Smart Technology Applications in Healthcare Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

This chapter compares smart healthcare applications before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A smart healthcare application can be judged as sustainable if it was already widely used before the COVID-19 pandemic and is also prevalent after the pandemic. In contrast, if a smart healthcare application does not survive after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not sustainable. To analyze this, smart technology applications in healthcare before the COVID-19 pandemic are divided into direct and indirect smart healthcare applications. Then the features of smart healthcare applications at this stage are summarized. Data analysis techniques applicable at this stage are also introduced. Subsequently, the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to the applications of smart technologies in healthcare are listed. To address these challenges, new smart healthcare technology applications have been proposed at this stage. The characteristics of such novel smart healthcare applications are discussed with the support of selected cases from the literature. Data analysis techniques applicable at this stage are also introduced. Finally, smart technology applications in healthcare post-COVID-19 pandemic are discussed, which are mainly for returning to normal life. Other novel smart healthcare applications are yet to be proposed. For this purpose, the features of such novel smart technology applications are discussed.