Philadelphia is the site for the next conference relative to connected patients on October 26th and the 27th. The video shows a preview of some of the material to be discussed and how improvements are coming to light, the e-patient move. No longer do we rely 100% on the information given by our doctor for good health information, we have the internet. Those in the know who take time to read and research are becoming empowered, those that do not, well by not reading they consume more of everybody’s time with questions, etc. that physicians are finding they do not have the time to answer.
Certainly there are questions that need to be answered by your doctor, no doubt, but if you, as a patient are partially educated, think of the time saved, the doctor doesn’t have to write the complete book, but rather discuss a relative and important chapter instead.
What do I find on the front lines in my communications out there? I find a lot of people who don’t read and this is a real problem, when as a society we can’t pull away from entertaining ourselves for 5-10 minutes a day to learn. The role of the e-patient is the exact opposite, we want to know so we can understand and work towards the same goals with our doctors. This has been a slow process and if you read the link below I address the fact that “training” is need here so patients, doctors and CEOs know what is going on.
The easiest way to learn is to read, it’s all on the web and a simple search will point you in the right direction, or read up here at this blog too, there’s a of information already grouped together so you don’t have to go find it yourself, and links to other resources. One day in a physician’s office I tried to briefly share a little information about PHRs and the social networks to the medical assistants in an office when there was down time without patients, and the one MD in the office mistook this for being a “chit chat conversation as he heard the word social”, we have a long way to go in bringing this to light.
One Hell of a Training Program Needed – The Bottom Line to Success in Health IT
This is a wide spread problem and if you go back to the knowledge shown in the Senate back in January as to what the members of the committee knew about healthcare and getting involved themselves, well their own video below speaks for itself, not much knowledge here either, nobody knew what a PHR was, and they are our peers who makes the laws and budgets for all of this….hmmm, lack of participation and reading at the highest levels maybe? In my opinion it’s pretty obvious with the opening statements at the hearings, “we don’t want to be fooled again”, if you read up and participate, then that fear goes away. Ok, enough said here on that topic as I have made so many posts in the last year on the same topic, over and over and yet very few take the hint, and we end up with “it’s for those guys over there” again. PHRs are the key to the informed patient and I have an entire section devoted to the free systems from Google Health and Healthvault you can read here.
Be a participant and read up, help stamp out non participation and “Magpie Healthcare”. BD
Investing in health it: us senate testimonies
For the first time in history, more people are searching the Internet for health information than asking doctors. Digital health consumers, known as e-patients, are now empowered, equipped, engaged, educated and connected to others electronically. E-Patient Connections 2009 is the one conference you need to attend to make sense of the radical changes taking place in health marketing. Spend two days in October--get breakthrough results for a year.
Conference Themes
- ROI of Social Media Marketing
- Legal Tripwires including AEs, HIPAA, FDA
- Optimizing Website Conversions
- Twitter, Facebook & YouTube
- Games for Health
- Patient Opinion Leaders
Case Studies
- NEW! Novo Nordisk & Charlie Kimball on Twitter
- McNeil Pediatrics ADHD Facebook Group
- Bayer & WomenHeart on Facebook
- CDC eWidgets for SwineFlu
- J&J on Twitter
- Novo Nordisk & JDRF Diabetes Community
- Mayo Clinic Social Media Marketing
Sadly most of the solutions are still "top down" rather than empowering patients to do more than search the interwebs and self diagnose....
ReplyDeleteI'm looking to the day when I have one (or a couple) of connected devices (maybe some that I carry, some that live at home, some at the gym like a Gym Buddy http://bit.ly/8QBmC) that record my changing conditions and build up (along with input from professionals) a much clearer picture of my changing health and can steer me in the appropriate preventative directions (more exercise, less fatty foods, isn't it time I had a skin cancer check up etc...)