This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Information Technology Management. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Examination Committee who accepted to be part of it and agreed to serve on it.
Introduction
- Overview
- Statement of the Problem
- Thesis Motivation
- Research Objectives
- Hypothesis and Research Questions
The United Arab Emirates is one of the leading countries in adopting advanced and innovative new technologies. As a result, the motivation for this proposal is to help realize the vision of the two initiatives, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy and the Emirates Blockchain Strategy.
Blockchain Technology and Electronic Health Records Overview
Blockchain Overview
- What is Blockchain?
- Blockchain Mechanism
- Types of Blockchain
- Consensus Protocols
- How Blockchain Works
- Challenges
- Advantages
- Other Topics in Blockchain
Evidence X, where "X" can be any requirement specific to the Blockchain application and use case. According to the terms of the contract, these funds will be deposited and distributed among the participants.
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
They represent the authority of the state and support voluntary human obligations with formalized legal obligations. Smart contracts are backed by the integrity of the Blockchain ledger; Blockchain is a legal or regulatory technology and method of governance. A medical/health record should be accessible to healthcare professionals when the patient returns to the healthcare facility.
Data security, reliability and privacy are the most important aspects due to the great necessity of patient records. Some of the familiar terms include: Automated Health Records (AHR), Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) [15]. The definition and purpose of the "Electronic Health Record" (EHR) varies in different countries where it is used, but it is mainly intended for the exchange of information between healthcare professionals and patients.
An EHR is an electronic version of a patient's health record that has been historically created, used, stored in a paper record, and maintained by a healthcare organization, where only healthcare professionals involved in a patient's care can access and use an EHR. can use [16]. ]. It is widely recognized as a persistent health record of notes made by healthcare professionals in various locations where care is provided. Another drawback is the inability of patients to quickly access their entire EHR from the existing system.
Literature Review
In contrast to the above, the DOH Standard on Patient Healthcare Data Privacy for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi [20] clearly defined the objective of the standard and its scope. In [21], the current state of the UAE's strategy for implementing Blockchain technology was studied by conducting a survey. A total of 71 public and private companies operating in the UAE are included in the study.
Policy frameworks are the primary purpose of regulating Blockchain transactions as they are one of the key components required to build the Blockchain industry in the future. During the discussion of the solutions for controlling Blockchain, input was gathered, resulting in the statement. Where they stated that security and privacy should be a primary focus in the Healthcare Blockchain.
As it is a complex and difficult process to incorporate security and privacy features into the Blockchain healthcare platform which stores sensitive patient data. However, managers and decision makers in the health care sector usually need to understand why the distribution of Health. All these Health Information Systems are under the provision of the Ministry of Health and Prevention and have an important role in the provision and regulation of health services.
Establishing Blockchain Policy for EHRs
Every healthcare entity should regularly perform a full vulnerability assessment and penetration test on the Blockchain. The underlying infrastructure (physical and logical components) of the Blockchain should be protected by all healthcare entities. All entities should agree on the policies and standards to be followed and adhered to.
The policies must be communicated by the participating entities to all users of the Blockchain network. An agreement between the entities on the block validation process of the Blockchain network-based management of EHRs. EHRs must be used for purposes strictly limited to clinical treatment, operations, and other related medical uses, as permitted by applicable laws and this policy.
EZK must be shared for purposes strictly limited to clinical treatment, surgery and other related medical uses as permitted by applicable law and this Policy. All health entities must be able to share information with other entities in the same health information system; Entities maintain EZK in accordance with the data retention period of 25 years prescribed by the "Use of Information Technology and Telecommunications in the Field of Health Care" (Federal Law No. 2, 2019).
Method and Results
Method
- Methodology
- Survey Results
- Population and Sampling
- Factors Affecting the Results
In order to better understand the different views of the general public and healthcare professionals, this study used quantitative and qualitative methods. Using a questionnaire to ask people is one of the best ways to know people's preferences, beliefs, opinions or insights about a particular technology. The research sample included individuals from a wide range of professions and backgrounds who came from all regions of the country to accurately represent the population of the United Arab Emirates.
The survey was sent to the entire UAE community, which includes all students, staff and faculty, as mature responses were required from subjects for analytical purposes. In order to properly analyze the respondents, the sample results were divided into: 86 representatives of the general public, 16 health care professionals and 3 health care management personnel. Certain aspects of this research needed to be verified considering the reasons that limited the information needed for this investigation to maintain the legitimacy of the study.
Respondents are representatives of the total population, as efforts to reach people from each emirate were successful as far as possible. Generalizability: It is a factor related to the possibility of the information being applied in another country. All ethical rules and regulations imposed by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of the United Arab Emirates were followed and ethical approval was obtained from the committee on May 24, 2022.
Results
The question "Do you want to be able to control who can access your EHR, such as who can view, update or use it for research or treatments?". The question "How comfortable are you with the idea of other organizations (hospitals, research centers...) viewing your EHR?". The question "Are you concerned about data leakage and other users having unauthorized access to stored EHRs?".
Clearly shown in Figure 6, 45.7% were concerned about data leakage and other users having unauthorized access to stored EHRs. The question "Do you think sharing an EHR internationally should affect the type of information that is shared?". The question "Are there measures that you are aware of to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the EHR after it is shared with another organization?".
Question “If the use of blockchains to share EHRs will ensure the security and privacy of EHR sharing, will you encourage your organization to use one. The question “What do you think are the challenges that need to be addressed to successfully implement blockchain for EHR sharing. The question "Do you think new regulations are needed to ensure a controlled exchange of EZK between parties, even if blockchains are used?".
Analysis and Discussion
Existing Health Policies
Survey
In addition, eleven healthcare professionals and one employee of the management of the healthcare entity were present among these responses. This left 16 people unconcerned, including two healthcare professionals and two healthcare facility managers. 93 of total respondents encourage using Blockchain for sharing EHRs; including 12 healthcare professionals and 1 healthcare facility management), while 12 do not encourage this, as clearly shown in Table 9. 2) The question “What benefits do you hope for from using Blockchains to share EHRs.
58. the general public, healthcare professionals and healthcare unit management staff. "Better data protection provided by Blockchain's ability to eliminate points of failure in business networks" and the option "Reducing risks" were selected the most. In Table 11, a detailed list of Blockchain implementation challenges for sharing EHRs is provided, specifying the number of responses received from the three categories of the general public, healthcare professionals, and healthcare unit management. In first place out of the seven possible options a respondent could choose, the option “Lack of experts skilled in Blockchain technology” had 58 responses.
In the table, health workers and 1 manager of a health entity) of the respondents agreed that they have new regulations for the control of EKK. Since the survey was completely anonymous, there may be deviations in the transparency of the results. With regard to the proposed blockchain-based policy, each healthcare entity must ensure that successful implementation measures are in place to help determine the effectiveness of the policy and continually modify it if necessary.
Conclusions
63 One of the limitations of the research was the failure to obtain the required responses for the distributed survey. Finally, to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed Blockchain-based policy framework to effectively manage Electronic Health Records, there is a need for an existing, implemented healthcare Blockchain solution to evaluate the policy and identify its applicability, regardless of its size. nature, complexity, etc. He, "CPDS: A Privacy Preserving Cross-Blockchain Data Exchange for Electronic Health Records," in 2021 6th IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing and Big Data Analytics (ICCCBDA), April.
A Review of Blockchain-Based Strategies for Electronic Health Record (EHR) Management," in 2020 International Conference on Intelligent Electronics and Communication (ICOSEC), September Health Records for Hospital Systems," in 2019 IEEE 10th Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics & Mobile Conference of Communications (UEMCON), Oct. Said, "The State of the Art of Effectiveness in Blockchain Technology Adoption - A Survey Study of the UAE," in 2019, Sixth HCT Information Technology Trends (ITT), Nov.
This research will focus on the entities' understanding of the technology and their needs, as well as how well the policy framework will be accepted. Do you believe that sharing an EHR internationally should impact the type of information shared? Do you know of an organization that is currently implementing or planning to implement Blockchain technologies for EHR sharing?
