Doc in your pocket thanks to Bayer and m.Doc!

Just weeks after I started my new role at Bayer Vital, my father had a stroke.

My 70-year-young father has been suffering from atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm) for years.

After a brain scan confirmed an ischemic stroke - and after a few endless days of NHS food - my father was discharged from hospital.

“You should have heard the way the doctor spoke to me,” said my dad, as my mum and I flanked him like bodyguards through the hospital’s main entrance.

My father took a deep breath and looked up to the murky English skies.

“What was he saying?” I inquired.

“That I should stop smoking”, said my dad as he rolled a cigarette and lit up.

Now my blood pressure was skyrocketing.  

So why am I bearing my soul in this LinkedIn chat today?

Basically, I am feeling proud and hopeful.

Proud because today Bayer Vital officially launched a partnership with the digital health care pioneer m.Doc to create a holistic digital companion which can help patients to better manage their health.

I also feel proud to know have become acquainted with Markus Mundhenke, the brainchild of this solution, who is working so hard to create and amplify digital solutions that put the patient first.

I also feel highly inspired by m.Doc founder and CEO Admir Kulin, whose vision for m.Doc is that that “every person has a doctor in their pocket”.

As a first pilot, Bayer’s and m.Doc’s new collaborative platform – called “it’s my life” – is offering tailored solutions for the management and prevention of strokes in patients who are scheduled to undergo a catheter ablation, an operation designed to destroy the faulty tissue that causes atrial fibrillation.

For this reason I am also feeling hopeful that perhaps people like my father will use solutions like "it's my life" to have video consultations with their doctors, to trigger reminders to take medication and to better inform themselves about how to manage their own health.

Who knows? I do remain hopeful and optimistic that – in a world overflowing with apps, choice and complexity - the solutions we create will be user-friendly, simple and provide tailored solutions that meet patients’ needs wherever they are on their health journey.