Throughout the previous 5 weeks I have tried to bring attention to the importance of technology in the heath care profession. I have discussed its merits, including financial, efficiency, and quality of care through the increase of an ePCR system with digitized health records. I have discussed the new technologies, such as DNA sequencing, that can make medicine more personable and more efficient as well as current technologies (such as social networking) that I believe will have an even greater impact as we move forward. I have pointed out that an integrated healthcare infrastucture is in the best interest of this country and that the time is now to implement it. The healthcare field is one that has extremely traditional roots, and one that the common person thinks has a large precendence to call upon. It was my goal with this blog to demonstrate that this is a fallacious argument and one that is outdated and antiquated. Modern medicine (in my opinon) has yet to be demonstrated, until medicine embraces the technological revolution and innovation really takes hold, it will still be lagging behind.
The future of technology and Healthcare is very exciting, as innovative and dedicated people apply existing technologies( like using cell phones and SMS technology to increase participation in AIDS education and testing in Africa or to provide rewards for taking tuburculosis medicine via cell phone minutes), or the creation of new and novel technologies. I think the greatest advances will come from the former, as the technological revolution still has not completely been embraced by medicine, and once they begin adapting technology that has been used by government and business for some time (such as digital conferencing technology) we can really reap the benefits.
I think that also important is the consumer perception of technology in medicine, I think like many other industries that have orginally seen some resistence to the implemation of technology, medicine has seen this, but as people get used to seeing a computer in the exam room instead of a pad of paper, they will begin to see the benefits and the demand for the technolgy will increase and become part of our society. Technolgy and medicine are completely intertwined, and while the impletmation process might not be completely smooth, it is imperitive that goverment and private practice work together to create healthcare 2.o for the next generation in American medicine.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Healthcare 2.0, not so different from Web 2.0 afterall
In our readings this week we have spent some time talking about the limits of digital information, the intersection of ethics and our technology, and how much technology we are willing to let into our life's. For this posting I will be focusing on how e-healthcare can change how we interact with our doctors, our pharmacies, and each other.
Like many other aspects of our society, health care will become more and more of a 2 sided conversation (or many many sided). Like the revolution in news media that has taken place, as media is distributed now multi-dimensionally and through user demand, healthcare information will become more easially accessed, more personal, and available to all who have web access.
Already this has taken place with websites such as www.WebMD.com, which allows users to look up ailments, treatments, support groups, and research what ever they choose. Internet chat rooms have long been utilized heavily for people who share common conditions to discuss treatments, coping mechanisms, and to share successes and failures. In a sense health-related social networking is already a very prevelant usage in our society. Increasingly our medical experiance will become more bottom up, then the top-down paternalistic medical relationship that has been tradition for many many years. However, this can be a very powerful thing as patients would be more aware of their own health, and more responsible for seeking treatment. This influx of information could make preventative medicine (which is often the most cost effective) more prevalent and useful.
In fact, the way that doctors share information between each others is rapidly becoming more web-based, through blogs and other networking portals. Many in the healthcare profession realize the immense potential of practically instant, world-wide communication of healthcare professionals. Seeing a world renown specialist could become as easy as setting up a web-appointment, which has potential to extend higher level of care into lesser served areas, where a doctor could provide a consult without actually leaving his residence.
Furthur more medicine will be physically more personable as the technologies become cheaper, and the understanding greater of human genomic data. It is not unforseen that in our lifetimes our genomic data could be used by our physicians to prescribe correct dosages, avoid side affects, and avoid conditions that a person is particullarly prone too (such as heart failure), instead of asking you when you are treated if you have a family history of a condition, a doctor could see if YOU had a predisposition. Of great sensitivity is the availability of health information to drug companies for their research in development, but in the not to distant future, with proper controls over who see's what, it is very resonable to think that drug companies will be able to track the effectivness of their drugs and group patients based on similarities to study the reprocussions of their drug.
Technology has made huge leaps in the previous 10 years, and it has begun to payoff for the healthcare sector as research is being conducted as we speak that will improve and lenghten our lives, and while the social implications are large and the short term economic costs great, long-term it is a necessarly and imporant avenue for technology to improve the world we live in.
Like many other aspects of our society, health care will become more and more of a 2 sided conversation (or many many sided). Like the revolution in news media that has taken place, as media is distributed now multi-dimensionally and through user demand, healthcare information will become more easially accessed, more personal, and available to all who have web access.
Already this has taken place with websites such as www.WebMD.com, which allows users to look up ailments, treatments, support groups, and research what ever they choose. Internet chat rooms have long been utilized heavily for people who share common conditions to discuss treatments, coping mechanisms, and to share successes and failures. In a sense health-related social networking is already a very prevelant usage in our society. Increasingly our medical experiance will become more bottom up, then the top-down paternalistic medical relationship that has been tradition for many many years. However, this can be a very powerful thing as patients would be more aware of their own health, and more responsible for seeking treatment. This influx of information could make preventative medicine (which is often the most cost effective) more prevalent and useful.
In fact, the way that doctors share information between each others is rapidly becoming more web-based, through blogs and other networking portals. Many in the healthcare profession realize the immense potential of practically instant, world-wide communication of healthcare professionals. Seeing a world renown specialist could become as easy as setting up a web-appointment, which has potential to extend higher level of care into lesser served areas, where a doctor could provide a consult without actually leaving his residence.
Furthur more medicine will be physically more personable as the technologies become cheaper, and the understanding greater of human genomic data. It is not unforseen that in our lifetimes our genomic data could be used by our physicians to prescribe correct dosages, avoid side affects, and avoid conditions that a person is particullarly prone too (such as heart failure), instead of asking you when you are treated if you have a family history of a condition, a doctor could see if YOU had a predisposition. Of great sensitivity is the availability of health information to drug companies for their research in development, but in the not to distant future, with proper controls over who see's what, it is very resonable to think that drug companies will be able to track the effectivness of their drugs and group patients based on similarities to study the reprocussions of their drug.
Technology has made huge leaps in the previous 10 years, and it has begun to payoff for the healthcare sector as research is being conducted as we speak that will improve and lenghten our lives, and while the social implications are large and the short term economic costs great, long-term it is a necessarly and imporant avenue for technology to improve the world we live in.
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