Nursing and Informatics for the 21st Century – Embracing a Digital World, 3rd Edition
Book 1: Realizing Digital Health – Bold Challenges and Opportunities for Nursing
2022 Productivity Press: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003054849
Chapter 1
Author: Anne W. Snowdon
Healthcare systems are facing unprecedented challenges, including an aging population, managing a global pandemic, persistent growth of chronic illness, workforce shortages and healthcare costs growing far beyond GDP growth in almost every country. These challenges threaten the sustainability of every global health system and may preclude the capacity of health systems to ensure equitable access and health outcomes for every global citizen. Sustainability and equity of health systems in the post-pandemic future is a renewed priority for every country in the world. While health systems have struggled to manage the many demands for care delivery, consumers and populations continue to place growing expectations on health systems for equitable health care access and outcomes, and more personalized approaches to care delivery, particularly services focused on health and wellness. Consumers are now able to connect virtually to health teams, global experts and health organizations and have access to a wide range of health services through internet-based technologies. The rapid shift toward virtual care delivery has resulted in heightened expectations among consumers for access to digitally enabled care. There is a renewed urgency to advance digital capacity across health systems in order to support access to health care services, support more equitable outcomes for populations and advance health system performance and interoperability that will be required to achieve sustainability well into the future. This chapter provides an introduction to digital health, beginning with the origins and evolution of digital health, an analysis and definition of digital health, the four key dimensions of digital health and the role of nurses in advancing the transformation of health systems toward digital health ecosystems of tomorrow.