Applications of Cloud Computing in Health Systems

INTRODUCTION: Equitable access to health services is one of the health justice criteria. E-health can sometimes be helpful in this regard. This study is aimed to find the use of cloud computing services across health system.

METHOD: In the present review article, numerous research papers from different resources, such as MEDLINE, IEEE and Science direct, were studied. Based on the subject, 210 studies were found. After quality analysis of the papers, 78 studies were selected, from which 53 articles were directly related to the applications of cloud computing in health system.

FINDINGS: Cloud computing services are widely used in various industries. Therefore, health system takes advantage of the services. Findings indicate that, the applications of cloud computing in health system, including telemedicine, medical imaging, public and personal health, clinical and hospital information systems, medical decision support system, care, secondary use of health data, serve as different types of specialized software used to analyze gene sequences and archive huge biological data. Generally cloud computing services are available in two sectors in any health system as follows: E-health services and Bioinformatics.

CONCLUSION: Facilitated access to the E-health services and big data in health systems are the main features of exploiting cloud computing services in health systems. Using cloud computing in health systems not only makes health services more affordable, but also helps nations to achieve health equity.