In the wake of exponentially increasing technological capacity, we should be looking for ways to incorporate said technology into the way we view health care. We should take the advancements we have made and deftly put them to use in facilitating patient engagement, patient centeredness, and cost reductions. As we only become more and more integrated with technology, it is vital that we put it to good use in not just national defense, not just materialistic advancement, but in healthcare reformation as well.
Thankfully, we already appear to be doing so in the form of “wearables” and “remote patient monitoring.” Wearables are items that one can, unsurprisingly, wear at their convenience. These facets of technology link patient and doctor together in formerly unprecedented ways, facilitating access to real-time information and accurate diagnostics. Remote patient monitoring operates in much the same fashion, offering the doctor an ability to immediately analyze incoming results, incoming statistics, and maybe even upcoming circumstances.
Moving forward, perhaps the better question to ask is not “Should we implement this technology?” It is, “How do we promote patient engagement with this technology?” Well, I posit that first, we consider the patient journey. Of course, every patient is an individual, and as such claims unique, individualized circumstances. Yet, that is not to say we cannot anticipate patient-doctor interaction and attempt to act effectively drawing on our own experience as well our proposed anticipation.
Consider how most patients think about their condition. Analyze how a patient feels about their condition. Determine what a patient needs to do in response to their condition. These three statements will deliver the necessary foundation for determining what technology will be of the most efficient use to a patient. Once what technology will be useful is determined, we can proceed to deduce what particular technologies we should recommend to a patient.
The only way to determine what technologies to recommend is by knowing what technologies are out there in the first place. We must educate ourselves before we can properly educate the patient on what respective technology will be of the most use to them. However, be wary when suggesting new technologies to older patients, as all too often the more elderly population will harbor an initial opposition to that which they don’t understand. Thus, when proposing a potential digital solution in combating a condition, it is most helpful to suggest said digital solution in a simplistic, straightforward manner. Articulate what the technology is, its ease of use, and why it’s effective as early as possible in conversation.
Technology is changing the world and the we live in that world. It is only fitting that healthcare changes with it.