Healthcare 4.0: a systematic literature review.

Purpose: Healthcare has been facing rising challenges in recent years. To mitigate these issues, an appreciable amount of effort has been invested in studies about Healthcare 4.0. Despite the recognized importance of this topic, its recentness and multidisciplinary character are obstacles to its precise understanding. In this light, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive view of the current development of Healthcare 4.0.

Design/methodology/approach: We systematically reviewed the literature, which resulted in 130 papers retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out using this sample.

Findings: As a result of the quantitative analysis, we notice an increasing trend in health-related studies, notwithstanding its novelty. India is also recognized as the leading reference on the subject, as it is the country with more papers in the sample and the most influential authors. On the other hand, through qualitative analysis, an extensive review and analysis of the technologies and applications of Healthcare 4.0 is presented, along with a discussion of its underexplored areas.

Originality/value: The results of this paper provide valuable knowledge to guide and encourage further analysis on this topic, including recommendations for future research directions.