The book examines the current state of mHealth and Human-Centered Design (HCD) initiatives toward health, care, and well-being. The present surge in interest in improving people's quality of life is creating new prospects for the development of innovative design solutions aimed at enhancing living conditions. The combination of emerging user needs and opportunities provided by recent innovative mHealth technologies enables research institutions, stakeholders, and academia to design new solutions to promote well-being, health, and care, thereby improving the quality of life of people of all ages. The book analyzes and discusses the most innovative services, products, and systems in the healthcare field. This strategy is in line with the concept of ambient assisted living or enhanced living environment, which focuses on the comfort and health of specific categories of users. This book covers several topics highlighting the importance of involving end-users in the design of innovative solutions in digital health care, and design considerations of mobile healthcare applications. Furthermore, the covered topics are described in their current applications in relevant fields focusing on the design of smart solutions, such as biomonitoring systems, activity recognition tools, smart living environments, physical autonomy, and virtual assistance. This editorial project is addressed to academics, designers, engineers, and practitioners in health care who want to promote cooperation between academia, stakeholders, and research institutions.

Decentralizing Health Services A Global Perspective Krishna Regmi, editor Current economic, demographic, and environmental shifts are presenting major challenges to health care systems around the world. In response, decentralization--the transfer of control from central to local authorities--is emerging as a successful means of meeting these challenges and reducing inequities of care. But as with health care itself, one size does not fit all, and care systems must be responsive to global reality as well as local demand. Decentralizing Health Services explores a variety of applications of decentralization to health care delivery in both the developing and developed worlds. Outfitted with principles, blueprints, and examples, this ambitious text clearly sets out the potential role of decentralized care as a major player in public health. Its models of service delivery illustrate care that is effective, inclusive, flexible, and in tune with the current era of preventive and evidence-based healthcare . Contributors point out opportunities, caveats, and controversies as they: Clarify the relationships among decentralization, politics, and policy Differentiate between political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization in health care systems Consider public/private partnerships in health systems Explain how the effects of decentralization can be evaluated. Present the newest data on the health outcomes of decentralization Explore some challenges and global issues of health systems in the 21st century And each chapter features learning goals, discussion questions, activities, and recommendations for further reading Heralding changes poised to revolutionize care, Decentralizing Health Services will broaden the horizons of researchers and administrators in health services, health economics, and health policy

A practice-based guide to applying the principles of human-centered design to real-world health challenges; updated and expanded with post–COVID-19 innovations. This book offers a practice-based guide to applying the principles of human-centered design to real-world health challenges that range from drug packaging to breast cancer detection. Written by pioneers in the field—Bon Ku, a physician leader in innovative health design, and Ellen Lupton, an award-winning graphic designer—the book outlines the fundamentals of design thinking and highlights important products, prototypes, and research in health design. This revised and expanded edition describes innovations developed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, including an intensive care unit in a shipping container, a rolling cart with intubation equipment, and a mask brace that gives a surgical mask a tighter seal. The book explores the special overlap of health care and the creative process, describing the development of such products and services as a credit card–sized device that allows patients to generate their own electrocardiograms; a mask designed to be worn with a hijab; improved emergency room signage; and a map of racial disparities and COVID-19. It will be an essential volume for health care providers, educators, patients, and designers who seek to create better experiences and improved health outcomes for individuals and communities.

The book presents the state of the art of the Internet of Things (IoT), applied to Human-Centered Design (HCD) projects addressed to ageing users, from the perspective of health, care and well-being. The current focus on the ageing population is opening up new opportunities for the development of niche solutions aimed at the niche category of older users who are beginning to experience physical and cognitive decline but are still independent and need to maintain their autonomy for as long as possible. The combination between the needs expressed by older users and the opportunities offered by the recent innovative technologies related to the Internet of Things allows research institutions, stakeholders, and academia to target and design new solutions for older users, safeguarding their well-being, health, and care, improving their quality of life. This book discusses and analyses the most recent services, products, systems and environments specifically conceived for older users, in order to enhance health, care, well-being and improve their quality of life. This approach is coherent with the percept of AAL or enhanced living environment, looking to the users’ comfort, autonomy, engagement and healthcare. The book describes and analyses aspects of HCD with older users looking to the emerging technologies, products, services, and environments analysed in their actual application in different areas, always concerning the design for the elderly related to the IoT, just as the development of biomonitoring devices, tools for activity recognition and simulation, creation of smart living environments, solutions for their autonomy, assistance and engagement enhancing health, care and wellbeing. The book is intended for researchers, designers, engineers, and practitioners in healthcare to connect academia, stakeholders, and research institutions to foster education, research and innovation.

Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.

"This book unites researchers and industry practitioners from different disciplines to share their domain-specific knowledge and contribute to a holistic introduction into the area of human-centered design for e-health applications"--Provided by publisher.

Each day, new applications and methods are developed for utilizing technology in the field of medical sciences, both as diagnostic tools and as methods for patients to access their medical information through their personal gadgets. However, the maximum potential for the application of new technologies within the medical field has not yet been realized. Mobile Devices and Smart Gadgets in Medical Sciences is a pivotal reference source that explores different mobile applications, tools, software, and smart gadgets and their applications within the field of healthcare. Covering a wide range of topics such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and oncology, this book is ideally designed for medical practitioners, mobile application developers, technology developers, software experts, computer engineers, programmers, ICT innovators, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book showcases over 60 cutting-edge research papers from the 5th International Conference on Research into Design – the largest in India in this area – written by eminent researchers from across the world on design process, technologies, methods and tools, and their impact on innovation, for supporting design across boundaries. The special features of the book are the variety of insights into the product and system innovation process, and the host of methods and tools from all major areas of design research for the enhancement of the innovation process. The main benefit of the book for researchers in various areas of design and innovation are access to the latest quality research in this area, with the largest collection of research from India. For practitioners and educators, it is exposure to an empirically validated suite of theories, models, methods and tools that can be taught and practiced for design-led innovation.

Designed as a textbook for classroom use Glossary and bibliograpy will be useful pedagogy

This book constitutes selected papers presented at the First International Conference on ICT for Health, Accessibility and Wellbeing, IHAW 2021, held in Larnaca, Cyprus, in November 2021. The 12 full papers and 7 short papers were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 36 submissions. One invited paper was also included in this volume. The papers are organized in topical sections on ​active aging; assistive devices and systems; brain functions support and mHealth; brain functions support and oncology; ICT and wellbeing.