The use of Big Data Analytics in healthcare

Abstract

The introduction of Big Data Analytics (BDA) in healthcare will allow to use new technologies both in treatment of patients and health management. The paper aims at analyzing the possibilities of using Big Data Analytics in healthcare. The research is based on a critical analysis of the literature, as well as the presentation of selected results of direct research on the use of Big Data Analytics in medical facilities. The direct research was carried out based on research questionnaire and conducted on a sample of 217 medical facilities in Poland. Literature studies have shown that the use of Big Data Analytics can bring many benefits to medical facilities, while direct research has shown that medical facilities in Poland are moving towards data-based healthcare because they use structured and unstructured data, reach for analytics in the administrative, business and clinical area. The research positively confirmed that medical facilities are working on both structural data and unstructured data. The following kinds and sources of data can be distinguished: from databases, transaction data, unstructured content of emails and documents, data from devices and sensors. However, the use of data from social media is lower as in their activity they reach for analytics, not only in the administrative and business but also in the clinical area. It clearly shows that the decisions made in medical facilities are highly data-driven. The results of the study confirm what has been analyzed in the literature that medical facilities are moving towards data-based healthcare, together with its benefits.

Big Data in Health and the Importance of Data Visualization Tools

“…SAS also comes with a good interactive Graphical interface. But SAS can be cumbersome at times to create excellent graphics with its syntax [17].…”

‘Something that facilitates our work…rather than a hindrance’: Clinical pharmacist perspectives on the use of data analytics to support polypharmacy medication reviews in primary care.

“…Knowledge of the long-term impact of continuing verses stopping such medications would be useful as there are situations where patients no longer have symptoms but clinicians are reluctant to deprescribe due to fear of relapse.. Recent literature concurs that there are signi cant gaps in evidence-based knowledge of deprescribing, particularly in relation to individual differences such as age and gender (22) which could start to be addressed with insights from 'big data' (11).…”

“…The BetterRx project (Building Rapid Interventions to improve Treatments) has piloted a learning healthcare system approach to optimise prescribing in primary care which may provide support for polypharmacy medication reviews (10). It combines advanced analysis of 'big data' (11) from large historical patient databases with current data via a trustworthy research environment. This allows analysis of a wide range of observed patient treatment combinations with their risk of subsequent adverse outcomes (such as hospitalisation due to potential drug interaction).…”

Patient's behavior of selection physician in online health communities: Based on an Elaboration likelihood model

“…According to CNNIC, the size of online consultation users in China reached 298 million by December 2021 due to the COVID-19 epidemic ( 5 ). The rapid emergence of internationally renowned Internet healthcare platforms such as Teladoc, Good Doctor, Doctor on Demand, and PatientsLikeMe ( 6 , 7 ) around the world has broken the limitations of space and time, saved costs, and treatment expenses, and protected the privacy of users. Therefore, more and more users are developing the habit of seeking health consultations online ( 8 ).…”