How useful it is to issue digital certificates on the blockchain?

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Blockchain technology is used in several ways in varied industries for offering high-security managing distribution systems and recording valuable information. Blockchain records all transactions without any verification from third parties. An evolving issue in recent years is - counterfeiting certification. It is posing serious threats to people. Issuing paper-based certificates manually is prone to errors and time- consuming. Day by day, the number of people's data is increasing, so deploying a system for both issuing and verifying digital certificates based on blockchain technology can solve issues of forged documents.

What is the current problem with document certification?

Many organisations and businesses need original documents for verification purposes before further processing. Some valuable documents like (birth certificates) exist only once. Parties involved in verification and issuing other certificates may experience hesitancy to handle these sensitive documents and that can result in damage or even loss. Many parties are unable to protect the valuable physical pieces of paper with this process. Another big problem comes from data theft. Many people have reported it. So the question comes: how can this issue be solved? Creating digital proof or digital certificates certified or signed by respective institutions or authorised organisations can be beneficial. With blockchain-based digital certificates, you can access and verify the digital asset's authenticity without depending on any intermediary or third party. Traditional data records like paper files deteriorate over time. storing records like digital certificates on the blockchain can help in safeguarding sensitive credentials from destruction & damage. Blockchain document security methods can help users seamlessly secure their sensitive documents.

What about blockchain solutions?

Blockchain technology has brought a revolution in storing and sharing data. The mechanism of cryptography helps in keeping information fully secured. Blockchain offers a digital ledger or decentralised database of data. Centred on computer networks that approve updates before data get recorded and verified. It lessens the reliance and vulnerability of centralised data storage. Instead of handling physical pieces of documents, issuing and storing digital certificates in blockchain can be advantageous to users. You can efficiently utilise the benefits of blockchain, like - authentication, encryption and decentralisation. Every certificate consists of references of both issuer and receiver with a hash (a sign of document), that is stored in the public database. It is identical in the number of computers throughout the globe. These digital certificates with blockchain technology have vital additional advantages over any other certificates.

How does blockchain make digital certificates work?

When a digital certificate is issued, data gets digitised. A digital identity gets assigned to every certificate. All of the digital certificates are tagged as well as traceable. Original documents are stored safely in the computer networks in the blockchain which are known as nodes. In totality, blockchain makes digital certificates highly transparent and secured. It also makes it easy to unfurl any fraud because this technology can expose any forged or outdated certificates.

Are these digital certificates tamper-proof?

Yes, the digital certificates are tamper-proof not by just signing but right after the beginning of the transaction. A signing algorithm produces a signature that is encrypted through a private key. The digital signature in these certificates can never be forged without having access to the private key of the user or members. With the help of document security QR codes, users can secure their valuable credentials.

What are the potential benefits of issuing digital certificates on the blockchain?

Blockchain has evolved to be beneficial for the financial industry. This technology is the most talked about and sought-after technology used in the world. There are innumerable benefits of issuing digital certificates on the blockchain. Some of them are here: a) Require fewer resources for issuance: Issuance and maintenance of digital certificates on the blockchain require a very less number of resources. As a result, the whole process saves time, effort and human capital. b) Digital certificates are conveyable: Contrary to physical certificates, the digital ones issued on the blockchain need not be carried around every place. Digital certificates are there to exist for a lifetime. These certificates can be easily accessed on any of your devices from any part of the world. c) Ideal as Identity proof: Digital certificates based on blockchain are the best substitution for the traditional proofs of paper identification. Digital certificates are issued on a highly secured framework of blockchain which is fully secured. These verifiable certificates can be easily traced all the way back to an issuer. This method makes the procedure transparent. You can use the blockchain document security method for securing and storing your valuable documents. d) Gives overall data security: Paper certificates can also take days and months to get issued and dispatched. Paper certificates can be altered without issuing the institute's knowledge and that is risky. Digital certificates issued on the blockchain can not be altered by any person. If someone tries to tamper with it, then verification will fail. This makes data in your digital certificates fully secured as well as traceable. e) No third party requirement: Blockchain verification of digital certificates can be performed by any person having access to the network. There is no need for any third party interference for verification. Digital certificates can be verified even if any organisation that issued them no longer exists. f) For micro-credentialing: Every data remains encrypted in the digital certificates issued on the blockchain. Organisations or businesses can issue "micro-credentialing" for recognizing, career skills, learning and so on. It can help both students and organisations. g) Comes at an affordable cost: Using blockchain is not expensive. With the help of the blockchain-powered platform, you can issue digital certificates for numerous services with ease. You may need no extra software or hardware and be done with an internet connection. So in nutshell, the unique features of blockchain technology make issuing digital certificates easy and tamper-proof. Blockchain technology simplifies and facilities the entire process of issuance of digital certificates. It also helps in the easy transfer of these certificates leading to the expansion of contents and information. We hope in the next few years, more and more organisations will come forward in embracing digital certificates issuance on the blockchain. A blockchain document security system can help you to secure sensitive credentials with ease.

How do you implement secure QR code within healthcare- making minimal or no changes?

Posted on June 10, 2021

Introduction: Why is it a good idea to use QR codes in healthcare?

Relying on traditional methods of identifying patients, filling forms, generating bills and other such medical procedures have proven to be cumbersome and time consuming for both the patients and the healthcare workers. This is why the industries contributing to the medical field are always trying to develop ways to use the latest technology to deal with all related processes efficiently. Quick response codes are the one thing that can make a remarkable difference in the functioning of the medical system. QR codes can potentially reduce the burden of traditional paperwork, storage, management of errors. Other than replacing the conventional methods and making work smoother and more efficient, QR codes can also manage resources.

Benefits of using QR codes in healthcare

Using QR codes saves medical facilities many resources since these codes (Dynamic QR codes) can be edited and analyzed easily to track patients’ conditions, especially in the age of smartphones and the internet. It makes sense to incorporate devices that are accessible to the people and which they are the most comfortable with, especially in times when they are vulnerable. Statistically, more than 80% of physicians and other healthcare professionals and caregivers use smartphones in their daily lives anyway, so incorporating processes that require only the presence of a device they already have seems the best decision for both convenience and sustainability’s sake.

Uses of QR codes in healthcare education

There are plenty of advantages of using QR codes in healthcare education as well:

The ability to provide multimodal information in a limited time and a cost-effective manner.
Improve engagement from the side of students as well as faculty.
Ease of use and availability compared to traditional methods of doing the same tasks.
The simplicity of creation and adaptability.
Potential benefits to the environment.
Monitoring useful metrics like the where and when of the QR code scanning.
Production of more tailored and customized resources for the students.
Helping anaesthetic trainees by allowing them access to a form to record experiences during the procedure.
Using QR codes in anaesthetic presentations raises the user’s degree of participation and increases the level of involvement.

In short, using QR codes for medical education increases the capacity of multimedia presentations, helps wider dissemination of data and increases the level of audience involvement and participation.

Ways in which QR codes can be used in the healthcare industry

Patient identification

Having a patient’s data and information and records and then linking them to a QR code helps caregivers gain access to all the information they need about the patient in the future with a simple, quick scan. Patient identity management is hastened, and errors are lessened thus. Patient data is a significant issue in interdepartmental communication- sometimes it’s not uniform throughout the system, and at other times it doesn’t even exist beyond the scope of the particular department they were first associated with. In the absence of proper patient identity management, false identification can lead to wrong diagnosis and medication errors, which leads to a lot of unnecessary hassle and the compromisation of the patient’s health at the worst.

QR codes get embedded in the patient’s medical bracelet, and their entire medical history is on a datasheet which can be accessed by scanning that code. This lets the healthcare professional keep track of the patient’s history from admission to discharge and even their past medical information.

Marketing

Hospitals need revenue to survive and keep offering their services efficiently like any other business, using a QR code on brochures, bills, and leaflets given to patients and visitors. They can then scan these codes, which will direct them to a landing page that talks about the infrastructure, cleanliness, success stories and methods used to treat hospital patients.

Safety

Prescribed drugs need to have QR codes that will redirect all the information about drug safety and side effect warnings in great details. Even the instructions, which will differ from person to person, can be encoded after each visit into the code and can even be placed on the bottles or information sheets and follow up information sheets.

Equipment information

Medical equipment is the most specific and yet the most varied. Only people with certified training can use, troubleshoot, operate and repair them. Having a QR code redirect users to include performing and storage information and maintenance recommendations for them. Anyone who’s slightly familiar with the medical world can now operate equipment and make informed decisions.

How to implement a QR code in healthcare?

Here is a step by step guide to implementing QR codes in the daily routine of healthcare professionals.

Step 1: selecting the QR code generator- make sure that your generator will be compatible with most mobile QR code reader apps.
Step 2: Choosing the type of content to be promoted- select the kind of content you’d want people to scan your code to see.
Step 3: entering the data on the forms- you must now add the necessary data in the condition that appears after you’ve selected the content type—usually information like your email id, subject line and the associated message.
Step 4: (optional) consider downloading a dynamic QR code- because, unlike regular QR codes, active QR codes let you edit the data it contains even after you “print” it.
Step 5: customization- the most critical part of this process is customizing the code according to your brand’s demands. It is essential to understand that some customizations can make it more difficult for some apps to scan the code properly- in such cases, it is a good idea to generate two versions of the same app.
Step 6: testing the code- don’t forget to check if the code is being read correctly and by more than one app readers.
Step 7: sharing the code- come up with a plan of distribution to share the code. This might include sharing in printed ads, social media, accessories and physical locations.
Step 8: tracking and analyzing the performance- knowing how your code is performing and if people are behaving expectedly once they land on the particular page will help troubleshoot and tweak it to make sure it performs well.