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Abstract
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Obinna Chimezie Madubuike, Chinemelu J. Anumba and Evangelia Agapaki
This paper aims to focus on identifying key health-care issues amenable to digital twin (DT) approach. It starts with a description of the concept and enabling technologies of a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on identifying key health-care issues amenable to digital twin (DT) approach. It starts with a description of the concept and enabling technologies of a DT and then discusses potential applications of DT solutions in healthcare facilities management (FM) using four different scenarios. The scenario planning focused on monitoring and controlling the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system in real-time; monitoring indoor air quality (IAQ) to monitor the performance of medical equipment; monitoring and tracking pulsed light for SARS-Cov-2; and monitoring the performance of medical equipment affected by radio frequency interference (RFI).
Design/methodology/approach
The importance of a healthcare facility, its systems and equipment necessitates an effective FM practice. However, the FM practices adopted have several areas for improvement, including the lack of effective real-time updates on performance status, asset tracking, bi-directional coordination of changes in the physical facilities and the computational resources that support and monitor them. Consequently, there is a need for more intelligent and holistic FM systems. We propose a DT which possesses the key features, such as real-time updates and bi-directional coordination, which can address the shortcomings in healthcare FM. DT represents a virtual model of a physical component and replicates the physical data and behavior in all instances. The replication is attained using sensors to obtain data from the physical component and replicating the physical component's behavior through data analysis and simulation. This paper focused on identifying key healthcare issues amenable to DT approach. It starts with a description of the concept and enabling technologies of a DT and then discusses potential applications of DT solutions in healthcare FM using four different scenarios.
Findings
The scenarios were validated by industry experts and concluded that the scenarios offer significant potential benefits for the deployment of DT in healthcare FM such as monitoring facilities’ performance in real-time and improving visualization by integrating the 3D model.
Research limitations/implications
In addition to inadequate literature addressing healthcare FM, the study was also limited to one of the healthcare facilities of a large public university, and the scope of the study was limited to IAQ including pressure, relative humidity, carbon dioxide and temperature. Additionally, the study showed the potential benefits of DT application in healthcare FM using various scenarios that DT experts validated.
Practical implications
The study shows the practical implication using the various validated scenarios and identified enabling technologies. The combination and implementation of those mentioned above would create a system that can effectively help manage facilities and improve facilities' performances.
Social implications
The only identifiable social solution is that the proposed system in this study can manually be overridden to prevent absolute autonomous control of the smart system in cases when needed.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only study that has addressed healthcare FM using the DT approach. This research is an excerpt from an ongoing dissertation.
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Ram Misra, Avinandan Mukherjee and Richard Peterson
With the advent of the internet café, chat sessions, instant messengers, special interest e‐groups and now blogs, people do not need to be physically close together to exchange…
Abstract
Purpose
With the advent of the internet café, chat sessions, instant messengers, special interest e‐groups and now blogs, people do not need to be physically close together to exchange their ideas. The participants can have shared experiences that are instantaneous and pretty much of the same nature that is usually realized by the traditional collection of special interest people in close proximity. The members of these virtual communities share their knowledge, cooperate with each other to solve problems, and feel responsibility for each other. Internet based technologies have been the great enablers of virtual communities. In the high‐involvement healthcare sector, patients are increasingly seeking online advice and information by participating in virtual communities. The purpose of this paper is to understand the process of consumer value creation in virtual communities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first adopts Cothrel's framework for the creation of value in virtual communities followed by an application of Kozinets' segmentation model of online consumers to explore the process of consumer value creation by a healthcare virtual community. “Netnography” was used as the research technique for this study. Netnography is an ethnographic research method adapted to the online environment. Discourse analysis is applied to interpret the huge volume of online postings.
Findings
The paper identifies four segments of virtual community users – tourists, minglers, devotees, and insiders, and studies their online activities and discussion topics to demonstrate their differential roles as members of healthcare virtual communities.
Originality/value
Most of the earlier works that are focused on virtual communities have been conducted at the conceptual level. In this paper a priori user segments in healthcare virtual communities are empirically profiled. Based on the findings, managerial implications for healthcare virtual communities are formulated.
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Avinandan Mukherjee and John McGinnis
Healthcare is among the fastest‐growing sectors in both developed and emerging economies. E‐healthcare is contributing to the explosive growth within this industry by utilizing…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare is among the fastest‐growing sectors in both developed and emerging economies. E‐healthcare is contributing to the explosive growth within this industry by utilizing the internet and all its capabilities to support its stakeholders with information searches and communication processes. The purpose of this paper is to present the state‐of‐the‐art and to identify key themes in research on e‐healthcare.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature in the marketing and management of e‐healthcare was conducted to determine the major themes pertinent to e‐healthcare research as well as the commonalities and differences within these themes.
Findings
Based on the literature review, the five major themes of e‐healthcare research identified are: cost savings; virtual networking; electronic medical records; source credibility and privacy concerns; and physician‐patient relationships.
Originality/value
Based on these major themes, managerial implications for e‐healthcare are formulated. Suggestions are offered to facilitate healthcare service organizations' attempts to further implement and properly utilize e‐healthcare in their facilities. These propositions will also help these stakeholders develop and streamline their e‐healthcare processes already in use. E‐healthcare systems enable firms to improve efficiency, to reduce costs, and to facilitate the coordination of care across multiple facilities.
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