Revolutionizing healthcare data management: Blockchain technology and its applications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29352/mill0223e.43367Keywords:
Blockchain; healthcare data security; GDPR; interoperabilityAbstract
Introduction: The healthcare industry faces significant hurdles in managing sensitive patient data, ensuring data integrity, and maintaining trust among stakeholders. Blockchain Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) offers a promising solution by providing secure, transparent, and tamper-proof record-keeping capabilities.
Objective: To contribute to a comprehensive assessment of the benefits and limitations of blockchain in the healthcare sector, highlighting its potential to foster a secure, patient-centred, and efficient data ecosystem.
Methods: A systematic review of the literature, following the PRISMA guidelines, to analyse the integration of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector. The analysis of the research is divided into five areas: technical implementation, security and privacy, resource requirements, regulatory compliance, and organisational barriers.
Results: The findings underscore the need for collaborative efforts among healthcare stakeholders, technologists, and regulators to address technical and organizational hurdles, enabling practical blockchain integration into global healthcare systems.
Conclusion: This research highlighted the potential of blockchain technology to foster a more secure, efficient, and patient-centered health data ecosystem through a comprehensive analysis of its implementations and the results observed in real-world contexts. However, the successful integration of this technology depends on collaboration among different stakeholders in the healthcare sector, technology experts, and regulatory bodies, in order to overcome the technical, organizational, and regulatory challenges associated with its adoption.
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