Design of Smart Healthcare Systems

Driven by networked Electronic Health Record systems, Artificial Intelligence, real-time data from wearable devices with an overlay of invisible user interfaces and improved analytics, a revolution is afoot in the healthcare industry. Over the next few years it is likely to fundamentally change how healthcare is delivered and how the outcomes are measured. The focus on collaboration, coherence, and convergence will make healthcare more predictive and personalised. That revolution is called Health 4.0. Data portability allows patients and their physicians to access it anytime anywhere and enhanced analytics allows for differential diagnosis and medical responses that can be predictive, timely and innovative. Health 4.0 allows the value of data more consistently and effectively. It can pinpoint areas of improvement and enable more informed decisions. What it also does is help move the entire healthcare industry from a system that is reactive and focused on fee-for-service to a system that is value-based, which measures outcomes and ensures proactive prevention.
The aim of this project is to investigate how smart healthcare systems can be designed effectively and efficiently. The initial phase of the project is concerned with understanding the technological design principles behind Health 4.0 (service-orientation, interoperability, virtualization, decentralized decision making, real-time capabilities) and exploring the range of potential application fields. Phase 2 of the project will focus on investigating, understanding and assessing the full spectrum of customer requirements for smart healthcare systems and services. In Phase 3, a bespoke design framework/process for smart healthcare systems is to be developed and, in Phase 4 of the project, applied, tested and validated by means of a real life industry project.