Technology for Predictive Health Monitoring of Elderly and Vulnerable Citizens in Kenya using Healthcare 4.0: A Theoretical Review

Abstract

The traditional critical healthcare planning is based on periodic routine checks and a reactive strategy of interventions whenever the individuals have entered high risk states (such as heart attacks or strokes). The Healthcare 4.0 design is based on the principle of continuous predictive health monitoring such that the buildup process towards high risk states of individuals can be identified much before their critical levels thus ensuring proactive interventions by the hospitals. Kenya has significant potential to adopt Healthcare 4.0 technology using traditional information and networking components. This research investigates how Healthcare 4.0 can be used in predictive health monitoring of the elderly and vulnerable citizens that individual hospitals can adopt for operational excellence. Desktop review methodology was used. The technical literature review was used to define an operations algorithm. The results suggest that several customizations are needed in the traditional information and networking components to make them fit for predictive health monitoring. The individuals under critical monitoring should not be allowed high mobility as it has a negative effect on monitoring reliability and effectiveness. Healthcare 4.0 adoption in Kenya is feasible. Its operational details need to be defined with several tiers of customized solutions for different patient classes. There are some limitations found in this research, which should be kept in mind while designing and operating Healthcare 4.0 networks in Kenya.