The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 1 (February 2015) | Page 3

Editor's Comments Welcome As the Managing Editor here at The Journal of mHealth it has been fascinating to see how digital health has evolved over the past few years. The sheer momentum that now seems to be behind the shift towards digitisation of healthcare is producing some extremely interesting issues, opportunities for change and exciting technological advancements. At the same time it is also producing very constructive debate that is fuelling industry-wide discussions relating to some of the wider ethical, cultural, and practical consequences of using technology-led services and solutions to assist in the delivery of healthcare. In this edition of The Journal we consider some of these issues and how they might evolve, as well as looking at the direction that mobile and digital health technologies are taking, and what we can expect to see from the industry as we progress through 2015. I am in no doubt that we will see many suggestions of how certain technologies announced during the course of the year are going to revolutionise healthcare, but what is becoming very evident is that healthcare is ill-served by continually searching for the next medical Uber. The digitisation of healthcare is not going to be a fast process, nor should it be. Investment in technology needs to be considered, intelligent, and effective. The problem is that healthcare isn’t really one industry, it is hundreds of smaller specialties grouped under the same umbrella heading. Technology has the opportunity to penetrate all of these sub-sectors, but the ways in which it will do this are going to be different in most cases. This means many different technologies, or variations and configurations of similar technologies, all working towards specific tasks. The significant part is that for these technologies to deliver real paradigm changes in the culture of medicine, they must be interoperable. This is a huge task and there are many issues involved, which is why it will not happen quickly what we are beginning to see though is real progress towards this goal. We also take a look towards the future. There are many projects currently underway around the world to define and develop a 5G mobile standard, and it is predicted that within the next 5 years this superfast mobile communications network could be available. What will this mean for healthcare? Given the significant growth in the number of connected health systems, mobile medical devices, and next generation health monitors and trackers, that we can expect to be more widely used across healthcare delivery over the next few years, any system designed to increase network capacity, improve data transfer speeds, develop flexible connection options, and maintain stable delivery of connected services is going to be beneficial. What is exciting is that, in the past, we have consistently seen technology adapt to make use of upgrades in networked capabilities, and with the introduction of 5G we can surely expect to see the same. Published by Simedics Limited www.simedics.org Editor: Matthew Driver Design: Jennifer Edwards For editorial, research and paper submissions, and advertising opportunities please contact: Matthew Driver [email protected] [phone] Subscribe at www.thejournalofmhealth.com The editor welcomes contributions for The Journal of mHealth. Submissions can be sent to the Editor by email, images and graphics should be submitted in high resolution format. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily shared by the editors nor publishers. Although the highest level of care has been taken to ensure accuracy the publishers do not accept any liability for omissions or errors or claims made by contributors or advertisers, neither do we accept liability for damage or loss of unsolicited contributions. The publishers exercise the right to alter and edit any material supplied. This publication is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in part or in full without specific written permission of the publishers. ISSN 2055-270X © 2015 Simedics Limited Matthew Driver Editor The Journal of mHealth 1