Steemit crypto academy S4 week 3: homework post for professor @yohan2on

Greetings. This is my home work post for professor @yohan2on on Blockchain application in the health care.

Designed on canva

RESEARCH AND DISCUSS THE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF BLOCKCHAIN IN THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

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INTRODUCTION

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The Blockchain since it's inception is growing rapidly into various aspects of our lives and the health sector is not left out. We are going to X-ray the possible ways in which Blockchain technology is applied in the health sector under the following headings;

• Health care data management and Blockchain
• Health sector supply chain and Blockchain
• Internet of medical things
• Downturns of Blockchain in health care industry
• Conclusions

Healthcare data management and Blockchain

• The health sector is data driven. There's high need for patients data to be stored, processed and secured effectively. The huge inflow of data can be managed by using applications that are Blockchain based. The screenshot below shows how data in the healthcare can be managed using Blockchain.

Source

The patients on interaction with the doctors concerning their health challenges generates data. These data are used to create an EHR for the patient
The patient is granted access to this EHR containing the data. Anyone seeking to access the info must be granted access by the owner of the EHR.
This info is stored on a database and cloud while the Blockchain provides the privacy. The Blockchain makes this information readily available and can be distributed to the patients phone and the patient can receive treatment anywhere in the world. The data can be updated over time and this makes for effective health care attendance anytime with patients authorization.

There's a health care data sharing app presently developed on Blockchain architecture which aids data sharing. This app was developed by Yue et Al and is known as "Healthcare Data Gateway (HGD)". It helps in effective sharing of health data while maintaining patients privacy.

• The amount of data generated in the health sector is voluminous and therefore violation of the privacy and security of data are always witnessed. The Blockchain technology has helped to curb this manace through some Blockchain based technology and an example of such is MedRec.
MedRec makes use of smart contracts for it's execution. The system of management is a decentralized EMR which records data permission and operations in the Blockchain. MedRec gives the patients a medical data service that's all encompassing and fixed by joining the complete medical information, thereby authenticating the data, sharing, evaluating and giving it privacy.

• The traditional method of storing patient's data on paper is very tiresome and liable to mistakes. I know a true life story of someone who was wrongfully given cancer treatment which led to kidney failures and inevitable death. This was due to misdocumentation of test results. Having access to health records electronically through EHRs can help physicians manage diagnosis and patients treatment thereby avoiding careless deaths.

Health sector supply chain and Blockchain.

• Any form of compromise with health supplies have negative impact on the safety of the consumers. From my research, a study from World health Organization reveals that more than 100,000 people in the continent of Africa lose their lives from consuming fake drugs bought from untrusted suppliers.

• The Blockchain technology could help monitor and track the process and movement of medical products by recording all transactions on the Blockchain. They will be verified to show that they are authentic and this process of authentication and management will help the health sector ensure that genuine and unadulterated health supplies get to the patients.

• Blockchain can help pharmaceutical companies to enhance the quality of the drugs during production and invention. This process can be very tedious and may take years to get through in a bid to get exclusive rights to invent the drugs, welfare, ensure accurate statistics etc. This long years could lead to the recall of the drug or fraudulent imitation. The Blockchain can aid the pharmaceutical companies through the production stages. The Blockchain will also ensure that the privacy and security of the products is maintained through the use of smart contracts providing unification, lucidity and traceability.

• The health sector has its assertions and billings hence its worth trillions of dollars. The heath sector makes sure that it's services are properly delivered through billing. This billings can be abused or be in excess sometimes when doctors, patients and organizations are not been transparent. The use of Blockchain in medical billings ensures transparency and curbs abuse of medical billings.

Internet of medical things (IoMT)

• One time or the other, we've been to the hospital and devices were attached to our body to diagnose or carry out some checks. These health care devices such as thermometers, blood pressure checker, heart monitoring device, etc plays important roles in the information system of the health sector and it's made possible through internet of medical things technology.
The screenshot below is an example of Illustration of IoMT in the Blockchain.

Source

The data is gotten from the patient through the device attached to the body. These data are stored in blocks with the aid of decentralized artificial intelligence system which also ensures the privacy of the data. Access to data by the providers of the healthcare is possible with owners authorization.

• Internet of things presently plays a very important role in the health sector. Presently as the core of internet of medical things are medical apparatuses that can be worn. Example of such medical apparatus is WBAN (Wireless bBdy Area network. WBAN is used for different applications in the medical field especially for analysing body parts and what's going on in them.

I(oT)sed to do varieties of things like checking ones pulse, amount of calories burnt, check heart beat rates, weight, blood pressure etc. The IoT devices gathers information which are evaluated and recorded on the Blockchain through smart contracts.

Downturns/ Challenges of Blockchain adoption

• The Blockchain is a decentralized ledger which is open hence hiding some very core sensitive information may pose a challenge
• The problem of scalability of the Blockchain may come up considering the volume of data generated in the health sector.
• Adopting the idea of Blockchain is considered may sound alien especially in developing countries and continents such as in Africa which is considered a third world continent and is quite behind in technology advancement. Hence many will not tbe able to take advantage of the Blockchain technology yet.

CONCLUSION

The Blockchain technology since it's inception had gained wide acceptance in different sectors of life and continues to grow. it's impact and importance cannot tbe under estimated or over emphasized and it's application in the health care sector will lead to tremendous growth, improvement, efficacy and diversification. Notwithstanding, it had it's Challenges, but despite the cons, the benefits are more hence its needed as an integral part of the health sector.