Technology in Healthcare: A Model for Successful Implementations for Leaders

Hutson-Stone, Angela ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Pepperdine Univers 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Healthcare providers are spending billions of dollars every year on technology that does not improve the business of healthcare. This study indicated that the organizations, their leaders, and associates are often in the dark when it comes to why a specific technology was even being implemented. And, even more alarming, the lack of consensus among leaders on what success (or failure) looks like means there is little way to determine if those billions of dollars being spent is even worth it. This qualitative study sought to understand what contributed to the challenges of technology implementations in healthcare. It also identified what healthcare IT professionals did to overcome their challenges that might help leaders achieve greater success in their future implementations. It discusses the complexities of healthcare, technology implementations, and healthcare technology implementations in the literature review and in the research through 15 interviews with Information Technology professionals. These complexities include the terminology used to described by IT professionals and the business, the lack of well-defined and repeatable processes, the application of change management and project management, resource management, and the criteria for what is considered a successful implementation. This dissertation also discusses the elements of change management and project management and how it is often not present within healthcare technology implementations of large system implementations across many categories of technology. Keywords: Healthcare information technology, healthcare leadership, change management, healthcare costs, project management.

Healthcare Professionals’ Perceptions of Educating Patients on Value-Based Healthcare: An Exploratory Case Study

Hines, Lucinda University of Phoenix ProQuest Dissertations & The 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore the perceptions of healthcare professionals who educate patients about the value-based healthcare system. The specific problem was a lack of healthcare professionals educating patients on the value-based healthcare system resulting in a negative effect on patients' health. The research questions that guided this study were: What are healthcare professionals' perceptions about their experiences educating patients about value-based healthcare? What are healthcare professionals’ experiences with value-based healthcare related to patient care outcomes? Fifteen physicians and nurse practitioners were interviewed and shared their experiences, perceptions, and opinions on educating patients on the value-based healthcare system. The findings from the research study revealed two major themes that emerged from the categories which include reimbursement is based on patient outcomes, and patient education and comprehension, along with one important finding relevant to the research study active listening and collaboration. The perceptions of healthcare professionals educating patients about the value-based healthcare system include a lack of patient health literacy, a lack of patient-provider collaboration, a lack of patient education, and a lack of patient understanding. Gaps in the literature exist denoting if or how healthcare professionals educate patients on value-based healthcare. The findings and recommendations from this study could provide visibility related to the lack of education healthcare professionals are providing patients. This visibility could present an opportunity to institute plans for educating patients to ensure healthcare compliance and consistent positive healthcare outcomes.

Tackling health inequity in Korea : can U-healthcare cure this chronic disease?

이서현 Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei U 2013 국내석사

U-healthcare services based on ubiquitous information and communication network have been given much attention for its potential to reduce medical costs and provide better accessibility to quality healthcare. As U-healthcare deserves such recognition in Korean society, it is significant to critically evaluate its efficacy as an answer to health inequity across the country. This comprehensive research on U-healthcare focuses on the U-healthcare service in Korea and attempts to give detailed information on its role in the society. Some of the questions that will be answered throughout the thesis include the following: “What is the concept of U-healthcare and current service platform in Korea?” “Is U-healthcare service legally feasible in Korea?” “Will U-healthcare suggest viable options to alleviate health inequity by enhancing accessibility to healthcare service?” “What are the global implications for the U-healthcare as a development project?” The thesis?which involves interviews with officers and visitors at the local U-healthcare centers and public health specialists in Korea and literature review on U-healthcare? demonstrates that political and legal support for U-healthcare as well as the development of healthcare technology will ensure accessibility to quality healthcare anytime, anywhere with reduced health expenditure in the long run. With combined human effort to close the health disparities, U-healthcare will lay a strong foundation on how to deliver healthcare service equally and effectively in the global society.

Intelligent physiological sensing systems for digital healthcare

박재연 Graduate School, Yonsei University 2023 국내박사

This dissertation introduces the development of intelligent systems in the domain of digital healthcare. Especially, its primary goal is to design and implement a system-integrable framework that enables the design of ubiquitous healthcare applications while seamlessly integrating key systems that shape the future of digital healthcare. The proposed framework includes an innovative non-contact physiological signal sensing system, a user-centered interface system, and an intelligent physiological signal analysis system. By integrating these systems, the framework enables the seamless deployment of ubiquitous healthcare applications in various environments. Specifically, this dissertation begins by examining the current state of healthcare systems in hospitals and daily settings, while also exploring future development directions. Especially, It identifies the main challenges and requirements for the practical adaptation of healthcare systems with a broad perspective on the overall data processing operations of physiological signal sensing systems along with environmental factors. Subsequently, the dissertation presents solutions and implementation experiences for physiological signal systems, such as sensing, serving, and analysis systems, as well as the corresponding frameworks. As an initial step in the data processing pipeline, the dissertation addresses the limitations of existing physiological signal sensing systems, which struggle with accessibility and usability while keeping high performance in real-world settings. To overcome these limitations, this dissertation proposes a geophone-based novel physiological signal sensing system, HeartQuake, that can successfully sense complex physiological signals such as ECG in a non-contact manner. Next, this dissertation addresses the need for a user-centered interface system, MediSenseView, that can effectively deliver the collected physiological signals and facilitate communication between healthcare providers, reducing medical errors and improving patient outcomes. Especially, to capture important symptoms from the physiological signals and immediately convert them into useful clinical information for clinical protocols, this dissertation introduces an intelligent physiological signal analysis system, ArrhyMon, that not only classifies arrhythmia types of ECG signals using a self-attention-based long and short-term memory (LSTM) model with a fully convolutional network (FCN) but also provides the confidence-level on the classified results through deep ensemble-based uncertainty measurement. Finally, to develop a system-integrable framework for digital healthcare's ubiquitous settings, this dissertation defines the requirements and, to address these various requirements, proposes a self-attention mechanism-based federated learning framework, FedAttn, that allows multiple users to participate in training a deep neural network model without directly sharing patient data. Especially, FedAttn achieves model personalization for each user during training and naturally alleviates privacy and data heterogeneity concerns. This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis and review of (a) an innovative non-contact physiological signals sensing system, (b) an interface system capable of efficiently serving physiological signals, and (c) an artificial intelligence-based physiological signal analysis system, all of which contribute to the integration of these systems in digital healthcare. This dissertation also introduces an analysis and review of the framework that can integrate these systems and enables the realization of ubiquitous healthcare in digital healthcare. Therefore, based on the overall processing pipeline of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and environmental settings such as hospitals and daily life, the dissertation identifies and defines the main challenges and requirements in implementing these systems and frameworks. Furthermore, to address these challenges and fulfill the requirements from an end-to-end perspective, the dissertation introduces solutions, a geophone-based contactless sensing system (HeartQuake), a user-centered interface system (MediSenseView), an intelligent analysis system (ArrhyMon), and a federated learning framework (FedAttn) for integrating these systems and realizing ubiquitous healthcare. Especially, these solutions are designed to improve the accessibility, usability, and accuracy of the existing studies and ultimately contribute to the realization of ubiquitous healthcare. With the continued development of these solutions, I believe that it expects to see significant improvements in patient outcomes and healthcare services in the near future. 본 박사학위 논문은 디지털 헬스케어 분야의 지능형 시스템 개발을 소개하며, 특히 주요 목표는 디지털 헬스케어의 미래를 위한 핵심 시스템들을 원활하게 통합하는 동시에 유비쿼터스 헬스케어 어플리케이션의 설계를 가능하게 하는 시스템 통합 가능한 프레임워크를 설계 및 구현하는 것입니다. 제안하는 프레임워크는 혁신적인 비접촉식 생체신호 감지 시스템, 사용자 중심 인터페이스 시스템, 지능형 생체신호 분석 시스템을 포함하며, 본 프레임워크는 이러한 시스템들을 통합함으로써 다양한 환경에서 유비쿼터스 헬스케어 어플리케이션을 원활하게 배포할 수 있습니다. 구체적으로, 본 박사학위 논문은 병원 및 일상환경에서의 헬스케어 시스템의 현황과 향후 발전 방향을 모색하고, 환경적 요인에 대한 고려와 함께 생체신호 감지 시스템의 전반적인 데이터 처리 작업에 대한 광범위한 관점에서 헬스케어 시스템의 실제 적응을 위한 주요 과제와 요구 사항을 식별합니다. 이러한 요구사항을 기반으로 헬스케어 데이터의 감지, 제공, 분석 시스템들과 해당 시스템들을 통합 할 수 있는 프레임워크에 대한 솔루션 및 구현 경험을 제시합니다. 생체신호 데이터 처리의 첫 번째 단계인 생체신호 감지 및 수집에 있어서 본 박사학위 논문은 기존의 생체신호 감지 시스템은 실제 수집 환경에서 높은 성능을 유지하면서 접근성과 사용성에 한계가 있음을 주장합니다. 이러한 한계를 극복하기 위해 심전도 신호 (electrocardiogram; ECG)와 같은 복잡한 생체신호를 완전 비접촉 방식으로 감지할 수 있는 지진계 센서 기반의 새로운 생체신호 감지 시스템인 HeartQuake를 제안합니다. 다음으로 본 박사학위 논문은 단순히 생체신호를 수집하는 것을 넘어 수집된 생체신호를 효과적으로 전달하고, 원활한 의료 제공자 간의 의사소통 제공하며, 임상 오류의 최소화 및 환자 결과를 개선할 수 있는 사용자 중심 인터페이스 시스템의 필요성을 다룹니다. 따라서 이러한 효율적인 헬스케어 데이터 제공 시스템의 예로서 사용자 중심의 인터페이스 시스템인 MediSenseView를 소개합니다. 특히, 본 박사학위 논문에서는 의료 제공자 및 임상 직원들이 생체신호에서 중요한 질병 징후를 포착하고, 즉각적으로 임상 프로토콜에 사용가능한 유용한 임상 정보를 추출 및 제공의 필요성에 대해 주장합니다. 이러한 필요성에 기반하여 fully convolutional network (FCN) 과 long and short-term memory (LSTM) 이 결합된 인공지능 모델을 사용하여 심전도 신호 기반의 부정맥의 유형을 정확하게 분류하고 앙상블 기법기반 분류된 결과에 대한 신뢰도를 제공하는 지능형 생체신호 분석 시스템인 ArrhyMon을 소개합니다. 마지막으로, 본 연구에서는 디지털 헬스케어의 유비쿼터스 헬스케어 환경 구축을 위해 이러한 주요 시스템들을 통합 할 수 있는 프레임워크 설계 방법에 대한 예시로 연합학습 기반의 FedAttn를 소개합니다. 구체적으로 FedAttn는 다수의 사용자가 낮은 통신 및 연산 비용으로 인공지능 모델 학습에 참여할 수 있는 self-attention 기반 연합 학습 프레임워크이며, 다수의 사용자로부터 수집된 대규모의 데이터 분포가 불균형한 환경아래 환자의 민감한 생체신호 데이터를 직접 공유하지 않고 인공지능 모델의 학습이 가능하다는 장점이 있습니다. 특히 FedAttn는 학습 중에 개인 정보 보호 및 데이터 이질성 (heterogeneity)과 관련된 문제를 자연스럽게 해결하면서 각 사용자에 대한 모델 개인화를 달성할 수 있다는 장점이 있습니다. 따라서, 본 박사학위 논문은 디지털 헬스케어에서 이러한 시스템의 통합에 기여하는 (a) 혁신적인 비접촉식 생체신호 감지 시스템, (b) 효율적으로 생체신호의 전달이 가능한 인터페이스 시스템, (c) 인공지능 기반의 지능형 생체신호 분석 시스템에 대한 종합적인 분석 및 검토를 제공합니다. 또한, 본 박사학위는 디지털 헬스케어에서 유비쿼터스 헬스케어의 실현이 가능하게 하는 통합 프레임워크에 대한 분석 및 검토를 제공함으로서 심전도 신호의 전반적인 처리 파이프라인과 병원 및 가정과 같은 환경을 기반으로 주요 시스템들 및 프레임워크를 구현하는 데 있어 주요 과제와 요구 사항을 식별하고 정의합니다. 이러한 문제점들을 해결하고 요구사항들을 충족할 수 있는 시스템 및 프레임워크 설계 예시로 본 박사학위 논문에서는 지진계 기반 완전 비접촉 감지 시스템 (HeartQuake), 사용자 중심 인터페이스 시스템 (MediSenseView), 인공지능 기반 분석 시스템 (ArrhyMon), 그리고 시스템들의 통합이 가능한 연합학습 기반의 프레임워크 (FedAttn)를 소개합니다. 특히, 이 해결책들은 기존 연구의 접근성, 사용성, 정확성을 향상시켜 궁극적으로 디지털 헬스케어 영역에서의 유비쿼터스 헬스케어 구현에 기여하도록 설계되었으며, 본 학위 논문은 이러한 솔루션들의 지속적인 개발을 통해 가까운 미래에 환자 결과 및 의료 서비스가 크게 발전할 수 있다고 기대합니다.

Optimization Algorithms for Integrating Advanced Facility-Level Healthcare Technologies into Personal Healthcare Devices

DaeHan Ahn DGIST 2018 국내박사

Healthcare is one of the most important services to preserve the quality of our daily lives, and it is capable of dealing with issues such as global aging, increase in the healthcare cost, and changes to the medical paradigm, i.e., from the in-facility cure to the prevention and cure outside the facility. Accordingly, there has been growing interest in the smart and personalized healthcare systems to diagnose and care themselves. Such systems are capable of providing facility-level diagnosis services by using smart devices (e.g., smartphones, smart watches, and smart glasses). However, in realizing the smart healthcare systems, it is very difficult, albeit impossible, to directly integrate high-precision healthcare technologies or scientific theories into the smart devices due to the stringent limitations in the computing power and battery lifetime, as well as environmental constraints. In this dissertation, we propose three optimization methods in the field of cell counting systems and gait-aid systems for Parkinson's disease patients that address the problems that arise when integrating a specialized healthcare system used in the facilities into mobile or wearable devices. First, we present an optimized cell counting algorithm based on heuristic optimization, which is a key building block for realizing the mobile point-of-care platforms. Second, we develop a learning-based cell counting algorithm that guarantees high performance and efficiency despite the existence of blurry cells due to out-focus and varying brightness of background caused by the limitation of lenses free in-line holographic apparatus. Finally, we propose smart gait-aid glasses for Parkinson’s disease patients based on mathematical optimization. 본 논문은 의료 관련 연구시설 및 병원 그리고 실험실 레벨에서 사용되는 전문적인 헬스케어 시스템을 개인의 일상생활 속에서 사용할 수 있는 스마트 헬스케어 시스템에 적용시키기 위한 최적화 문제에 대해 다룬다. 현대 사회에서 의료비용 증가 세계적인 고령화에 따라 의료 패러다임은 질병이 발생한 뒤 시설 내에서 치료 받는 방식에서 질병이나 건강관리에 관심있는 환자 혹은 일반인이 휴대할 수 있는 개인용 디바이스를 이용하여 의료 서비스에 접근하고, 이를 이용하여 질병을 미리 예방하는 방식으로 바뀌었다. 이에 따라 언제, 어디서나 스마트 디바이스(스마트폰, 스마트워치, 스마트안경 등)를 이용하여 병원 수준의 예방 및 진단을 실현하는 스마트 헬스케어가 주목 받고 있다. 하지만, 스마트 헬스케어 서비스 실현을 위하여 기존의 전문 헬스케어 장치 및 과학적 이론을 스마트 디바이스에 접목하는 데에는 스마트 디바이스의 제한적인 컴퓨팅 파워와 배터리, 그리고 연구소나 실험실에서 발생하지 않았던 환경적인 제약조건으로 인해 적용 할 수 없는 문제가 있다. 따라서 사용 환경에 맞춰 동작 가능하도록 최적화가 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 Cell counting 분야와 파킨슨 환자의 보행 보조 분야에서 전문 헬스케어 시스템을 스마트 헬스케어에 접목시키는데 발생하는 세 가지 문제를 제시하고 문제 해결을 위한 세 가지 최적화 알고리즘(Heuristic optimization, Learning-based optimization, Mathematical optimization) 및 이를 기반으로 하는 시스템을 제안한다.

Socioeconomic determinants of inequalities in maternal health service utilization in haor (wetland) of Bangladech : the case study of Kishoreganj district

Tahneia Quader 韓國外國語大學校 國際地域大學院 2019 국내석사

In this study, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the maternal healthcare service utilization in the haor (wetland) regions of Bangladesh. Maternal mortality is a leading cause of death and disability among the women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. Being a signature member of the UN, Bangladesh is committed to achieving SDG Target 3.1, which is reducing maternal mortality by 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. However, achieving this target is still a daunting challenge for Bangladesh, as the utilization of essential maternal healthcare services is not equitable across the country. Many hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh, such as haor areas, are significantly lagging behind in utilizing maternal healthcare services. Therefore, it is a pertinent need to evaluate the status of maternal healthcare service utilization in the hoar area of Bangladesh through the lens of equity. In this study, I conducted a cross-sectional survey (n = 428) in the haor 4 haor-prone Unions of the Tarail Upazilla of Kishoreganj district, Bangladesh and collected responses from the women of reproductive age (15-49 years) who had given birth within last five years of this study. I analyzed the proportion of maternal healthcare services utilization, concentration curve, and concentration index to examine the inequity in maternal healthcare service utilization, and logistic regression model to explore the major determinants of maternal healthcare-seeking behaviour in this haor area. Initially, I explored a very low proportion of usage of delivery care in this region. From the concentration curve and concentration index analysis of this study, a profound income-based inequality in maternal healthcare services utilization can be witnessed in this area, especially for delivery care services. From the regression analysis, I found that higher parental education, particularly maternal educational attainment higher than secondary education, is a major determinant of maternal healthcare-seeking behaviour of this region, as women belonging to this education category are two to five times more likely to receive all the maternal healthcare services. I also noticed wealthier women (household with monthly income above 25,000 BDT tend to seek all maternal healthcare services two to three times more than other women. Interestingly, I noticed that membership to the microfinance institutions that promote health awareness program significantly influences maternal healthcare services utilization in this area. From the empirical findings of this study, it can be recommended to outline equitable policy interventions by targeting those factors affecting maternal healthcare service utilization most in the haor area of Bangladesh to ascertain safe motherhood and achieve the SDG target.

주요국과 국내의 스마트 헬스케어 산업 정책 및 표준화 거버넌스 비교 분석

전세환 중앙대학교 행정대학원 2022 국내석사

Smart healthcare, a combination of advanced information and communication technology (ICT) and medical technology, is drawing attention as a new solution due to the recent deepening aging population and the increase in chronic diseases worldwide. Korea as well as major countries is improving industrial revitalization policies and regulations to foster smart healthcare, but in Korea, there is no agreement between stakeholders such as telemedicine and medical data utilization, delaying system improvement compared to major countries. In this study, the cause of the failure to revitalize the domestic smart healthcare industry is identified through comparative analysis of policies and standardized governance with the healthcare leaders, the United States, Europe, and China. The purpose is to make policy suggestions on the future direction of domestic smart healthcare through comparative analysis. As a result of comparing policies and regulatory improvements to revitalize the smart healthcare industry in major countries and domestic countries, industrial revitalization policies were almost similar to major countries, but the timing was somewhat later than that of major countries. The pace of regulatory improvement was also found to be slower than that of major countries. This is because due to the nature of smart healthcare, it is difficult for each ministry to promote its work alone, so it is necessary to establish a responsible organization or cooperative system, but there is no responsible organization in Korea. However, since the recent formation of the Digital Healthcare Special Committee of the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee, there has been an active movement to promote the industry, promote policies and improve regulations among ministries. As a result of comparing standardized governance between major countries and domestic countries, smart healthcare is led by a responsible organization with influence, and standardization drive and influence are high in major countries. Korea establishes standards under the leadership of the government, but the authority was distributed at the same time as the distribution of standards by ministries, so the momentum and influence of standardization were weak. What is needed first for the development of smart healthcare in Korea is the formation of standardized governance centered on organizations responsible to smart healthcare. In the case of domestic smart healthcare policy governance, a special healthcare committee under the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee was established to strengthen cooperation between ministries and establish a long-term roadmap. Smart healthcare standardization governance should also have a system in which a responsible organization is formed to lead the coalition of administrative departments, and standards developed along with standard development should be reflected in policies. If a standardized governance system is established, smart healthcare standards can be actively developed like in major countries. In addition, conflicts between stakeholders in the standard development process will be naturally resolved, speeding up regulatory improvement, and creating an environment where various industrial revitalization policies can be actively promoted. 최근 전 세계적으로 고령화 심화와 만성질환의 증가에 따라 첨단 정보통신기술(ICT)과 의료기술의 융합한 형태인 스마트 헬스케어가 새로운 해결책으로 주목받고 있다. 주요국은 물론 우리나라도 스마트 헬스케어를 육성시키기 위한 산업 활성화 정책과 규제 개선을 하고 있으나, 우리나라는 원격진료, 의료데이터 활용 등 이해관계자 간 합의가 이루어지지 않아 주요국에 비해 제도 개선이 지연되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 국내 스마트 헬스케어 산업 활성화가 이루어지지 못하는 원인을 헬스케어 선도국인 미국, 유럽, 중국과의 정책과 표준화 거버넌스 비교 분석을 통해 파악해보았다. 비교 분석을 통해 향후 국내 스마트 헬스케어의 방향에 대한 정책적 제언을 하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 주요국과 국내의 스마트 헬스케어 산업 활성화를 위한 정책과 규제 개선을 비교한 결과, 산업 활성화 정책은 주요국과 거의 유사했지만 주요국에 비해 시기가 다소 늦은 것으로 나타났다. 규제 개선 속도도 역시 주요국에 비해 느린 것으로 나타났다. 이는 스마트 헬스케어의 특성상 각 부처가 단독으로 업무를 추진하기 어려워 전담조직이나 협동 체계 구축이 필요한데, 국내는 전담조직이 부재했기 때문이다. 하지만 최근 4차 산업혁명위원회 디지털 헬스케어 특위가 결성된 이후로 이를 중심으로 부처 간 연합과 산업 활성화 정책과 규제 개선의 움직임이 활발해지고 있다. 주요국과 국내의 표준화 거버넌스를 비교한 결과, 주요국은 스마트 헬스케어는 영향력을 가진 전담조직이 주도적으로 이끌어 가고, 표준화 추진력과 영향력은 높은 편으로 나타났다. 우리나라는 정부 주도 하에 표준을 제정하지만 부처별로 표준 분배와 동시에 권한이 분산되어 표준화 추진력과 영향력 약한 편이었다. 국내 스마트 헬스케어 발전을 위해 우선적으로 필요한 것은 ‘스마트 헬스케어 전담 조직을 중심으로 한 표준화 거버넌스가 형성’이다. 국내 스마트 헬스케어 정책 거버넌스의 경우, 4차 산업혁명위원회 산하 헬스케어 특위가 설립되어 부처 간의 협업이 강화하고 장기적인 로드맵을 수립할 수 있었다. 스마트 헬스케어 표준화 거버넌스도 전담조직이 형성되어 주도적으로 행정부처의 연합을 이끌어내고, 부처별로 표준 개발과 함께 개발된 표준이 정책에 반영될 수 있는 체계가 갖춰져야 한다. 표준화 거버넌스 체계가 갖춰지면 주요국처럼 스마트 헬스케어 표준 개발도 활발하게 이루어질 수 있다. 또한 표준 개발 과정에 있어 이해관계자 간 갈등도 자연스럽게 해소되어 규제 개선 속도가 빨라지고, 다양한 산업 활성화 정책이 적극적으로 추진될 수 있는 환경이 만들어질 것이다.

Demographic, Experience, and Satisfaction Factors Associated with Future Use of Virtual Healthcare to treat Acute Illnesses in Oklahoma

Mardenborough, Lesroy A ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Trident University 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Virtual healthcare contributes to the modernization of our healthcare system and appears to be constantly improving. Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have created a renewed sense of usefulness and utilization of virtual healthcare. Different applications and modes of virtual healthcare are suitable options to treat a variety of acute illnesses such as fever, headaches, ear infections, Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs), abdominal pain, genital pain, and diarrhea. Virtual healthcare has the potential to offer social, economic, and financial benefits. Early evidence suggests overall general satisfaction with virtual healthcare; however, little is known about the relationships among variables that could affect people’s intention to choose a virtual modality or traditional in-person modality. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model was used as the basis of this study for participants’ intention in using virtual healthcare. Ordinal logistic regression was used for this quantitate correlational study to explore the relationship between demographics, experience, and satisfaction with virtual healthcare and future use of virtual healthcare to treat acute illnesses.The research was conducted using a survey of six questions to gather data from 805 residents of Oklahoma. The results showed that the majority of Oklahomans from each demographic category had favorable perceptions of virtual healthcare and agreed to use it in the future. The results showed that younger Oklahomans are more likely to use virtual healthcare in the future. Asian Oklahomans are the most likely to use virtual healthcare in the future while Caucasian Oklahomans are the least likely. Women are more likely to use virtual healthcare in the future compared to men. Oklahomans who reside in urban regions are twice as likely to use virtual healthcare in the future compared to Oklahomans who reside in rural regions. The likelihood of using virtual healthcare in the future for Oklahomans increases with each education level increase. Oklahomans with experience with virtual healthcare are more likely to use virtual healthcare in the future. Oklahomans who are satisfied with virtual healthcare are more likely to use it in the future.The study gives insights for policy decision-making, demographic interest, and intent to use virtual healthcare for acute illnesses. The findings aligned with the TPB model where the participants’ intent for using virtual healthcare to treat acute illnesses in the future is based on their beliefs that virtual healthcare is capable of treating their illnesses. Their beliefs in using virtual healthcare could have been developed by the participants’ own experiences, their satisfaction levels while using virtual healthcare, the influence of others, as well as the subjective normality or popularity of virtual healthcare.

Study on User Experience with Mimicked Persona of Conversational AI in Daily Healthcare

Youjin Hwang 서울대학교 대학원 2021 국내박사

디지털 헬스케어(Digital Healthcare) 기술의 발전은 일상 헬스케어 영역에서의 혁신을 주도 하고 있다. 이는 의학 전문가들의 정확한 진단, 질병의 치료를 도울 뿐만 아니라 사용자가 스스로 일상에서 자기관리를 할 수 있도록 돕는다. 디지털 헬스케어 기술의 대표적인 목표 중 하나는 효과적으로 헬스케어 서비스를 개인화 시키는 것인데, 이러한 측면에서 대화형 인공지능(Conversational AI)은 사용하기 쉽고 효율적인 비용으로 개인화된 서비스를 제공할 수 있기에 주목받고 있다. 기존의 개인화된 케어 서비스들의 경우는 대부분 의료기관의 질병치료 서비스들에 포함되었는데, 대화형 인공지능은 이러한 개인화된 케어 서비스의 영역을 일상에서의 질병 예방을 위한 관리로 확장하는데 기여한다. 일대일 대화를 통해 맞춤형 교육, 테라피, 그외의 관련 정보 등을 제공할 수 있다는 측면에서 일상 헬스케어에 적합한 디지털 헬스케어 기술로의 활용도가 높다. 이러한 이점으로 인해 다양한 역할을 가진 대화형 인공지능들의 개발이 이루어지고 있다. 그러나, 이러한 대화형 인공지능들에게 사용자의 선호도에 적합한 페르소나를 부여하는 연구는 드물게 이루어 지고 있다. 대화형 인공지능의 주요 기능인 자연어 기반 상호작용은 CASA 패러다임(CASA Paradigm)에서 제기하는 사용자가 시스템을 의인화하는 경향을 높인다. 때문에 페르소나에 대한 사용자의 선호도가 지속적인 대화형 인공지능의 사용과 몰입에 영향을 미친다. 또한 대화형 인공지능의 장기적인 사용을 위해서 적절한 사용자와의 사회적, 감정적 상호작용을 디자인 해 주어야 하는데, 인지된 페르소나에 대한 사용자의 선호도가 이 과정에도 유의미한 영향을 미친다. 때문에 지속적인 참여가 결과에 큰 영향을 미치는 일상 헬스케어 영역에서 대화형 인공지능을 활용하는데 개인화된 페르소나 디자인이 긍정적인 사용자 경험 및 사용자 건강 증진의 가능성을 높일 것으로 본 연구는 가정한다. 개인화된 페르소나 디자인을 위해 사용자와 현실에서 친밀한 관계에 있는 실존인물(호스트)의 페르소나를 대화형 인공지능에 적용하고 평가하는 것이 본 연구의 핵심적인 아아디어이다. 이를 검증하기 위해서 해당 학위 논문은 총 세 가지의 세부 연구를 포함한다. 첫째는 실존인물의 페르소나 중에서도 일상 건강관리에 적합한 호스트의 페르소나를 탐색하는 연구이다. 둘째는 호스트의 페르소나를 대화형 인공지능에 적용하기 위해 고려해야 할 언어적 요소들을 정의하는 연구이다. 마지막으로는 위의 과정을 통해 개발된 실존하는 인물의 페르소나를 가진 대화형 인공지능이 일상 헬스케어 영역에서 실제 효과를 보이는지를 평가하는 연구이다. 또한 해당 학위논문은 일련의 연구들에서 발견한 결과들을 바탕으로 사용자와 친밀한 관계에 있는 페르소나를 일상 헬스케어를 위한 대화형 인공지능에 적용할 때 고려해야할 디자인 함의점들을 도출하고 가이드라인을 제시한다. Advance in digital healthcare technologies has been leading a revolution in healthcare. It has been showing the enormous potential to improve medical professionals’ ability for accurate diagnosis, disease treatment, and the users’ daily self-care. Since the recent transformation of digital healthcare aims to provide effective personalized health services, Conversational AI (CA) is being highlighted as an easy-to-use and cost-effective means to deliver personalized services. Particularly, CA is gaining attention as a mean for personalized care by ingraining positive self-care behavior in a daily manner while previous methods for personalized care are focusing on the medical context. CA expands the boundary of personalized care by enabling one-to-one tailored conversation to deliver health education and healthcare therapies. Due to CA's opportunities as a method for personalized care, it has been implemented with various types of roles including CA for diagnosis, CA for prevention, and CA for therapy. However, there lacks study on the personalization of healthcare CA to meet user's preferences on the CA's persona. Even though the CASA paradigm has been applied to previous studies designing and evaluating the human-likeness of CA, few healthcare CAs personalize its human-like persona except some CAs for mental health therapy. Moreover, there exists the need to improve user experience by increasing social and emotional interaction between the user and the CA. Therefore, designing an acceptable and personalized persona of CA should be also considered to make users to be engaged in the healthcare task with the CA. In this manner, the thesis suggests an idea of applying the persona of the person who is in a close relationship with the user to the conversational CA for daily healthcare as a strategy for persona personalization. The main hypothesis is the idea of applying a close person's persona would improve user engagement. To investigate the hypothesis, the thesis explores if dynamics derived from the social relationship in the real world can be implemented to the relationship between the user and the CA with the persona of a close person. To explore opportunities and challenges of the research idea, series of studies were conducted to (1) explore appropriate host whose persona would be implemented to healthcare CA, (2) define linguistic characteristics to consider when applying the persona of a close person to the CA, and (3)implement CA with the persona of a close person to major lifestyle domains. Based on findings, the thesis provides design guidelines for healthcare CA with the persona of the real person who is in a close relationship with the user.

A Study On Key Factors Affecting The Adoption of An Intelligent Healthcare Management System Based on Big Data in Nigeria.

Salami Omolola Aybaeyin 숭실대학교 정보과학대학원 2023 국내석사

In order to analyze patients' medical histories, anticipate potential sicknesses or illnesses they may be exposed to, and determine potential preventive measures, this study will look at a variety of aspects that may affect the adoption of an intelligent healthcare management system employing big data. It will also determine if Big Data solutions are seen to have a good impact on patient care and Physicians’ jobs. In semi-structured survey with Physicians and individuals, it was discovered that they saw emerging technologies as valuable in healthcare (better efficiency, healthcare quality, and diagnostic accuracy). However, respondents identify to variables that influence their perceptions on the ease of use of new technologies, such as the difficulties of integrating ix Big Data into the existing system. Healthcare systems (poor compatibility) and understanding technology (high complexity), ethical considerations, and the necessity for intense training in digital skills were also factors to be taken into consideration. A cross-sectional survey of 302 persons from all works of life in Nigeria was conducted using a questionnaire adapted from comparable research. A combination of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Technology Organization Environment (TOE) and IS Success Model were used in the research. To assess components and the route model, data was analyzed using SPSS (V20.0), which is often used in Structural Equation Modeling. Performance expectations, an intelligent healthcare management system for Nigerians based on big data, IT infrastructure, and social influence are all shown to have a substantial impact on various stakeholders’ intents to adopt and use the system, according to the findings. These findings are consistent with previous research. My findings will contribute to the body of knowledge by identifying crucial areas in which the research might be valuable, particularly to stakeholders and healthcare policy makers in the development and implementation of a healthcare management system. Keywords: Big Data, Healthcare, Public Sector, Users’ Acceptability, Service Delivery, UTAUT, Citizens in Nigeria, South Korea.