The Evolution of Healthcare Applications in the Web 2.0 Era - Computational Intelligence in Healthcare: Advanced Methodologies - page 301

Chapter 14
The Evolution of Healthcare Applications
in the Web 2.0 Era
Iraklis Varlamis 1 and Ioannis Apostolakis 2
1 Harokopio University of Athens, Dept. of Informatics and Telematics, Greece
2 Technical University of Crete, Dept. of Sciences, Greece
Abstract. Healthcare refers to the diagnosis, treatment and management of ill-
ness, as well as to the preservation of health through specialized services.
Healthcare services are offered by medical practitioners and organizations and
directed to individuals or to populations. The advent of the Web increased the
pervasiveness of healthcare services and attracted the interest of both practitio-
ners and patients. In its turn, Web 2.0 brought people together in a more dy-
namic and interactive space. With new services, applications and devices, it
promises to enrich our web experience, and to establish an environment where
virtual medical communities may flourish away from private interests and fi-
nancial expectations. This article performs a bird's eye view of Web 2.0 novel-
ties, portrays the structure of a community for healthcare and describes how
medical information can be exploited in favor of the community. It discusses
the merits and necessities of various approaches and tools and sheds light on
pitfalls that should be avoided.
1 Introduction
Medical informatics and Healthcare applications have been devoted to the study and
implementation of structures to improve communication, understanding and manage-
ment of medical information and promote public health. Their main objective is the
extraction, storage and manipulation of data and information and the development of
tools and platforms that apply knowledge in the decision-making process, at the time
and place that a decision needs to be made.
The advent of internet introduced the idea of tele-application of medical practices.
Tele-medicine, tele-education of practitioners and nurses, tele-healthcare and tele-
consultation are rapidly developing applications of clinical medicine, where medical
information is transferred via telephone, the Internet or other networks for the purpose
of consulting, and sometimes remote medical procedures or examinations.
Internet has broaden the scope of medical information systems and led to the de-
velopment of distributed and interoperable information sources and services. In the
same time, the need for standards became crucial. Federated medical libraries, bio-
medical knowledge bases and global healthcare systems, offer a rich information sink
and facilitate mobility of patients and practitioners.