Abstract
The amount of health data created in the world is increasing exponentially every day. Existing technologies such as data storage, fast processing of stored data, and data security are still sufficient, but it is predicted that some problems will most likely occur. The positive effects of blockchain technology have attracted attention on issues such as ensuring that people avoid direct contact in the pandemic, saving time, facilitating international cooperation, and reducing paperwork. Blockchain technology allows for the elimination of an authority or a central server. This feature makes data processing processes incredibly fast. It allows patient health data to be stored regularly, transferred quickly, and easily anonymized when necessary. In this way, the needs of patients who continue their treatment at home or in the hospital can be determined in advance. The drugs to be used, the necessary medical devices, and the treatment to be applied can be determined quickly, and, if necessary, the product supply can be automatically procured in advance and made ready.
TopFundamentals Of Blockchain Technology
In a computer cluster consisting of quite a number of computers, users save large amounts of data in their transaction structures, which are timestamped on each user. In this case, the data record is prepared and managed together with the processing computer cluster. The existing one of the constructed data blocks (which has the phrase “block” in its name) is secured by applying encryption principles (hence the “chain”) and linked to the next block. Blockchain technology creates a network without central control, as these computers are not owned by just one legal entity. Such applications perform a democratic method to establish data security (Casino, Dasaklis, & Patsakis, 2019).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Hyperledger: An open-source community that develops stable frameworks, tools, and libraries for enterprise-grade blockchain deployments.
Ethereum: Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality, while ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform.
Ledger: A ledger is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data geographically spread across multiple Internet sites, countries, or institutions.
Blockchain: Blockchain, in computer terminology, refers to an ever-growing register of transactions held by blocks linked in a chain. The warehouse where these blocks, which are peer-to-peer, stores the transaction records, is called the digital ledger.
Hash: Hashing is the process of generating fixed size output from inputs of different sizes. This is done using mathematical formulas.
Smart Contracts: A program or transaction protocol that enables automatic execution, control and documentation of legal events and actions based on the terms of an agreement.
Cryptocurrency: A medium of exchange where individual money ownership records are stored in a ledger using strong cryptography that secures transaction records.