Blockchain-Based IoT E-Healthcare

Introduction

The decentralized ledger, source provenance, and tamper-proof features of blockchain (BC) technology have made it an integral part of several applications, including healthcare and the internet of things (IoT) (Abu-Elezz et al., 2020; Yoon, 2019, p. 3; Ben Fekih & Lahami, 2020). Health systems may now increase their scalability and stability on a decentralized platform because to IoT and BC. As a result, numerous scientists have investigated the potential of BC technology in many areas of eHealthcare, leading to the development of BC-enabled IoT eHealth systems. Because of its potential to improve the safety, dependability, and sturdiness of distributed systems, blockchain technology has recently come into the spotlight. Studies based on this technique have benefitted several fields, including healthcare, finance, remote sensing, and data analysis (Srivastava, Parizi, & Dehghantanha, 2020; Anjum et al., 2020; Chanchaichujit et al., 2019). The primary benefits of blockchain technology are its immutability of data, privacy, transparency, decentralization, and distributed ledgers. This system is already complex due to the need to protect the privacy of individuals whose information is contained in healthcare records (Hussien et al., 2021).

Simply said, a blockchain is a shared digital record that can be accessed by any computer connected to the internet. Since information is stored digitally, a blockchain may be compared to an online database (Wong, Yee, & Nøhr, 2018). Blockchains serve an important purpose in cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin's by providing a secure and decentralized ledger of transactions. Novel blockchain technology guarantees the authenticity of each recorded transaction without the need for a neutral third party (Siyal et al., 2019).

One definition of a blockchain is “a distributed database that maintains a continuously expanding list of ordered items, called blocks.” The encrypted connection between these blocks. Each block contains transaction data, a timestamp, and a cryptographic hash of the previous block (Dash, Gantayat, & Das, 2021; Hussien et al., 2019). Blockchains are distributed digital ledgers that are public and decentralized, and which are used to record transactions across several computers in a way that precludes modifications to the ledger from being made in the past without also modifying the subsequent blocks and getting network permission (Angraal, Krumholz, & Schulz, 2017). In comparison to conventional databases, blockchains have a fundamentally different approach to data organization. Data on a blockchain is organized into blocks, which are collections of records. In a blockchain, each completed block is cryptographically linked to the one before it. After a new block is uploaded to the chain, all subsequent data is merged into a single block and then added to the chain as well. If you're familiar with databases, you'll notice that blockchain data is presented in the form of linked records rather than the tabular format more characteristic of databases (Zubaydi et al., 2019; Engelhardt, 2017; Shahnaz, Qamar & Khalid, 2019). When used in a decentralized setting, this data format creates a permanent record of events in the data without any human intervention. As each empty spot is filled, a permanent entry is made in this history book. An accurate timestamp is appended to each block in the chain whenever a new one is added.

The whole chapter has been organized as follows: Firstly we discussed the need problem formulation and objectives of using Blockchain-based IoT e-Healthcare. Then it is followed by features of blockchain, its uses, Internet of things, health information technology (HIT), future scope of the technology, and in the last section - result and discussion is introduced with conclusion.