Healthcare ۴.۰: A review of concept, applications, and challenges

Background and aims: The fourth industrial revolution (Industry ۴.۰) is a fundamental changethat will bring about massive changes in the way we live on earth. Industry ۴.۰ moves our physicaland biological world into digitalization and this movement has accelerated with the emergenceof covid-۱۹, providing a suitable opportunity to accept this revolution in all aspects of life,economy and industry. One of the most important of these changes and effects is in the field ofhealth and exercise physiology, where the revolution is pushing all aspects of this field towardsdigitalization. In this review, at first we introduced a simple concept of how Industry ۴.۰ and itstechnologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IOT), Augmented Reality(AR), Block Chain, Big Data, Robotics, and Cloud Computing, can be applied in healthcare domain,known as “Healthcare ۴.۰”. Then, we identify some Start-Ups and Innovative Health ۴.۰applications and their challenges, especially in Iran. The most researched challenges are Intellectualproperty protection, data fragmentation, Weakness of necessary infrastructure, complexity,heterogeneity, and privacy.Method: In this article, by using library studies including the study of books, articles and internetresources with a descriptive-analytical approach, the applications of Industry ۴.۰ technologies inHealth era system has been done. To reach the final goal of this article, the following steps havebeen taken: Finding the main keywords in Industry ۴.۰ and Health Care and then choosing themost common and important onesFinding new research papers (from ۲۰۱۰-۲۰۲۳). For the searches, IEEE Explorer and ScienceDirect,MDPI journals, and database of Hindawi were targetedClassification of articles and classification of the topics that have been discussedConclusion:. In this article, first, with the help of books and internet resources related to thefourth industrial revolution, a list of its technologies includes as AI, IOT, AR, Block Chain, BigData, Robotics, and Cloud Computing, was prepared and used along with the word “Industry ۴.۰”and “Healthcare” as the keywords of this research. By searching for these keywords in researchdatabases such as Science Directory and industrial white papers, the required references wereextracted and categorized, and the present article was written at the end.. We have shown howthese technologies can be applied in different sectors of life and industry. In fact, this article willserve as a research guide for medical and health students and researchers who are interested inresearch in this field. Based on this research, The potential of Healthcare domain for Industry ۴.۰is significant. Its technological applications not only improve the quality of life of patients, butalso improve the business processes or professional work done in this field.