Technologies Old and New: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Era of Post-COVID Healthcare

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Coronaviruses (CoV) and COVID-19 Pandemic".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 3577

Special Issue Editors

School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Interests: public health; health technologies; mental health; health equity; medical ethics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo 315100, China
Interests: sustainable urbanism; urban sustainability; green infrastructure; urban transition; sponge city development; eco city; urban design; integrated design; urban greenery; regional development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Business Administration, Fundação Dom Cabral, Nova Lima 34018-006, MG, Brazil
Interests: health management; health communication; health economics; health promotion
Department of Humanities, South East Technological University, Carlow Campus, Moanacurragh, Carlow, Ireland
Interests: psychological education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

COVID-19 has been a testing time for health systems worldwide. Amid pandemic disruptions, compounding public-health emergencies, and healthcare workforce shortages, technologies have played a pivotal role in alleviating post-COVID-19 burdens on global health. However, while applications of technologies old and new, ranging from telephone-based mental health interventions, artificial intelligence-empowered COVID-19 surveillance infrastructure, to robotics-assisted care for vulnerable communities, hold great potential and promise, they also bring unprecedented changes and challenges to global health systems.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather (1) constructive insights on how (might) technologies—both basic and advanced ones—positively or negatively influence the people, the practice, the principles, and the potentials of health systems in the post-COVID-19 era; and (2) practical solutions on how we should adapt and evolve to become better prepared for post-COVID-19 challenges and opportunities. 

We welcome all relevant submissions that fall under the scope of this Special Issue, particularly those that focus on consequential yet relatively ill-studied topics, such as: 

  • Best practices in post-COVID-19 technology-based interventions
  • The use and abuse of emerging technologies in (mental) health solutions
  • Technology-based post-COVID-19 healthcare for disadvantaged communities (e.g., older people, domestic violence victims, people with mental disorders, etc.)
  • The unintended consequences of post-COVID-19 health system digitalization.

Original articles, reviews, and commentaries are welcome in this Special Issue and we very much look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Zhaohui Su
Prof. Dr. Ali Cheshmehzangi
Prof. Dr. Claudimar Pereira Da Veiga
Dr. Dean McDonnell
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • health technologies
  • e-health
  • COVID-19
  • global health
  • healthcare
  • artificial intelligence
  • emerging technologies
  • health equity
  • medical ethics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 654 KiB  
Article
Towards the Future of Public Health: Roadmapping Trends and Scenarios in the Post-COVID Healthcare Era
by Leonardo El-Warrak, Mariano Nunes, Gabriel Luna, Carlos Eduardo Barbosa, Alan Lyra, Matheus Argôlo, Yuri Lima, Herbert Salazar and Jano Moreira de Souza
Healthcare 2023, 11(24), 3118; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11243118 - 07 Dec 2023
Viewed by 989
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic, a transformative event in modern society, has disrupted routine, work, behavior, and human relationships. Organizations, amidst the chaos, have innovatively adapted to the evolving situation. However, many countries were unprepared for the magnitude of the challenge, revealing the fragility of [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic, a transformative event in modern society, has disrupted routine, work, behavior, and human relationships. Organizations, amidst the chaos, have innovatively adapted to the evolving situation. However, many countries were unprepared for the magnitude of the challenge, revealing the fragility of health responses due to inadequate leadership, insufficient resources, and poor information system integration. Structural changes in health systems are imperative, particularly in leadership, governance, human resources, financing, information systems, technology, and health service provision. This research utilizes the Technological Roadmapping method to analyze the health sector, focusing on public health, drawing on articles from SCOPUS and PubMed databases, and creating a roadmap extending to 2050. The research presents three long-term scenarios based on the literature-derived roadmap and explores various alternatives, including integrated care, telemedicine, Big Data utilization, nanotechnology, and Big Tech’s AI services. The results underscore the anticipation of post-pandemic public health with high expectations, emphasizing the importance of integrating health history access, encouraging self-care, and leveraging technology for streamlined treatment. Practical implications include insights for decision makers and stakeholders to inform strategic planning and adapt to evolving industry demands, recognizing the significance of preventive services and the humanizing potential of technology. Full article
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10 pages, 228 KiB  
Article
Perspectives of Healthcare Providers towards Remote Medical Interpreting Services in Japan
by Soichiro Saeki, Kaori Minamitani, Fumika Iwaoka and Kokoro Shirai
Healthcare 2023, 11(1), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11010112 - 30 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1923
Abstract
Language support is necessary for effective healthcare as language obstacles have a negative impact on patient outcomes. Medical facilities dealing with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were forced to restrict the number of healthcare professionals on the field, and medical interpreters were no exception. [...] Read more.
Language support is necessary for effective healthcare as language obstacles have a negative impact on patient outcomes. Medical facilities dealing with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were forced to restrict the number of healthcare professionals on the field, and medical interpreters were no exception. This has prompted the introduction of remote medical interpreting systems, which do not necessitate the presence of an interpreter onsite. However, as the dominant trend in offering linguistic help was face-to-face medical interpreting, healthcare staff are also battling with its utilization. We conducted a single-centered, retrospective study by examining written responses taken from April 2018 to March 2020 and a total of 236 healthcare employees in Japan, to identify the primary reasons of such challenges. Remote medical interpreting was frequently employed by a range of professions in many departments across various languages, and the majority of users were satisfied with the experience. The qualitative analysis based on the free opinions of the healthcare professionals unraveled three main concerns towards remote medical interpreting: connection to the interpreting providers; coordination of the remote interpreting coordinators, and quality of interpreting. Therefore, increasing the use of remote medical interpreting while simultaneously training interpreters by enhancing the skills required in Japanese medical facilities would be necessary. Full article
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