Medical informatics is a field which continues to evolve with developments and improvements in foundational methods, applications, and technology, constantly offering opportunities for supporting the customization of healthcare to individual patients. This book presents the proceedings of the 16th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics (MedInfo2017), held in Hangzhou, China, in August 2017, which also marked the 50th anniversary of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). The central theme of MedInfo2017 was "Precision Healthcare through Informatics", and the scientific program was divided into five tracks: connected and digital health; human data science; human, organizational, and social aspects; knowledge management and quality; and safety and patient outcomes. The 249 accepted papers and 168 posters included here span the breadth and depth of sub-disciplines in biomedical and health informatics, such as clinical informatics; nursing informatics; consumer health informatics; public health informatics; human factors in healthcare; bioinformatics; translational informatics; quality and safety; research at the intersection of biomedical and health informatics; and precision medicine. The book will be of interest to all those who wish to keep pace with advances in the science, education, and practice of biomedical and health informatics worldwide.

Science-fiction author William Gibson is famously quoted as saying, “The future is already here – it's just not very evenly distributed.” During the Covid pandemic, telehealth and remote monitoring were elevated from interesting innovations to essential tools in many healthcare systems, but not all countries had the infrastructure necessary to pivot quickly, amply demonstrating the negative consequences of the digital divide. This book presents the proceedings of MedInfo 2023, the 19th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics, held from 8 – 12 July 2023 in Sydney, Australia. This series of biennial conferences provides a platform for the discussion of applied approaches to data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in health and wellness. The theme and title of MedInfo 2023 was The Future is Accessible, but the digital divide is a major concern for health and care-informatics professionals, whether because of global economic disparities, digital literacy gaps, or limited access to reliable information about health. A total of 935 submissions were received for the conference, of which 228 full papers, 43 student papers and 117 posters were accepted following a thorough peer-review process involving 279 reviewers. Topics covered include: information and knowledge management; quality, safety and outcomes; health data science; human, organizational and social aspects; and global health informatics. Significant advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, and genomics hold great hope for future healthcare planning, delivery, management, education, evaluation, and research, and this book will be of interest to all those working to not only exploit the benefits of these technologies, but also to identify ways to overcome their associated challenges.

Combining and integrating cross-institutional data remains a challenge for both researchers and those involved in patient care. Patient-generated data can contribute precious information to healthcare professionals by enabling monitoring under normal life conditions and also helping patients play a more active role in their own care. This book presents the proceedings of MEDINFO 2019, the 17th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics, held in Lyon, France, from 25 to 30 August 2019. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Health and Wellbeing: E-Networks for All’, stressing the increasing importance of networks in healthcare on the one hand, and the patient-centered perspective on the other. Over 1100 manuscripts were submitted to the conference and, after a thorough review process by at least three reviewers and assessment by a scientific program committee member, 285 papers and 296 posters were accepted, together with 47 podium abstracts, 7 demonstrations, 45 panels, 21 workshops and 9 tutorials. All accepted paper and poster contributions are included in these proceedings. The papers are grouped under four thematic tracks: interpreting health and biomedical data, supporting care delivery, enabling precision medicine and public health, and the human element in medical informatics. The posters are divided into the same four groups. The book presents an overview of state-of-the-art informatics projects from multiple regions of the world; it will be of interest to anyone working in the field of medical informatics.

The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”, and its constitution also asserts that health for all people is “dependent on the fullest co-operation of individuals and States”. The ongoing pandemic has highlighted the power of both healthy and unhealthy information, so while healthcare and public health services have depended upon timely and accurate data and continually updated knowledge, social media has shown how unhealthy misinformation can be spread and amplified, reinforcing existing prejudices, conspiracy theories and political biases. This book presents the proceedings of MedInfo 2021, the 18th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics, held as a virtual event from 2-4 October 2021, with pre-recorded presentations for all accepted submissions. The theme of the conference was One World, One Health – Global Partnership for Digital Innovation and submissions were requested under 5 themes: information and knowledge management; quality, safety and outcomes; health data science; human, organizational and social aspects; and global health informatics. The Programme Committee received 352 submissions from 41 countries across all IMIA regions, and 147 full papers, 60 student papers and 79 posters were accepted for presentation after review and are included in these proceedings. Providing an overview of current work in the field over a wide range of disciplines, the book will be of interest to all those whose work involves some aspect of medical or health informatics.

Biomedical engineering and health informatics are closely related to each other, and it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins, but ICT systems in healthcare and biomedical systems and devices are already becoming increasingly interconnected, and share the common entity of data. This is something which is set to become even more prevalent in future, and will complete the chain and flow of information from the sensor, via processing, to the actuator, which may be anyone or anything from a human healthcare professional to a robot. Methods for automating the processing of information, such as signal processing, machine learning, predictive analytics and decision support, are increasingly important for providing actionable information and supporting personalized and preventive healthcare protocols in both biomedical and digital healthcare systems and applications. This book of proceedings presents 50 papers from the 12th eHealth conference, eHealth2018, held in Vienna, Austria, in May 2018. The theme of this year’s conference is Biomedical Meets eHealth – From Sensors to Decisions, and the papers included here cover a wide range of topics from the field of eHealth. The book will be of interest to all those working to design and implement healthcare today.

The population of the world is ageing, and the prospect of increasing care costs is generating new ideas and approaches to healthcare for the elderly. This growing burden of care, coupled with the rapid increase of digital literacy and an appetite for the use of digital resources among older citizens, has also encouraged a diversification of remote healthcare options, and has prompted the care sector to diversify its offer and investigate strategic alignments in research and development. This book presents a selection of papers from the 5th Global Telehealth conference, held in Adelaide, Australia, in November 2017. In recognition of the diversity of this area of healthcare, this series of international meetings, which began in 2010, has focused on different topics in telehealth. The main aim of the 2017 meeting was to share knowledge of complementary research endeavors in telehealth as related to later-life care, and to foster interaction between the different groups undertaking research in this emerging topic area. The 11 papers included here cover a diverse variety of topics, including: telehealth in the elderly with chronic heart failure; wearable information technology and self-management; telerehabilitation exercise in residential care; the Smarter Safer Homes platform; and prediction of freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The book will be of interest to all whose work involves the development or delivery of healthcare for older patients.

The book examines the current state of mHealth and Human-Centered Design (HCD) initiatives toward health, care, and well-being. The present surge in interest in improving people's quality of life is creating new prospects for the development of innovative design solutions aimed at enhancing living conditions. The combination of emerging user needs and opportunities provided by recent innovative mHealth technologies enables research institutions, stakeholders, and academia to design new solutions to promote well-being, health, and care, thereby improving the quality of life of people of all ages. The book analyzes and discusses the most innovative services, products, and systems in the healthcare field. This strategy is in line with the concept of ambient assisted living or enhanced living environment, which focuses on the comfort and health of specific categories of users. This book covers several topics highlighting the importance of involving end-users in the design of innovative solutions in digital health care, and design considerations of mobile healthcare applications. Furthermore, the covered topics are described in their current applications in relevant fields focusing on the design of smart solutions, such as biomonitoring systems, activity recognition tools, smart living environments, physical autonomy, and virtual assistance. This editorial project is addressed to academics, designers, engineers, and practitioners in health care who want to promote cooperation between academia, stakeholders, and research institutions.