ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although most digital twin (DT) applications for health care have emerged in precision medicine, DTs can potentially support the overall health care process. DTs (twinned systems, processes, and products) can be used to optimize flows, improve performance, improve health outcomes, and improve the experiences of patients, doctors, and other stakeholders with minimal risk. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to review applications of DT systems, products, and processes as well as analyze the potential of these applications for improving health care management and the challenges associated with this emerging technology. METHODS: We performed a rapid review of the literature and reported available studies on DTs and their applications in health care management. We searched 5 databases for studies published between January 2002 and January 2022 and included peer-reviewed studies written in English. We excluded studies reporting DT usage to support health care practice (organ transplant, precision medicine, etc). Studies were analyzed based on their contribution toward DT technology to improve user experience in health care from human factors and systems engineering perspectives, accounting for the type of impact (product, process, or performance/system level). Challenges related to the adoption of DTs were also summarized. RESULTS: The DT-related studies aimed at managing health care systems have been growing over time from 0 studies in 2002 to 17 in 2022, with 7 published in 2021 (N=17 studies). The findings reported on applications categorized by DT type (system: n=8; process: n=5; product: n=4) and their contributions or functions. We identified 4 main functions of DTs in health care management including safety management (n=3), information management (n=2), health management and well-being promotion (n=3), and operational control (n=9). DTs used in health care systems management have the potential to avoid unintended or unexpected harm to people during the provision of health care processes. They also can help identify crisis-related threats to a system and control the impacts. In addition, DTs ensure privacy, security, and real-time information access to all stakeholders. Furthermore, they are beneficial in empowering self-care abilities by enabling health management practices and providing high system efficiency levels by ensuring that health care facilities run smoothly and offer high-quality care to every patient. CONCLUSIONS: The use of DTs for health care systems management is an emerging topic. This can be seen in the limited literature supporting this technology. However, DTs are increasingly being used to ensure patient safety and well-being in an organized system. Thus, further studies aiming to address the challenges of health care systems challenges and improve their performance should investigate the potential of DT technology. In addition, such technologies should embed human factors and ergonomics principles to ensure better design and more successful impact on patient and doctor experiences.
Subject(s)
Delivery of Health Care , Self Care , Humans , Privacy , TechnologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Technology can benefit older adults in many ways, including by facilitating remote access to services, communication, and socialization for convenience or out of necessity when individuals are homebound. As people, especially older adults, self-quarantined and sheltered in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of usability-in-place became clear. To understand the remote use of technology in an ecologically valid manner, researchers and others must be able to test usability remotely. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to review practical approaches for and findings about remote usability testing, particularly remote usability testing with older adults. METHODS: We performed a rapid review of the literature and reported on available methods, their advantages and disadvantages, and practical recommendations. This review also reported recommendations for usability testing with older adults from the literature. RESULTS: Critically, we identified a gap in the literature-a lack of remote usability testing methods, tools, and strategies for older adults, despite this population's increased remote technology use and needs (eg, due to disability or technology experience). We summarized existing remote usability methods that were found in the literature as well as guidelines that are available for conducting in-person usability testing with older adults. CONCLUSIONS: We call on the human factors research and practice community to address this gap to better support older adults and other homebound or mobility-restricted individuals.
ABSTRACT
More than 130,000 peer-reviewed studies have been published within one year after COVID-19 emerged in many countries. This large and rapidly growing field may overwhelm the synthesizing abilities of both researchers and policy-makers. To provide a sinopsis, prevent errors, and detect cognitive gaps that may require interdisciplinary research methods, the literature on COVID-19 is summarized, twice. The overall purpose of this study is to generate a dialogue meant to explain the genesis of and/or find remedies for omissions and contradictions. The first review starts in Biology and ends in Policy. Policy is chosen as a destination because it is the setting where cognitive integration must occur. The second review follows the opposite path: it begins with stated policies on COVID-19 and then their assumptions and disciplinary relationships are identified. The purpose of this interdisciplinary method on methods is to yield a relational and explanatory view of the field -one strategy likely to be incomplete but usable when large bodies of literature need to be rapidly summarized. These reviews identify nine inter-related problems, research needs, or omissions, namely: (1) nation-wide, geo-referenced, epidemiological data collection systems (open to and monitored by the public); (2) metrics meant to detect non-symptomatic cases -e.g., test positivity-; (3) cost-benefit oriented methods, which should demonstrate they detect silent viral spreaders even with limited testing; (4) new personalized tests that inform on biological functions and disease correlates, such as cell-mediated immunity, co-morbidities, and immuno-suppression; (5) factors that influence vaccine effectiveness; (6) economic predictions that consider the long-term consequences likely to follow epidemics that growth exponentially; (7) the errors induced by self-limiting and/or implausible paradigms, such as binary and reductionist approaches; (8) new governance models that emphasize problem-solving skills, social participation, and the use of scientific knowledge; and (9) new educational programs that utilize visual aids and audience-specific communication strategies. The analysis indicates that, to optimally address these problems, disciplinary and social integration is needed. By asking what is/are the potential cause(s) and consequence(s) of each issue, this methodology generates visualizations that reveal possible relationships as well as omissions and contradictions. While inherently limited in scope and likely to become obsolete, these shortcomings are avoided when this 'method on methods' is frequently practiced. Open-ended, inter-/trans-disciplinary perspectives and broad social participation may help researchers and citizens to construct, de-construct, and re-construct COVID-19 related research.