Applications Based on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) in the Field of Home Healthcare

The article describes some of the health industry applications that are developed with the aim of improving home patient care and in the architecture field” (SOA) service-oriented designs have been handled too. Evaluation of the use of IoT (Internet of Things) in the healthcare field has been carried out (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). The safety aspects of service-oriented designs and its significant features have been discussed in the article. A body sensor network is one of the tools that is used to improve patient healthcare from the home settings. This and other devices will be discussed to show some of the solutions and improvements that have come up for the health industry to aid in delivering quality patient care services by the providers. (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017) A background literature on semantic interoperability, functionalities and security implementation has been done to understand the paths in research to be followed in future and to fathom what has been accomplished.

IoT idea was brought up by Ashton Kevin who thought it wise for integrating the internet in the technological advances made in medicine (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). The IoT application could be incorporated in emergency medication, telemedicine, biomedical devices, social networking for home and intelligent pharmaceutical packages. Home healthcare entails monitoring the health conditions from the comfort of their homes. By applying IoT, sensors can be placed in the house or in the body of the patient to monitor the behavior of the patient and alert the healthcare provider if behavior anomaly occurs (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). SOA and IoT applications aim to improve the quality of patient services primarily to the old, who would not be mandated to be hospitalized to be appropriately taken care of. It is from these applications that patients with the Alzheimer’s disease will enjoy being treated while in the comfort of their homes.

Problem Definition

There are various challenges associated with access to quality, affordable, effective and efficient healthcare services. Advanced information technology can aid in enabling the provision of needed care to the patients. With such technology, patients will be able to access healthcare services more easily. With telemedicine, patients can talk to the healthcare professionals and explain their healthcare need. Service Oriented Architecture is thus a system that can aid in the integration of technology in the healthcare system. The functionalities of SOA based healthcare application aren’t well understood (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). Importantly, the security implementation of SOA also needs to be well elaborated in addition to semantic probability approach when it comes to implementation of the technology.

Research Challenges

Fully application of technology especially the healthcare applications that are based on SOA is uncharted waters. The literature reviews aim to establish various aspects when it comes to SOA based healthcare applications. This makes it difficult to implement this form of technology in an effective and efficient manner (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). Searching for the information where this type of system has been employed has been difficult. There was no reliable information when it comes to the full application of this type of system. For instance, the search of the needed information was employed in three databases that is Scopus, Science Direct and IEEE. Only 50 articles that met the needed criteria. SOA facilitates the integration of many application as well as enabling their implementation to promote the delivery of healthcare services in an effective and efficient ways (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). In most cases, however, implementation of such technology requires the input of funds which again can be challenging.

Weaknesses

One of the challenges of the SOA and IoT systems that have been discussed in the paper is security challenges. Considering that all the systems used would be connected to the internet, it would mean an increased risk of breaching the health information of a patient. It would be proper to ensure that the system ensures prevent unauthorized persons from accessing the data to uphold patient privacy (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). Another challenge was that of the parameters that would be possible to monitor with the sensors. The parameters mentioned were both physiological and environmental. From the literature, the physiological parameters were mainly focused on, and there was no consistent trend showing the possibility of measuring the environmental factors. The physiological conditions that were taken into account included heart rate and blood pressure, vitals that is crucial for monitoring in the aged population.

The Strong Aspect of the Paper

The paper represents a literature review conducted with the aim of determining the implementation as well as the applicability of SOA based healthcare application. The application of this form of technology is aimed at improving the delivery and access of healthcare services. Importantly, it will improve aspects such as telemedicine thus improving patient’s autonomy. Healthcare specialist will closely monitor the different parameter of the patient through the use of input device in the body of the patient. This will enable elderly patients who are prone to chronic illness to live the quality life.

Main Contribution

The PDF provides a detailed analysis of how the SOA based application can improve the delivery and access to healthcare services. Implementation of such technology is meant to facilitate the delivery of the needed health care services in an effective and efficient manner (Avila, Sanmartin, Jabba & Jimeno, 2017). Importantly, the PDF highlights the security implementation of the technology as well as the challenges associated with such implementation.

The Improvement

The study should have focused on more on what it takes as well as the requirements of the healthcare system to enhance the implementation of such technology. This way, the best approach to facilitate the adoption of the technology in healthcare system can be evaluated and implemented easily. The system that is located in the home, as well as those in healthcare clinic, should facilitate effectiveness in healthcare services delivery.

References:

Avila, K., Sanmartin, P., Jabba, D., & Jimeno, M. (2017). Applications Based on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) in the Field of Home Healthcare. Sensors,В 17(8), 1703. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s17081703