Vital Signs

HealthKit is Apple’s framework for collecting and sharing health and fitness data on iPhone and Apple Watch, with the user’s permission. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary entry and Apple’s published privacy rules, then reviews four studies: a primary care uptake count, a small qualitative study of glucose data in the EHR, a personal health record that few users connected, and a knee replacement study that found weak links between phone-recorded measures and patient surveys.

Interactive voice response (IVR) lets callers reach information by phone without a live agent. The HIMSS Dictionary frames it around payer information such as what a claim paid, where it stands, and whether a patient is covered. This post explains that definition and then reviews five studies: a meta-analysis of 15 trials on health behavior change, a tobacco cessation review, a phone-based incident reporting system, a postoperative follow-up pilot, and a survey on voice-assistant screening in cardiology clinics.

A handheld is a portable computer small enough to hold in one hand, from smartphones to more powerful devices, used in clinical practice for tasks such as ordering prescriptions, accessing records, and documenting encounters. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition and then reviews five studies on handheld devices at the point of care: a 139-patient handheld ultrasound study in which 85 percent of clinical questions were answered, an AI-assisted handheld echocardiography implementation, a narrative review of nine prospective studies, a Pacific training program, and a smartphone video movement analysis platform.

ZigBee is a specification for a suite of communication protocols that use small, low-power digital radios in personal-area networks. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition, then reviews five studies: an IEEE 11073 and ZigBee Health Care Profile monitoring platform deployed to frail elderly and diabetic patients, a hospital vital sign monitoring design for mass casualty events, a simulation of coding for reliable IoMT communication, a ZigBee-based indoor location system for rehabilitation care, and a cloud-based postoperative virtual ward compared across 72,240 and 68,424 patients.

A virtual community is a group of people who share interests, ideas, and feelings and connect through the Internet and collaborative networks. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition, then reviews five sources: best-practice guidelines for online aphasia support groups, a survey of members of the global AI Nurses Network, a comparison of 2,761 Facebook comments in COPD groups with ChatGPT answers, the co-production of an online peer support platform for people with long-term conditions, and a survey of peer-supported people with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

A smartphone is a mobile telephone that also contains a computer, which lets it browse the web and run apps. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition, then reviews five sources and NIST guidance: a comparison of nursing students’ smartphone use across five years, a study of 61,057 secure messages between interns and nurses, a survey of emergency department consultations by instant messaging, a study of smartphone distraction among 319 surgical nurses, and patients’ attitudes toward a secure photography app.

Robotics is the branch of engineering concerned with the conception, design, manufacture, and operation of robots, a field that draws on electronics, computing, AI, and bioengineering, among others. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition, then reviews six sources: a randomized trial of robotic and laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery, a robotic syringe-filling implementation in a hospital pharmacy, a review of minimum caseloads for cost-effective robotic surgery, a scoping review of embodied intelligence, interviews with intensive care clinicians, and a survey of Japanese home-visit nurses.

A mobile app is software written for handheld wireless devices, mainly smartphones and tablets, and not for desktop or laptop computers. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition and the web-based, native, and hybrid categories, then reviews five sources: NIST guidance on mobile device security, a randomized trial of app-based symptom triage in early breast cancer, and three app store evaluations covering infertility, kidney transplant, and atrial fibrillation self-management.

Connected health is the use of technology to link the parts of the health system, including people, tools, and facilities, so that ongoing virtual care can be delivered across a patient population as needed. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition and reviews five sources: a review of virtual care in heart failure, a cohort study of remote glucose monitoring in 1,436 adults, a scoping review of smart home health technology, a review of FHIR-based clinical applications, and a study protocol on the cybersecurity of remote monitoring systems.

Ubiquitous computing is the trend toward embedding microprocessors in everyday objects so they can communicate information, producing devices that are connected and always available. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition, then reviews five sources: a scoping review of context-aware medical systems, a scoping review of 169 smart home health care studies, an ambient data platform for surgical safety, a qualitative study of smart bedside stations, and a pilot of passive sensing for mental health symptoms.

SMS, or Short Message Service, is the text messaging service of mobile networks, originally defined in the GSM standard for short messages that are stored and forwarded when a phone is not active. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary definition, then reviews five sources: NIST guidance that restricts SMS for authentication, a meta-analysis of 13 studies of text reminders for pediatric appointments, a randomized trial of 59,994 high-risk patients who received added automated calls, a study of SMS responses and cancer screening, and a survey on secure text messaging among hospitalists.

The Health Alert Network, or HAN, is a public health capability intended to give each community rapid and timely access to emergent health information, trained personnel, and evidence-based practices for preparedness and response around the clock. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary description and reviews five sources: a New York City project that turned HAN messages into EHR alerts with order sets, a review of public health alerts for EHR suitability, a 2022 monkeypox response that included a HAN Health Advisory, a 2024 dengue advisory, and a Spanish study of 242 Ebola inquiries.

A web portal is a website or service that offers a broad set of resources and services through one interface. This post explains the HIMSS Dictionary’s meanings, including enterprise portals and the split between internal and external portals, and what recent reviews found about patient portals: a 2026 review of asthma and COPD outcomes, a 2025 meta-analysis of who uses hospital portals, and a 2026 meta-analysis of use among older adults.

Social media fatigue is the tendency of users to withdraw from social media when they feel overwhelmed by too many platforms, connections, and hours online, with boredom and privacy concerns also contributing. This post explains how the construct is measured, what a survey of 1,108 Chinese university students linked it to, what 158 European nurses said about information overload on social media, and what it means for health communication.

Digital health literacy, also called eHealth literacy, is the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic sources and apply it to a health problem. This post explains what a meta-analysis of 23 studies of older adults found about interventions, what a review of 13 studies in chronic kidney disease says about facilitators and barriers, and why measurement tools struggle with AI.

An activity tracker is a device or application that monitors fitness-related metrics such as distance, calories, heart rate, and sleep. This post explains what the evidence says about trackers and physical activity, including an umbrella review of 39 systematic reviews and a review of 18 trials in older adults, who actually wears them according to a large health system survey, and how clinical teams can handle wearable data.

Virtual reality is a computer-generated three-dimensional environment that a person can interact with as if it were physical, usually through a headset. This post explains how VR is used in health care, what recent meta-analyses show for pain, anxiety, and ICU patients, what the limits of the evidence are, and what nurses and informatics teams need to plan for.

Digital health is the broad use of digital technologies, including mobile devices, sensors, software, connectivity, AI, and genomic information, to improve health and healthcare. This post explains what digital health includes, how the FDA and WHO approach it, the importance of evidence, integration, and equity, and how nurses help patients and teams use digital tools well.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) uses radio waves to automatically identify and track tagged objects or people without line of sight. This post explains passive and active RFID, how RFID differs from barcodes, real-time location systems, healthcare uses from equipment tracking to infant security and supply management, interference and privacy concerns, and nursing roles.

A virtual hospital uses telehealth, remote monitoring, and communication technology to deliver hospital-level expertise or care regardless of where the patient is. This post explains virtual hospital models, from tele-ICU and virtual nursing to hospital at home, the CMS Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver, the technology and staffing required, and nursing roles.