How can you use patient-generated health data to promote patient empowerment?

1 What is patient empowerment?

Patient empowerment is a multidimensional concept that involves the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors of patients to make informed decisions, express their needs and preferences, and participate in their care. Patient empowerment can improve health outcomes, satisfaction, adherence, and quality of life. Patient empowerment can also reduce healthcare costs, as empowered patients tend to use fewer resources and avoid unnecessary interventions. Patient empowerment is influenced by various factors, such as the patient's personality, motivation, confidence, education, culture, and social support, as well as the provider's attitude, communication, and responsiveness.

3 What are the benefits of using PGHD for patient empowerment?

Using PGHD for patient empowerment can have several benefits for both patients and healthcare providers. For patients, using PGHD can improve their health literacy, self-efficacy, self-care, and engagement. It can also increase their satisfaction, loyalty, and trust in their providers and the healthcare system. For healthcare providers, using PGHD can improve their understanding, empathy, and responsiveness to their patients. It can also enhance their clinical decision making, care coordination, and quality improvement. For the healthcare system, using PGHD can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of healthcare delivery. It can also foster innovation, learning, and research.

4 What are the challenges of using PGHD for patient empowerment?

Using PGHD for patient empowerment also poses some challenges that need to be addressed. One of the main challenges is ensuring the quality, validity, and reliability of PGHD, as different sources, methods, and formats of data collection and analysis may introduce errors, biases, or inconsistencies. Another challenge is ensuring the security, privacy, and consent of PGHD, as patients and providers may have different expectations, preferences, and rights regarding the access, use, and sharing of data. A third challenge is ensuring the interoperability, integration, and standardization of PGHD, as different systems, platforms, and devices may have different technical, semantic, and organizational capabilities and requirements. A fourth challenge is ensuring the usability, accessibility, and utility of PGHD, as patients and providers may have different levels of digital literacy, skills, and resources to collect, understand, and act on data.

5 How can you overcome the challenges of using PGHD for patient empowerment?

To overcome the challenges of using PGHD for patient empowerment, you need to adopt a patient-centric and collaborative approach that involves the following steps. First, you need to define the purpose, scope, and goals of using PGHD, and align them with the patient's needs, preferences, and values. Second, you need to select the appropriate sources, methods, and tools of PGHD collection and analysis, and ensure their quality, validity, and reliability. Third, you need to establish the policies, protocols, and practices of PGHD security, privacy, and consent, and communicate them clearly and transparently to the patient. Fourth, you need to enable the interoperability, integration, and standardization of PGHD across different systems, platforms, and devices, and leverage the existing standards, frameworks, and solutions. Fifth, you need to design the interfaces, features, and functions of PGHD usability, accessibility, and utility, and tailor them to the patient's digital literacy, skills, and resources. Sixth, you need to provide the patient with feedback, guidance, and support on how to use PGHD to improve their health and care, and engage them in a continuous dialogue and partnership.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?