Andreas Charalambous – författare

This book discusses the current trends in nursing and healthcare in relation to the integration of information technological interventions across the care continuum. The use of such interventions in healthcare has increased rapidly in recent years, partly due to the rise in technological gadgets/applications used in daily routines (e.g. actigraphy bracelets, smartphones) and their unique properties that can be utilized in assessing, monitoring and managing a patient’s condition remotely. This book highlights the areas and the ways in which these interventions can facilitate patient assessment and monitoring and complement conventional treatments in the management of disease-induced or treatment-induced side effects. Furthermore, the book describes the development of such interventions and examines how they are designed to promote adherence and acceptance by the user. To this end, the book also discusses the need for personalizing the technological experience according tothe user’s preferences and needs. Drawing on the latest studies in these areas, it not only provides suggestions for undertaking research in this context, but also offers insights into how these technologies impact patients’ clinical outcomes. Lastly, it addresses the challenges of utilizing such technologies and future directions.Providing multiple perspectives on the topic, the book appeals to a wide range of readers, including nurses, clinicians, researchers, technology experts and students, making them familiar with a broad selection of technological interventions and their application in clinical practice. Moreover, it highlights the factors that need to be considered in the development (and testing) of future interventions, in particular in nursing, and provides inspiration for future studies.

This book builds on the current trends in informal caregivers’ role in the supportive care of cancer patients (as well as other diseases) across the care continuum covering topics from the healthcare professionals and the users’ perspectives. Informal caregivers are a critical resource to their care recipients and an essential component of the health care system. The book introduces a comprehensive view of the topic and acknowledges the importance and the complexity of caregiving. Here lays one of the uniqueness of this book, which highlights the areas and the ways that for example interventions in specific settings/groups of patients can actually facilitate the caregiving process. The increasing number of care-dependent people, the adoption of the principle “outpatient before inpatient”, the shift of care from inpatient to outpatient and the preference for home care (i.e. majority) are only some of the reasons that contributed to Informal caregivingbecoming a central feature of the health care landscape and will become even more prominent in the decades ahead. The book draws on the experts’ high-end, current systematic research evidence and real-life examples on these topics to provide an insightful perspective on undertaking research within this context, and to demonstrate informal caregivers’ impact on patients’ outcomes. The structure of the book provides multiple perspectives to the topic and makes it appealing to a wide range of recipients including the nursing community, clinicians, social workers, researchers, policy makers, technology experts as well as postgraduate students especially to those practicing specifically in supportive care in cancer. The book fills a gap in this field of expertise not only by familiarizing the reader with a wide range of topics to be considered but it also emphasizes on what the developments in the field in the future would needto take into consideration. Finally, current and future studies can be informed from the practices of preceding studies that are incorporated in the book.

This book builds on the current trends in informal caregivers’ role in the supportive care of cancer patients (as well as other diseases) across the care continuum covering topics from the healthcare professionals and the users’ perspectives. Informal caregivers are a critical resource to their care recipients and an essential component of the health care system. The book introduces a comprehensive view of the topic and acknowledges the importance and the complexity of caregiving. Here lays one of the uniqueness of this book, which highlights the areas and the ways that for example interventions in specific settings/groups of patients can actually facilitate the caregiving process. The increasing number of care-dependent people, the adoption of the principle “outpatient before inpatient”, the shift of care from inpatient to outpatient and the preference for home care (i.e. majority) are only some of the reasons that contributed to Informal caregivingbecoming a central feature of the health care landscape and will become even more prominent in the decades ahead. The book draws on the experts’ high-end, current systematic research evidence and real-life examples on these topics to provide an insightful perspective on undertaking research within this context, and to demonstrate informal caregivers’ impact on patients’ outcomes. The structure of the book provides multiple perspectives to the topic and makes it appealing to a wide range of recipients including the nursing community, clinicians, social workers, researchers, policy makers, technology experts as well as postgraduate students especially to those practicing specifically in supportive care in cancer. The book fills a gap in this field of expertise not only by familiarizing the reader with a wide range of topics to be considered but it also emphasizes on what the developments in the field in the future would needto take into consideration. Finally, current and future studies can be informed from the practices of preceding studies that are incorporated in the book. 

This Open Access textbook, endorsed by UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS), covers the effects impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Cancer care and how health care professionals and people with a cancer diagnosis have been affected. It discusses current research covering COVID and Cancer and considers the different impacts on patients with solid tumours and those with a haematological malignancy.  The authors critically appraise how technology has been used to combat the pandemic as well as impacts on patient management and their well-being, education of health care professionals as well as the delivery of oncology cancer treatments. They also examine the ongoing psychological effects on patients, health care professionals and provide an analysis of the effects of the pandemic on the charitable sector in cancer care. Importantly this book provides both a UK and a European perspective on the above as well as looking forward to appraise the long-term effect of the pandemic on cancer care, both positive and negative.

This new complementary volume to Developing and Utilising Digital Technology in Healthcare for Assessment and Monitoring extends well beyond what has been already covered, including AI, Machine Learning and Big Data in health care, data-informed care, tackling health inequalities in cancer care through technological solutions and the policy considerations of digital innovation. This book reflects the increasing influx of technological solutions in varying fields within the context of healthcare, which extend from prevention to early detection, treatment and survivorship. With an increasing number of supportive care needs being unmet, such technological solutions can bridge the gaps in how current care is being delivered. An aspect that previously has not received considerable attention is the cultural competence in healthcare AI and robotics, and a chapter dedicated to this topic offers ideas for developing technologies that are culturally competent. The book offers unique insights into the areas and ways in which these interventions (e.g. taking into consideration cultural aspects) can be incorporated in the care continuum empowering the end-user (healthcare professional and patient). The book draws on the experts’ current (and at times ongoing) research on these topics.The structure of the book provides multiple perspectives on the topic and makes it appealing to a multidisciplinary and multi-professional audience, with nurses as a primary target but also including clinicians, researchers, patients, technology experts and students. This approach fills a gap in this field not only by familiarizing the reader with a wide range of technological interventions in relation to their application in clinical practice, but also by emphasizing what the data-driven and need-orientated development of future interventions needs to take into consideration.