Relationships among Healthcare Digitalization, Social Capital, and Supply Chain Performance in the Healthcare Manufacturing Industry

Intelligent selection of healthcare supply chain mode - an applied research based on artificial intelligence

Introduction

Due to the inefficiency and high cost of the current healthcare supply chain mode, in order to adapt to the great changes in the global economy and public health, it is urgent to choose an effective mode for sustainable development of healthcare supply chain. The aim of this paper is to use artificial intelligence systems to make intelligent decisions for healthcare supply chain mode selection.

Methods

Firstly, according to the economic benefits, social benefits and environmental benefits of healthcare supply chain, this paper identifies different healthcare supply chain modes in combination with artificial intelligence technology. Secondly, this paper presents the intelligent choice optimization method of healthcare supply chain mode based on deep reinforcement learning algorithm. Finally, the effect of artificial intelligence in healthcare supply chain mode selection is verified by simulation experiment.

Results and Discussion

The experimental results show that healthcare supply chain mode selected by artificial intelligence is basically consistent with the target mode, while healthcare supply chain mode selected by the basic selection method, BP neural network method and big data method is different from the target mode, which indicates that AI has more advantages in the selection of medical supply chain mode. Therefore, we recommend the application of artificial intelligence to healthcare supply chain management. This study not only makes up for the ineffective problems of existing methods, but also makes up for the gaps in the application of AI technology in the field of healthcare supply chain. The scientific value of this paper is that the proposed framework and the artificial intelligence algorithm enrich the relevant theories of healthcare supply chain research and provide methodological guidance for intelligent decision-making of healthcare supply chain. At the same time, for medical enterprises, this research provides a new practical guideline for the application of artificial intelligence in the sustainable development and modern management of healthcare supply chain.

Exploring the role of ICT in pharmaceutical supply chain practices and operational performance in Ethiopia: a structural equation modeling approach

BACKGROUND

A well-coordinated supply chain ensures the sustainable availability of life-saving medicines that improve public health outcomes. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the strategies for optimizing supply chain coordination. However, there is a paucity of data on how it affects supply chain practice and performance at the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency (EPSA).

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the relationships between information and communication technology, supply chain practice, and pharmaceutical supply chain operational performance using a structural equation modeling approach.

METHODS

We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study between April and June 2021. Three hundred twenty EPSA employees participated in the survey. We used a pretested, self-administered five-point Likert scale questionnaire to collect the intended data. A structural equation modeling confirmed the relationship between the constructs (information communication technology, supply chain practices, and performance). Thus, the measurement models were first validated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in SPSS/AMOS software. A p-value of less than 5% indicated statistical significance.

RESULTS

Of the 320 questionnaires distributed, 300 participants (202 males and 98 females) duly responded. In this survey, supply chain practices (mainly customer relationship management and information sharing) and ICT had significant positive direct effects on operational performance with standardized regression weights (β) of 0.65 (p < .001) and 0.29 (p < .001), respectively. On the other hand, 73% of the variations in operational performance were explained by ICT and supply chain practices, wherein ICT played moderate mediation effects between supply chain practice and performance (VAF = 0.24, p < .001). Despite the significant positive influence of ICT, the agency still faced data visibility problems with customers and other supply chain partners.

CONCLUSION

The findings revealed that supply chain practices and ICT implementation impacted the agency's supply chain performance positively and significantly. The ICT implementation practice in the agency posited a significant positive partial mediating role between supply chain practice and operational performance. Thus, if the agency focuses on the automation and integration of customer relationship management and the practice of information exchange, the essential supply chain practices, it can further improve operational performance.

Identifying resilience strategies for disruption management in the healthcare supply chain during COVID-19 by digital innovations: A systematic literature review

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 disease has had a catastrophic effect on healthcare supply chains. The current manuscript systematically analyzes existing studies mitigating strategies for disruption management in the healthcare supply chain during COVID-19. Using a systematic approach, we recognized 35 related papers. Artificial intelligence (AI), block chain, big data analytics, and simulation are the most important technologies employed in supply chain management in healthcare. The findings reveal that the published research has concentrated mainly on generating resilience plans for the management of COVID-19 impacts. Furthermore, the vulnerability of healthcare supply chains and the necessity of establishing better resilience methods are emphasized in most of the research. However, the practical application of these emerging tools for managing disturbance and warranting resilience in the supply chain has been examined only rarely. This article provides directions for additional research, which can guide researchers to develop and conduct impressive studies related to the healthcare supply chain for different disasters.

Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Technology Acceptance and Its Applications

Technological innovation has become an integral aspect of our daily life, such as wearable and information technology, virtual reality and the Internet of Things which have contributed to transforming healthcare business and operations. Patients will now have a broader range and more mindful healthcare choices and experience a new era of healthcare with a patient-centric culture. Digital transformation determines personal and institutional health care. This paper aims to analyse the changes taking place in the field of healthcare due to digital transformation. For this purpose, a systematic bibliographic review is performed, utilising Scopus, Science Direct and PubMed databases from 2008 to 2021. Our methodology is based on the approach by Wester and Watson, which classify the related articles based on a concept-centric method and an ad hoc classification system which identify the categories used to describe areas of literature. The search was made during August 2022 and identified 5847 papers, of which 321 fulfilled the inclusion criteria for further process. Finally, by removing and adding additional studies, we ended with 287 articles grouped into five themes: information technology in health, the educational impact of e-health, the acceptance of e-health, telemedicine and security issues.

Advances in the Translation of Electrochemical Hydrogel-Based Sensors

Novel biomaterials for bio- and chemical sensing applications have gained considerable traction in the diagnostic community with rising trends of using biocompatible and lowly cytotoxic material. Hydrogel-based electrochemical sensors have become a promising candidate for their swellable, nano-/microporous, and aqueous 3D structures capable of immobilizing catalytic enzymes, electroactive species, whole cells, and complex tissue models, while maintaining tunable mechanical properties in wearable and implantable applications. With advances in highly controllable fabrication and processability of these novel biomaterials, the possibility of bio-nanocomposite hydrogel-based electrochemical sensing presents a paradigm shift in the development of biocompatible, "smart," and sensitive health monitoring point-of-care devices. Here, recent advances in electrochemical hydrogels for the detection of biomarkers in vitro, in situ, and in vivo are briefly reviewed to demonstrate their applicability in ideal conditions, in complex cellular environments, and in live animal models, respectively, to provide a comprehensive assessment of whether these biomaterials are ready for point-of-care translation and biointegration. Sensors based on conductive and nonconductive polymers are presented, with highlights of nano-/microstructured electrodes that provide enhanced sensitivity and selectivity in biocompatible matrices. An outlook on current challenges that shall be addressed for the realization of truly continuous real-time sensing platforms is also presented.

Healthcare Supply Chain Management under COVID-19 Settings: The Existing Practices in Hong Kong and the United States

COVID-19 is recognized as an infectious disease generated by serious acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. COVID-19 has rapidly spread all over the world within a short time period. Due to the coronavirus pandemic transmitting quickly worldwide, the impact on global healthcare systems and healthcare supply chain management has been profound. The COVID-19 outbreak has seriously influenced the routine and daily operations of healthcare facilities and the entire healthcare supply chain management and has brough about a public health crisis. As making sure the availability of healthcare facilities during COVID-19 is crucial, the debate on how to take resilience actions for sustaining healthcare supply chain management has gained new momentum. Apart from the logistics of handling human remains in some countries, supplies within the communities are urgently needed for emergency response. This study focuses on a comprehensive evaluation of the current practices of healthcare supply chain management in Hong Kong and the United States under COVID-19 settings. A wide range of different aspects associated with healthcare supply chain operations are considered, including the best practices for using respirators, transport of life-saving medical supplies, contingency healthcare strategies, blood distribution, and best practices for using disinfectants, as well as human remains handling and logistics. The outcomes of the conducted research identify the existing healthcare supply chain trends in two major Eastern and Western regions of the world, Hong Kong and the United States, and determine the key challenges and propose some strategies that can improve the effectiveness of healthcare supply chain management under COVID-19 settings. The study highlights how to build resilient healthcare supply chain management preparedness for future emergencies.

Impact of Digital Economy on the Provision Efficiency for Public Health Services: Empirical Study of 31 Provinces in China

The digital economy is booming in China and has become the world’s largest after the United States’. Since China entered the era of the digital economy, its digital technology has radiated into various fields. This study is to examine the impact of China’s digital economy on the provision efficiency of public health institutions and the mechanism of action between them. Specifically, it measures the development level of China’s digital economy, and the provision efficiency of public health institutions from 2009 to 2018. The research also explores the relationship between China’s digital economy and its provision efficiency, through the Tobit-DEA model. An analysis of the regional heterogeneity indicated that the performance of China’s digital economy in the eastern region has a significant positive effect on improving the efficiency of the public health sector. This further confirms that the digital economy has strengthened China’s ability to deal with public health crises during the COVID-19 pandemic. A further mediation effect analysis showed that China’s digital economy optimizes the efficiency of public health provision by improving governmental performance and regulatory quality. This shows that the development of the digital economy promotes the construction of digital government, and thus improves the quality of governmental supervision and governmental performance, which has a significant positive effect on the efficiency of the supply of public health services. During the COVID-19 pandemic especially, government delivery of public health services was critical in addressing public health crises. Therefore, based on the results of our empirical analysis, this study provides policy suggestions for improving the efficiency of public health service provision in the era of the digital economy.

Managing Labor Sustainability in Digitalized Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review

With increasing concerns of labor issue risks within supply chains, both academia and practitioners are paying increasingly great attention to how to design and implement effective management approaches to enhance labor sustainability in supply chains. Furthermore, digitalization facilitates and brings both opportunities and challenges to this area. Using the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), we conducted a systematic literature review based on 50 selected papers from the Web of Science database. Starting from the supply chain level, this study identifies digital technology (DT)-enabled labor sustainability management practices, barriers to the adoption of DT in labor management practices, and the performance outcomes of such practices. In addition, we put forward solutions to eliminate those identified barriers to facilitate DT adoption in firms’ labor sustainability management. Last, future directions and research opportunities for both supply chain management and labor sustainability are summarized.

COVID-19 Induced Economic Slowdown and Mental Health Issues

The COVID-19 pandemic has pressed a pause button on global economic development, and induced significant mental health problems. In order to demonstrate the progressed relationship between the pandemic, economic slowdown, and mental health burden, we overviewed the global-level gross domestic product changes and mental problems variation since the outbreak of COVID-19, and reviewed comprehensively the specific sectors influenced by the pandemic, including international trade, worldwide travel, education system, healthcare system, and individual employment. We hope to provide timely evidence to help with the promotion of policymakers’ effective strategies in mitigating economic losses induced by the pandemic; we suggest different governments or policy makers in different countries to share information and experience in dealing with COVID-19-induced economic slowdown and promote COVID-19 vaccine popularization plan to protect every individual worldwide against the coronavirus essentially; and we appeal international information share and collaboration to minimize stigmatization related to adverse mental consequences of COVID-19 and to increase mental health wellbeings of people all over the world.

Impact of the First Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Acquisition of Goods and Services in the Italian Health System

The emergency caused by the escalation in the COVID-19 pandemic, which became widespread starting on 31 January 2020, put a strain on the Italian National Health System and forced purchasing centres to deviate from the ordinary general principles dictated by current legislation. The aim of this paper is to describe how Spedali Civili Hospital in Brescia challenged the crisis, structured itself optimally, followed simplified procedures, launched new processes, and opened up more Intensive Care Unit beds to accommodate the high number of COVID cases. From an analysis of the equipment variation in terms of increased purchases, subsequent installations, and tests carried out compared with the pre-pandemic period, we report the difficulties that hospitals had to face in the first phase of the pandemic and how they were able to respond to their needs. Our data clearly displayed how the pandemic situation led to a deep internal reorganisation and that the drafting of simpler, effective, and adaptable procedures represents a first key element to ensure receptivity and responsiveness in the management of ordinary and non-ordinary events such as this pandemic condition.

How is COVID-19 altering the manufacturing landscape? A literature review of imminent challenges and management interventions

Disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major upheavals for manufacturing, and has severe implications for production networks, and the demand and supply chains underpinning manufacturing operations. This paper is the first of its kind to pull together research on both-the pandemic-related challenges and the management interventions in a manufacturing context. This systematic literature review reveals the frailty of supply chains and production networks in withstanding the pressures of lockdowns and other safety protocols, including product and workforce shortages. These, altogether, have led to closed facilities, reduced capacities, increased costs, and severe economic uncertainty for manufacturing businesses. In managing these challenges and stabilising their operations, manufacturers are urgently intervening by-investing in digital technologies, undertaking resource redistribution and repurposing, regionalizing and localizing, servitizing, and targeting policies that can help them survive in this altered economy. Based on holistic analysis of these challenges and interventions, this review proposes an extensive research agenda for future studies to pursue.

The Effect of Relational Capital on Organizational Performance in Supply Chain: The Mediating Role of Explicit and Tacit Knowledge Sharing

Relational capital and organizational performance were important factors for achieving sustainable development of the supply chain, and knowledge sharing could create and maintain sustainable competitive advantages of the supply chain. This study examined the comprehensive relationship among relational capital, explicit and tacit knowledge sharing, and organizational performance and the mediating roles of explicit and tacit knowledge sharing between relational capital and organizational performance in the supply chain by using data collected from a questionnaire survey. SPSS, AMOS, and a structural equation model were used to analysis these data and the aforementioned relationships. The results confirmed that relational capital had a positive impact on explicit and tacit knowledge sharing, there was no relation to organizational performance, and explicit and tacit knowledge sharing played mediating roles between relational capital and organizational performance in the supply chain. The research results could provide theoretical guidance for managers to formulate sustainable development strategies that maintain good relationships and economic benefits of enterprises in the supply chain.

COVID-19 Is a Crisis in Planetary Health and Politics of Expertise: Time to Think Critically and Innovate Both

This expert review offers an analysis of the global governance of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is not only a health crisis but also a crisis of global governance. For example, the nation states in dealing with the crises of the pandemic have turned inwards, toward native and national solutions, and therefore away from the much-needed global cooperation to respond to the pandemic. This is an important concern for systems medicine and integrative biology in both normative and instrumental sense. Moreover, if we are to "pandemic-proof" the planet and the life science innovation ecosystem, new ways of understanding global governance are called for. This article examines the ways in which national governments have reacted to the crises triggered and embodied by the COVID-19 pandemic, surfaces the different approaches and conflicts between scientific experts and policy makers, and reveals the failure of science and politics. I analyze the uneven and disjointed way Western democratic governments have responded to the crisis and the way unchecked normative values and ideas have influenced the pandemic policy and prevented effective measures to contain the pandemic. Finally, the complex relationships between politics, knowledge, science, and governments are explored and clarified, and the way the COVID-19 crisis highlighted the long-standing tensions between technocracy and democracy. In conclusion, it is time to think critically and reflexively for all knowledge actors in systems science and innovate both planetary health and its global governance.

Crisis Preparedness of Healthcare Manufacturing Firms during the COVID-19 Outbreak: Digitalization and Servitization

For healthcare manufacturing firms, creating a crisis-prepared product and service portfolio and operational processes is essential for their long-term prosperity. In this paper, we examine how healthcare manufacturing firms cope with the operational disruptions and opportunities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight the central role of organizational resilience and examine whether servitization and digitalization can improve the organizational resilience of healthcare manufacturing firms. On the basis of the organizational information processing theory, we suggest that servitization and digitalization can improve the stability and flexibility of operations, which make healthcare manufacturing firms more resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hypotheses were tested using survey data from 163 manufacturing firms located in China. The results indicate that both servitization and digitalization improve the organizational resilience of healthcare manufacturing firms, leading to higher firm growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, organizational resilience mediates the impacts of servitization and digitalization on firm growth. Environmental dynamism strengthens the relationship between digitalization and organizational resilience. This study offers new insights for healthcare manufacturing firms to prepare for crisis events and achieve sustainable development in a highly competitive environment.