measure. Treatments are being developed for the prevention and management of a wide variety of diseases and conditions, including type 1 & type II diabetes, congestive heart failure, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, asthma, substance abuse, ADHD, hypertension, anxiety, depression, and several others. Digital therapeutics often employ strategies rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy.
Digital medicine refers to the application of advanced digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics, to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery. It involves the integration of technology and medicine to facilitate the creation, storage, analysis, and dissemination of health information, with the aim of enhancing clinical decision-making, improving patient care, and reducing costs.
Digital health interventions, or digital healthcare interventions, commonly referenced as DHIs in scientific articles, have emerged as a alternative in healthcare that may enable improved health outcomes, increase healthcare delivery, and empower patients. Commonly, it offers options to provide treatments, monitor health conditions, assist patients, and enable healthcare professionals to extend their services. Health mobile applications have become more popular - as mentioned by Butcher and Hussain, in 2022, more than 100,000 healthcare mobile applications were offered in Apple and Google app stores. These interventions may utilise various digital technologies and applications, besides mobile apps and websites, and they may comprehend wearables, biosensors, and Internet of Things
References
- ↑ Hixon, Todd (9 December 2015). "Digital Therapeutics Have Huge Promise And They Are Real Today". Forbes . Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- 1 2 Kvedar, Joseph (25 August 2016). "It's time to break free of the traditional paradigms of disease management". Med City News. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ↑ Cymerys, Ed; Duffy, Sean (May 2015). "Implementing USPSTF Recommendations on Behavioral Counseling for Cardiovascular Disease". Health Watch (78). Society of Actuaries.
- ↑ Hird, Nick; Ghosh, Samik; Kitano, Hiroaki (June 2016). "Digital health revolution: perfect storm or perfect opportunity for pharmaceutical R&D?". Drug Discovery Today . 21 (6): 900–911. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2016.01.010. PMID 26821131 . Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ↑ Capobianco, Enrico (10 November 2015). "On Digital Therapeutics". Frontiers in Digital Humanities. 2 (6). doi: 10.3389/fdigh.2015.00006 .
- 1 2 Kvedar, Joseph C.; Fogel, Alexander L.; Elenko, Eric; Zohar, Daphne (March 2016). "Digital medicine's march on chronic disease" (PDF). Nature Biotechnology . 34 (3): 239–246. doi:10.1038/nbt.3495. PMID 26963544. S2CID 1515998 . Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ↑ Sepah, Cameron S.; Jiang, Luohua; Peters, Anne L. (2015). "Long-Term Outcomes of a Web-Based Diabetes Prevention Program: 2-Year Results of a Single-Arm Longitudinal Study". Journal of Medical Internet Research . 17 (4): e92. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4052 . PMC 4409647 . PMID 25863515.
- ↑ Dahlberg, Leif E.; Grahn, Daniel; Dahlberg, Jakob E.; Thorstensson, Carina A. (2016). "A Web-Based Platform for Patients With Osteoarthritis of the Hip and Knee: A Pilot Study". Journal of Medical Internet Research . 5 (2): e115. doi: 10.2196/resprot.5665 . PMC 4912680 . PMID 27261271 . Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ↑ Lorenzetti, Laura (22 April 2016). "This Company Is Tackling Diabetes With 'Digital Therapeutics'". Fortune . Retrieved 19 October 2016.