Developing Multi-agent Systems for mHealth Drug Delivery

Recent research has explored how mobile networks are revolutionizing multiple aspects of healthcare in both developing and developed countries. As an area of innovation with the potential to make a huge difference, mHealth involves the utilization of mobile communication technologies to deliver healthcare services, such as SMS alerts that remind patients to take their prescription drugs at the appropriate time, remote diagnosis and even treatment for patients who do not have easy access to physicians, remote health monitoring devices that track and report patients’ conditions, and scheduling drug delivery. Such services could have a major impact on healthcare outcomes and costs. Decision making in mHealth drug delivery systems is complex. Decisions involve satisficing multiple goals regarding customer service quality, service cost, and healthcare worker satisfaction. With the increasing world-wide need for effective home healthcare, the increasing elderly population, and the increasing pressure from governments and other stakeholders, developing effective approaches for mHealth drug delivery decisions is imperative. In this paper, we present a multi-agent architecture that facilitates decision making in mHealth drug delivery system. The approach integrates the capabilities of a multi-agent system and Web services so as to facilitate effective decisions for home healthcare services. The aim is to provide a multi-agent system, where decisions are based on intelligent agents that provide quick and intelligent alternative decisions in a dynamic environment.