Table 2 IT applications in the COVID-19 pandemic
From: A framework for information technology-based management against COVID-19 in Iran
Objectives | IT types (References) | Applications |
|---|---|---|
Prevention | Mobile health(M-health) [4, 9, 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28] | * Virtual education and training * Information sharing * Remote consultation * Providing updated information on newly suspected COVID-19 communities/regions * Raising awareness * Location monitoring * Monitoring the movements of quarantined individuals * Promoting personal health tracking * Crowd activity monitoring * Contact tracing (initial screening, have a “chatbox” for real-time communication, education, and remote monitoring) * Promoting personal health tracking |
* Raising public awareness and social control * Online tracking system for the COVID-19 pandemic * Internet search data demonstrates information-seeking behavior in response to local COVID-19 cases and web-search behavior. * Monitor the disease outbreak and information dissemination * Health Education and Promotion * Internet-based consultation sessions | ||
* Allows doctors to monitor and interact with infected patients * To assist doctors in taking vital signs and communicating with patients via a large screen in Seattle * To transport medical supplies * Navigates and sanitizes floors without human interference * Spraying disinfectants * Cleaning | ||
* Consulting (e.g., Synchronous video consultation) * Health Education and Promotion * Virtual education * A self-assessment conducted asynchronously through an application to determine possible symptoms * Remote patient monitoring | ||
* Monitor and measure the level of container * Data collection/sharing * For social distancing * Remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients in quarantine centers and/or self-isolation * Contact Tracing and Clustering | ||
Artificial Intelligence (AI) [16, 23, 29, 30, 35, 37,38,39,40,41,42,43] | * Provide updated information * Early warnings and alerts * Awareness and social control * Monitoring and maintaining social distance * Tracking pedestrians | |
* Raise awareness * Raise education | ||
* Educating and learning about the COVID-19 virus * Tele-communication to share patient experiences * Educating children on coronavirus safety | ||
* Early warning * Health Education and Promotion * Information dissemination | ||
* Preventing the circulation of fake news * To share COVID-19 data on the Algorand blockchain | ||
Video games [13] | * Education of protection strategies | |
* Spraying disinfectants in remote areas * To deliver medical supplies | ||
5G network [23] | * Facilitates teleconsultation * Providing better assistance to the frontline staff and facilitating improved virus tracking | |
Decision support system (DSS) [17] | * Early warning | |
Surveillance system [9] | * To identify quarantined individuals with COVID-19 symptoms | |
Augmented Reality (AR)[45] | * Providing high-resolution audio and video | |
Cloud computing [17] | * Early warning | |
Diagnosis | * Telemedicine visitation services and virtual venues for meetings * Virtual education * Training * Information sharing * Remote consultation * Raise awareness * Location monitoring * Clinical Symptom Monitoring * Unobtrusive Sensing for Physiological and Symptomatic Monitoring of COVID-19 * Multi-parameter Physiological Monitoring | |
Drones [29] | * Allows to scan through a crowd of people and detect someone in need of medical attention (crowd surveillance) * To monitor citizens in real-time * Delivery of medical supplies and other essentials (e.g., thermal imaging camera) and patient samples to improve virus detection * Public announcements | |
* Assessing patients (assess the possibility of being a COVID-19 carrier) * To support nurses and doctors in screening sick patients * To rapidly screen potential COVID-19 cases using questionnaires * Remotely monitoring and diagnosing * Providing health services using virtual care for clinical examinations | ||
* Diagnosis of COVID-19 from Chest CT Images * Diagnosis using radiology images * Screening the patient risk * Early detection * CT assessment of patients * The severity of COVID-19 * Face Mask Detection * Thermography * Germ screening * Risk Assessment and Patient Prioritization | ||
* Real-time Tracking (e.g., To track clinical specimens) * Rapid and enhanced diagnosis * Screening * Smart thermometers to screen people for high fevers | ||
DSS [9] | * Early detection * Screening and triage * Risk assessment for suspected individuals * To assist general practitioners (GPs) * For characterizing the severity of COVID-19 | |
* Measuring body temperature and recording other relevant data * Assisting patient diagnosis | ||
* COVID-19 contact tracing * Track COVID-19 patients * Triage of COVD19 patients | ||
5G-network [23] | * Facilitating improved virus tracking * Facilitates teleconsultation | |
* Assist with diagnosis * Estimate or predict risk score | ||
Surveillance system [9] | * Early detection | |
VR [45] | * Seeing into the patient’s lungs | |
Blockchain [23] | * Facilitating increased testing | |
Video games [13] | * Assist with diagnosis | |
Social media [46] | * Assist with early detection | |
(Electronic health record) EHR | * Assist with quick diagnosis | |
3D printing [46] | * Meeting the requirements of medical equipment | |
Nanotechnology [46] | * Can help to diagnose and treat through Nanoparticles and equipment | |
Cloud computing [17] | * Via mobile system: Early detection, screening, and triage | |
Treatment | * Monitor patient recovery * Outpatient treatment * Communication between patients and physicians through secure video chats * Remote patient monitoring * Virtual care * Chronic disease management * Treatment of sleep disorders * Elderly care | |
* Telemedicine visit services and virtual venues for meetings * To monitor patients with mild symptoms who have tested positive for COVID-19 * Self-management of symptoms * Remote consultation * Monitor patients (by temperature, heart rate, oxygen, and blood pressure) * Improve mental health (Remote Physiological Monitoring) * Monitor people’s physical health, along with their stress levels | ||
* Identification of a potential therapeutic option * Critical patient screening * Support vaccination development * Automated Patient Care * Monitoring * Development of drugs and vaccines | ||
* Monitoring the quarantined patients * Monitor patient recovery * Allows doctors to monitor and interact with infected patients * To assist in the treatment of patients * Advice on symptomatic management and self-isolation | ||
VR [45] | * In palliative care * Telehealth VR system for various disorders * Assisting in the discovery of potential molecular targets for the inhibition of COVID-19 proteins | |
* Remote patient monitoring * Effective monitoring and control * To facilitate remote patient monitoring | ||
Big data analytics [44] | * Healthcare decision making * Pharmaceutical | |
5G network [23] | * Patient monitoring * Facilitates Teleconsultation | |
Video games [13] | * Help drug discovery: helped immensely in reconstructing the structure of the coronavirus protein, helps in (virus) protein three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and similarity searching | |
Bioinformatics systems [9] | * Drug discovery | |
Protection | * Control hazardous waste * Real-Time Waste Inf. * Remote monitoring * IoT BUTTONS To maintain high cleaning standards and limit the number of hospital-acquired infection * IoT solutions for social distancing | |
* Reducing the workload of healthcare workers * Facilitating the implementation of public health interventions * Control hazardous waste | ||
* Reducing the workload of healthcare workers * Facilitating the implementation of public health interventions * Spraying disinfectants | ||
AR [45] | * Sending patient information to the healthcare system directly * Visualization of invisible concepts | |
Surveillance system [9] | * Enhancing staff protection in a healthcare setting | |
* The state pharmacy boards have temporarily permitted pharmacists to remotely work and carry out dispensing activities outside a licensed pharmacy * Reducing face to face visits | ||
* Self-management of symptoms * Mobile telehealth system * People and health care providers have benefited from mobile phone diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and screening in any location, which has resulted in a reduction in touch. | ||
Big data analytics [35] | * Control hazardous waste | |
Drones [23] | * Minimize human interaction | |
Management aims | * COVID-19 Data Visualization and Exploratory Data Analysis (i.e., dashboards * Spatiotemporal analysis * Health and social geography * Web-based mapping * Provide information related to the surveillance of the pandemic * Real-time tracking of transmission, activity tracking, and quarantine-level analysis * Real-time tracking map * Spatial modeling * Provide data mining data | |
* Information sharing * Assist in planning further management * Current status and statistics from local areas (specific countries) to a global overview * Providing updated information on newly suspected COVID-19 communities/regions * Monitor the disease outbreak and information dissemination * Resource allocation * Visualization of the State governments’ data * Crowd activity monitoring * Scatter contact person mobility patterns | ||
* Facilitating increased reporting * Recording COVID-19 patient data * Managing lockdown implementation * Enabling an incentive-based volunteer participation platform * Enabling a secure donation platform for sponsors * Limiting supply chain disruptions * Support for immunity and vaccine certification * Route setting *Authenticate and validate COVID-19 and encrypt health data | ||
* Surveillance * To control the amount of hazardous waste and monitor the amount of waste * Data collection/sharing * Ability to transfer data over a computer network * Real-time access to COVID-19 data | ||
* Prediction of a patient’s health condition’s outcome * Protein structure predictions * Predict the severity of COVID-19 * The spread and progression of the pneumonia lesions * Predicting affected patients * Risk Prediction * Debunking fake news * Enforcing lockdown measures * Social control * Control hazardous waste | ||
5G network [23] | * Data collection and analysis * Perceived quality of service and data transfer rate to ensure real-time access to data | |
internet search queries [9] | * Showing information flow of the COVID-19 pandemic * Epidemiologic surveillance tool | |
* Resource allocation * Outbreak surveillance | ||
* Collecting, sorting, and analyzing the huge masses of data * Connected to national health information systems (HIS) and store data (mobility patterns) on a real-time basis for further analysis * Healthcare decision-making * Control hazardous waste | ||
* Use in the healthcare supply chain * Help to demand management in the health care context | ||
Social Media [17] | * The dynamic burden of the pandemic and analysis of its consequences | |
Surveillance system [9] | * To estimate COVID-19 growth rate through surveillance systems * Timely updates of references and population’s data | |
Video games [13] | * Assists with the transformation of large amounts of data into visual images | |
EHR [53] | * Assist with health data analysis * Assist with prediction by providing health data | |
Cloud computing [35] | * Through big data analytics: Control hazardous waste |