The digital patient : the double edged sword ?
Lucien Engelen
Health(care) strategy & digital transformation Maven. International Ambassador Nursing Innovation. (im)Patient. International keynote speaker. Makes things happen.
In November the (independent) health charity Nuffield Trust published a report on the digitalization of primary care by the 'Digital patient".
The report finds that patient-facing technology is already showing promise that it can improve care for patients and reduce strain on the stretched health service – particularly for people with long-term conditions such as diabetes or COPD. However, this rapidly evolving market comes with risks. Many apps, tools and devices have not been officially evaluated, meaning that their effectiveness is unknown. In some cases, technology can increase demand for services, disengage staff and have the potential to disrupt the way that patients access care.
Moreover, the report warns that policy-makers and politicians should avoid assuming that self-care-enabling technology will produce significant savings, at least in the short term.
The report also presents a series of lessons and recommendations to NHS professionals, leaders and policy-makers about how best to harness the potential of technology and avoid the pitfalls.
It explored the impact of seven types of digital services offered by the NHS:
- Wearables and monitoring technology
- Online triage tools
- Online sources of health information and advice, targeted interventions and peer support
- Online appointment booking and other transactional services
- Remote consultations
- Online access to records and care plans
- Apps
The lead author Sophie Castle-Clark said :
But this technology could be a double edged sword, and there’s still a lot we don’t know. Without regulation and a careful look at the evidence – not all of which is compelling – these digital tools could compromise the quality of care and disrupt the way care is provided
It is a comprehensive report that outlines and confirms the pathway we also took at Radboud University Medical center through our REshape Center : a techno-optimistic approach with a skeptical view on the scientific validation of the developments. So that might make us techno-realists ;-)
Happy reading, and let's make 2017 a great year for health(care) with a human touch aided by technology to tackle the grand challenges we face.
I would love to read your suggestions below!
You might like some of the other 'glass half full or empty' blogs i wrote :
- The power of the Human Touch. About the balance between technology and 'being there'
- Climate change in health(care) About the denial and neglect of the rising digital age in healthcare.
- Always everywhere internet from space. On how free internet from space will make internet access everywhere on the globe possible.
Project leader Health & Medical, device and software product certification at SGS CEBEC
8 年concerning your link under "scientific validation" ... to your 2016 study : A new cuffless device measuring blood pressure, a real life study. Tessa S Schoot, MD; Mariska Weenk, MD; Tom H van de Belt, PhD; Lucien JLPG Engelen; Harry van Goor, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Sebastian JH Bredie, MD PhD. J Med Internet Res 2016;18:e85. URL: https://www.jmir.org/2016/5/e85/ unfortunately lacks true scientific validity, but is nevertheless used as so called "evidence" by the device manufacturer ...
what is digital - people should be seen and known as people, and not as numbers and names
M.D
8 年Digitisation is a blessing. Internet of the things can improve the quality of life on planet.but I am scared of Osimos attacking human being, female Osimo replacing woman as sex object and vice versa. We should not become Their animals.
Project, Test & Release Manager, Sundhed og Omsorg
8 年What I found in my research is that we need to provide the digital/online services the patients want - if we want the healthcare institutions to have authority in the future. What Tamen Squire points out is true, but research shows that the patient's expectations influence the post surgical results and at the same time research shows that the quality of a hospital's website and other digital services influence the patient's expectations. If patients don't experience great digital service from the healthcare institutions they don't expect great quality of treatments. If we provide the digital service patients expect the treatments statistically will be better and thus the hospitals' authority is higher, which will decrease "self-diagnosis" and the problems with patients who don't take their meds.